158 a short history of the united states
Februar y 1866 , that made permanent a bureau to provide for the freed-
men and southern refugees, both white and black. The act also granted
judicial power to the bureau to protect the freedmen against discrimi-
nation. It was sponsored by a number of moderate Republicans, such as
Fessenden and Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, chairman of the Senate
Judiciary Committee, who sought to work with the President to coun-
teract the Black Codes. Unfortunately for Johnson, he chose not to
seek an alliance with moderates and declared that this new bill was
nothing less than a gigantic pork barrel and prohibitively expensive.
The House overrode his veto, 109 to 40 , but the Senate sustained it
when five moderate Republicans agreed about the cost.
Other moderates were dismayed by the President’s action. They
tried again by passing the Civil Rights Act of 1866 , a bill that “embod-
ied the moderates’ position” and granted civil rights to all persons born
in the United States, except Native Americans. It spelled out rights to
be “enjoyed equally without regard to race,” such as initiating lawsuits
and contracts, giving testimony in court, and obtaining “security of
person and property.” It authorized federal officers to bring suit in fed-
eral courts against violators, and it imposed fines and imprisonment on
anyone who deprived citizens of their rights. To placate the President it
did not grant political rights to freedmen. That was made very explicit
by Trumbull.
This civil rights legislation was “the first statutory definition of the
rights of American citizenship” and “reflected how ideas once consid-
ered Radical had been adopted” by a large number of Republicans.
And it applied to the North, where discriminatory laws had been en-
acted and were still operative, as well as to the South. As such it was
not strictly a Reconstruction measure.
Nevertheless, Johnson vetoed it. He claimed that it violated “all our
experience as a people” and constituted “a stride toward centralization
and the concentration of all legislative powers in the national Govern-
ment.” Furthermore, in an outburst that was blatantly racist, Johnson
said that he doubted blacks could qualify for citizenship and insisted
that the states had the right to discriminate on the basis of race.
Both houses of Congress erupted. Moderates were appalled—and
completely alienated. They wanted to cooperate with Johnson but now
felt totally rejected. The New York Herald, on March 28 , 1866 , called