Ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment

Background. The 39th Congress proposed the amendment on June 13, 1866, to validate the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which President Andrew Johnson had vetoed on March 27, 1866, amid concerns about Congress's constitutional authority to enact such a bill. The Equal Protection Clause was written to constitutionalize the anti-discrimination principles of the 1866 Act and prevent enforcement of the southern states' Black Codes. The amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection under the law at all levels of government.

Ratification. By July 9, 1868, 28 of 37 states ratified the amendment, meeting the three-fourths threshold. Key ratifications occurred on this date, including Louisiana and South Carolina, following earlier rejections. The process involved complex legal questions regarding rescissions of ratification by states such as Ohio, New Jersey, and Oregon, which had initially ratified but later withdrew their approval.

Certification. On July 20, 1868, Secretary of State William H. Seward certified that, if rescissions were invalid, the amendment became law with South Carolina's ratification as the 28th state. This conditional certification preserved the amendment's legal status; Oregon's rescission on October 16, 1868, three months after adoption, had no impact on the amendment's validity.