SEC. 3. _And be it further enacted_, That, in further enforcement of the provision of the Constitution prohibiting Slavery, and in order to remove all relics of this wrong from the States where this Constitutional prohibition takes effect, it is hereby declared that all laws or customs in such States, establishing any oligarchical privileges and any distinction of rights on account of race or color, are hereby annulled, and all persons in such States are recognized as equal before the law; and the penalties provided in the last section are hereby made applicable to any violation of this provision, which is made in pursuance of the Constitution of the United States.
SEC. 4. _And be it further enacted_, That, in further enforcement of the provision of the Constitution, the courts of the United States in the States shall have exclusive jurisdiction of all offences committed by persons not of African descent upon persons of African descent; also of all offences committed by persons of African descent; and also of all causes, suits, and demands to which any person of African descent shall be a party; and it is hereby declared that all such cases are to be treated as cases arising under the Constitution of the United States.
This bill was read, passed to a second reading, and ordered to be printed.
December 21st, it was read a second time, and, on motion of Mr. Sumner, referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
January 11, 1866, Mr. Trumbull, from this Committee, reported the “Bill to protect all persons in the United States in their civil rights, and furnish the means of their vindication,” which was passed, covering in part the ground of Mr. Sumner’s bill.[6]
JOINT RESOLUTION IN THE SENATE, TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION, DECEMBER 4, 1865.
Joint Resolution proposing an Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.
_Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled_ (two thirds of both Houses concurring), That the following Article be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States as an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by three fourths of such Legislatures, shall become a part of the Constitution, to wit:--