Republicans passed the first Civil Rights Act ever, in 1866

Grand Old Partisan, 8/9/2013, by Michael Zak - On this day one hundred and forty-seven years ago, the Republican-controlled 39th Congress enacted the 1866 Civil Rights Act. Nearly unanimously, Republican Representatives and Senators voted to override a veto by the Democrat president, Andrew Johnson. This was the first time Congress overrode a presidential veto of a significant bill. ✧ Senator Lyman Trumbull (R-IL) wrote the 1866 Civil Rights Act, which conferred U.S. citizenship on former slaves and other African-Americans. The law granted African-Americans "full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property, as is enjoyed by white citizens." Republicans thereby accorded African-Americans the right to own property, engage in business, sign contracts and file lawsuits. ✧ Also, the 1866 Civil Rights Act contradicted the notorious Dred Scott decision, in which the seven Democrat Justices on the Supreme Court decreed that black people did not have constitutional rights. To prevent Democrats from someday repealing the Act, Republicans later enshrined its provisions as Article I of the 14th Amendment. ✧ Sadly, Democrats defied the 1866 Civil Rights Act and other Republican reforms. Democrat oppression of African-Americans would not be overcome until the 1960's civil rights movement.

Michael Zak is the author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party and blogs as the Grand Old Partisan, celebrating the heritage of the Republican Party.