Fourteenth Amendment.—On June 10, 1866, Congress, after a somewhat protracted debate, submitted to the legislatures of the several states an amendment to the Federal constitution giving to negroes the right of citizenship; prohibiting the states from enacting any laws that would have a tendency to abridge the rights, privileges or immunities of citizens; providing for a reduction in the number of members of Congress in any state that might disfranchise, or deny the right to vote to any male inhabitant thereof over the age of 21 years; rendering ineligible to the office of senator or representative in Congress or presidential elector all persons who, "having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state to support the constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid and comfort to the enemies thereof;" and declaring the war debt of the Confederate States illegal and void. Congress was given power to enforce the provisions of the amendment by appropriate legislation, and also to remove the political disabilities imposed by it by a vote of two-thirds of each house.

The amendment was ratified by the legislatures of 23 Northern states. It was rejected by Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland and 10 Southern states, though these 10 states subsequently ratified it under pressure during the reconstruction period. California took no action upon it. The Fourteenth amendment was proclaimed a part of the Federal constitution on July 28, 1868.

Gov. Crawford, in submitting the amendment to the legislature of 1867, said in his message: "Whilst the foregoing proposed amendment is not fully what I might desire, nor yet what I believe the times and exigencies demand, yet, in the last canvass, from Maine to California, it was virtually the platform which was submitted to the people; the verdict was unmistakable. . . . I therefore hope that Kansas, in the first legislative enactment of this session, will give the unanimous vote of her legislature in favor of this measure."

Gov. Crawford's hope was not quite realized. The legislature of that year met on Jan. 8. On the 10th a joint resolution ratifying the amendment passed the senate by a unanimous vote, and on the same day it passed the house by a vote of 76 to 7. While not unanimous, the vote in favor of the amendment was strong enough to show unmistakably where Kansas stood upon the proposition.