The Door to Dissolution of Federalism

American Minute from William J. Federer

The 14th Amendment was adopted JULY 28, 1868, because southern States, though forced to end slavery by the 13th Amendment, did not grant citizenship to freed slaves.

Southern Democrat Legislatures passed Black Codes requiring freed slaves to be "apprenticed" to "employers" and punished any who left.

Illinois Republican Congressman John Farnsworth said March 31, 1871: "The reason for the adoption [of the 14th Amendment]...was because of...discriminating...legislation of those States...by which they were punishing one class of men under different laws from another class."

Republican John Bingham of Ohio, who introduced the 14th Amendment, said: "I repel the suggestion... that the Amendment will...take away from any State any right that belongs to it."

Yet after the Amendment was ratified, activist Federal Judges did just that, as Thomas Jefferson had forewarned Charles Hammond in 1821: "The germ of dissolution of our... government is in...the federal judiciary...working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow...until all shall be usurped from the States."

The 14th Amendment soon became a door by which Federal Courts took responsibility for other rights, eventually religion, away from States' jurisdiction.

William J. Federer is a nationally recognized author, speaker, and president of Amerisearch, Inc, which is dedicated to researching our American heritage. The American Minute radio feature looks back at events in American history on the dates they occurred, is broadcast daily across the country and read by thousand on the internet.