A Quick History Lesson

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I saw this today on Facebook and thought it was worth repeating. It is funny how Hillary Clinton and the Democrats are trying to promote the concept that Republicans are trying to block minorities from voting.

Also, the fate of Obamacare is currently being reviewed and considered by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court could overturn a crucial piece of the Affordable Care Act this month. If it rules against the Obama administration, the nation’s highest court could kill much-needed health insurance subsidies for people in the 34 states that don’t run their own online marketplaces. With such a ruling, the House and Senate — now with Republican majorities in both houses of Congress — may be asked to "save" Obamacare. Since Republicans were effectively excluded during the development of Obamacare by the Democrats, and the then minority Republicans opposed Obamacare, there is some irony now that the Republicans could be asked to save Obamacare.

In 1865, the U.S. House of Representatives passes the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery in America.The amendment read, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude…shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

When the Civil War began, President Abraham Lincoln’s professed goal was the restoration of the Union. But early in the war, the Union began keeping escaped slaves rather than returning them to their owners, so slavery essentially ended wherever the Union army was victorious. In September 1862, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in areas that were still in rebellion against the Union. This measure opened the issue of what to do about slavery in border states that had not seceded or in areas that had been captured by the Union before the proclamation.

In 1864, an amendment abolishing slavery passed the U.S. Senate but died in the House as Democrats rallied in the name of states’ rights. The election of 1864 brought Lincoln back to the White House along with significant Republican majorities in both houses, so it appeared the amendment was headed for passage when the new Congress convened in March 1865. Lincoln preferred that the amendment receive bipartisan support–some Democrats indicated support for the measure, but many still resisted. The amendment passed 119 to 56, seven votes above the necessary two-thirds majority. Several Democrats abstained, but the 13th Amendment was sent to the states for ratification, which came in December 1865. With the passage of the amendment, the institution that had indelibly shaped American history was eradicated.

With the 14th Amendment, The Radical Republicans were satisfied that they had secured civil rights for blacks, but were disappointed that the amendment would not also secure political rights for blacks, in particular the right to vote. For example, Thaddeus Stevens, a leader of the disappointed Radical Republicans, said: "I find that we shall be obliged to be content with patching up the worst portions of the ancient edifice, and leaving it, in many of its parts, to be swept through by the tempests, the frosts, and the storms of despotism." Abolitionist Wendell Phillips called it a "fatal and total surrender". This point would later be addressed by the Fifteenth Amendment.

The Fifteenth Amendment (Amendment XV) to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." It was ratified on February 3, 1870, as the third and last of the Reconstruction Amendments... The vote in the House was 144 to 44, with 35 not voting. The House vote was almost entirely along party lines, with no Democrats supporting the bill and only 3 Republicans voting against it. The House of Representatives passed the amendment with 143 Republican & 1 Conservative Republican votes of "Yea", 39 Democrat, 3 Republican, 1 Independent Republican & 1 Conservative votes of "Nay" and with 26 Republican, 8 Democrat & 1 Independent Republican not voting. The final vote in the Senate was 39 to 13, with 14 not voting. The Senate passed the amendment with a vote of 39 Republican votes of "Yea", 8 Democrat & 5 Republican votes of "Nay" and with 13 Republican & 1 Democrat not voting. Some Radicals, such as Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, abstained from voting because the amendment did not prohibit literacy tests and poll taxes. Following congressional approval the proposed amendment was then sent by Secretary of State William Henry Seward to the states for ratification or rejection.