Congratulating Virginia for Rejecting Black Citizenship Under the 14th Amendment January 1867

On January 9, 1867 Virginia rejected the proposed 14th Amendment. The Amendment granted United States citizenship to anyone born in the United States, including former slaves, regardless of race. It also encouraged the granting of the right to vote to African Americans.

According to the Encyclopedia Virginia:

On January 9, 1867, the members of both houses of the General Assembly, who had been elected in the autumn of 1865, voted against ratifying the amendment. All twenty-seven members of the Senate of Virginia who were in attendance that day voted against the amendment. The vote in the House of Delegates was 74 to 1. During the following days, fifteen delegates who were absent when the vote was taken asked to have their votes recorded against ratification.

The Virginia Pilot is a newspaper based in Norfolk, Virginia. It congratulated the legislature on rejecting the 14th Amendment. Because of its length, I am only reproducing the opening and closing paragraphs.
Virginian-Pilot
Friday, Jan 11, 1867 
Norfolk, VA
Page: 2
In the concluding paragraphs, the article depicts the rejection of the 14th Amendment as an extension of the military resistance of Virginia’s Confederate generals like Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson during the Civil War.
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Author: Patrick Young

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