As had been the
case with the Thirteenth Amendment, the former Confederate
states were allowed to participate in the ratification process
for the Fourteenth Amendment. Although Senator Charles Sumner
and others argued that the constitutional requirement of
ratification by three-quarters of the states should only include
the states represented in Congress (and, therefore, not the
South), most assumed it should be three-quarters of all the
states (27 of 36, or 28 of 37 after Nebraska’s admission on
March 1, 1867).
Two New England states acted quickly. The
Republican-controlled legislatures of Connecticut and New
Hampshire approved the measure on June 25 and July 6, 1866,
respectively. Several reasons were given for opposing the
amendment, including: it was proposed while Southern states
were excluded from Congress; it was unwarranted by the situation
in the South; it should be considered as several separate
amendments; its various provisions were unclear or
contradictory; it infringed on states’ rights; and it usurped
the presidential pardoning power. Similar objections were
voiced throughout the ratification process.
In President Johnson’s home state of Tennessee, Republican
Governor William G. “Parson” Brownlow called the legislature
into special session to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment. The
state senate voted in favor on July 11, 1866, but the state
house had difficulty reaching a quorum, which led to the arrest
of two members for failing to show. After refusing to accept
release if they attended the session, they were counted as “not
voting,” which allowed the state house to claim a quorum and
approve the Fourteenth Amendment on July 19. In
gratitude, Republicans
urged that Tennessee be
readmitted to Congress. A joint resolution to that effect was
approved by the U.S. Senate on July 21 and the
U.S. House on July 23. The next day, a
message
was received from President Johnson reporting his approval,
which was met with applause. His objection to allowing Congress
to add qualifications before accepting representatives from
other Southern states provoked laughter. In the August 11 issue
of Harper’s Weekly (published August 1), editor George
William Curtis
welcomed Tennessee back into the
Union, but criticized the president’s states’ rights position
opposing further conditions set by the federal government on the
former Confederate states before they could reenter Congress. |