Civil Rights Act of 1866

Exploring the Essential Primary Sources
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19 Civil Rights Act of 1866
https://doi.org/10.3735/9781968349172.book-part-19

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Abstract

On March 13, 1866, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, its first civil rights measure, to establish the citizenship of Blacks and to confer equality before the law with respect to the protection of the fundamental rights of person and property. Designed to enforce the Thirteenth Amendment's abolition of slavery, which was undermined by the passage of the Black Codes, the Civil Rights Act overturned the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) that Blacks were excluded from citizenship.

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