March 13, 1866

Civil Rights Act of 1866

The U.S. House passes the amended Civil Rights Bill of 1866

The headline 111–38 vote did not send a completed act to the president. The House had changed the Senate's bill, so another chamber vote was still required.

111 to 38, with 34 not voting

On 13 March 1866 the House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 61, the Civil Rights Bill, by 111 votes to 38. Thirty-four members did not vote on a measure that would define national citizenship after slavery.

The Senate had passed S. 61 on 2 February, and the House took it up amid congressional efforts to counter racially discriminatory post-emancipation laws and to fix the legal status of freedpeople.

What the House changed, and what the bill said

Before passing it, the House struck the broad “civil rights and immunities” wording from section 1 and added a ninth section allowing final appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The amended text declared U.S.-born people not subject to a foreign power to be citizens — expressly excluding “Indians not taxed” — and specified equal rights in contracts, litigation, evidence and property regardless of race or former enslavement. It conferred no voting rights.

Not law that night

Because the House had amended the bill, it had to return to the Senate. The Senate concurred in the House amendments on 15 March without a recorded vote, and only then did the bill reach President Andrew Johnson.

Johnson vetoed it on 27 March. Congress overrode him: the Senate voted 33–15 on 6 April and the House 122–41, with 21 not voting, on 9 April.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 2 audit passes

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