[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 139 (Wednesday, October 8, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1969-E1971]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 TENNESSEE GENERAL ASSEMBLY SYMBOLICALLY POST-RATIFIES CONSTITUTION'S 
                             15TH AMENDMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. HAROLD E. FORD, JR.

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, October 8, 1997

  Mr. FORD. Mr. Speaker, the recently concluded 1997 regular session of 
the 100th Tennessee General Assembly took a very historic and symbolic 
action. On April 2, 1997, both the Tennessee House of Representatives 
and the Tennessee Senate adopted House Joint Resolution 32, ``to post-
ratify Amendment 15 to the Constitution of the United States of America 
guaranteeing the right of citizens to vote regardless of race, color, 
or previous condition of servitude''. On April 8, 1997, the Governor of 
Tennessee officially signed House Joint Resolution 32.
  Mr. Speaker, the Federal Constitution's 15th amendment is a 
fundamental legacy from the Reconstruction period following the Civil 
War. While the 13th amendment abolished slavery in 1865, and the 14th 
amendment defined citizenship by 1868, it was not until the 15th 
amendment came along in 1870 that the right to cast a vote was extended 
to African-American males uniformly in all regions of the Nation. Of 
course, the 19th amendment, ratified in 1920, further extended ballot 
access to females of all ethnic backgrounds.
  Mr. Speaker, up until just this year, Tennessee was the only State--
which had been in the Union both well before the 15th amendment was 
proposed and long after it had gained ratification in 1870--to have 
never gone on record, albeit symbolically, in support of this vital 
section of our Nation's highest legal document. As a matter of fact, a 
resolution specifically denouncing the 15th amendment was adopted by 
the 36th Tennessee General Assembly in 1870 and that resolution of 
rejection had remained Tennessee's only official pronouncement on the 
matter for the ensuing 127 years. But this embarrassing chapter of 
history was duly remedied when House Joint Resolution 32 was presented 
last spring in the Tennessee House of Representatives by the Honorable 
Tommie F. Brown of

[[Page E1970]]

Chattanooga, who was joined by the other 15 members of the legislative 
black caucus as cosigners. Subsequently, all remaining members of both 
chambers of the general assembly added their names to House Joint 
Resolution 32 as cosigners.
  To appropriately document this notable correction of history, I 
respectfully ask that the full text of House Joint Resolution 32 be 
inserted in the Congressional Record immediately following my remarks. 
After that, I request that an article appearing in the April 21, 1997, 
issue of Jet magazine, reporting on Tennessee's action, likewise be 
placed in the Record. And, finally, to recognize the person who 
discovered and confirmed this historical omission, and who labored to 
bring it to the attention of my State's 16 African-American lawmakers, 
I would like to have entered in the Record the full text of a 
proclamation executed in the city of Nashville on April 28, 1997, and 
cosigned by the Speaker of the Tennessee House and by all members of 
the Tennessee legislative black caucus, which pays tribute to Mr. 
Gregory D. Watson of Texas, a constitutional scholar of some renown. 
The material follow:

            State of Tennessee House Joint Resolution No. 32

       By Representatives Brown, Brooks, Bowers, Langster, 
     Armstrong, Towns, Ulysses Jones, Pruitt, Miller, Larry 
     Turner, Cooper, Lois DeBerry, John DeBerry, Arriola, Beavers, 
     Bird, Bittle, Bone, Boner, Boyer, Buck, Burchett, Caldwell, 
     Chumney, Clabough, Ralph Cole, Ronnie Cole, Cross, Curtiss, 
     Davidson, Davis, Dunn, Eckles, Farguson, Fitzhugh, Ford, 
     Fowlkes, Fraley, Garrett, Givens, Godsey, Goins, Gunnels, 
     Haley, Halteman Harwell, Hargett, Hargrove, Hasell, Head, 
     Hicks, Hood, Huskey, Jackson, Sherry Jones, Kent, Kernell, 
     Kerr, Kisber, Lewis, Maddox, McAfee, McDaniel, McDonald, 
     McKee, McMillan, Mumpower, Newton, Odom, Patton, Phelan, 
     Phillips, Pinion, Pleasant, Rhinehart, Ridgeway, Rinks, 
     Ritchie, Roach, Robinson, Sands, Sargent, Scroggs, Sharp, 
     Stamps, Stulce, Tidwell, Tindell, Brenda Turner, Walker, 
     Walley, West, Westmoreland, White, Whitson, Williams, Windle, 
     Winningham, Wood and Mr. Speaker Haifeh; and Senators 
     Atchley, Burks, Carter, Cohen, Cooper, Crowe, Crutchfield, 
     Davis, Dixon, Elsea, Ford, Fowler, Gilbert, Graves, Harper, 
     Haun, Haynes, Henry, Herron, Jordan, Koella, Kurita, Kyle, 
     Leatherwood, McNally, Miller, Person, Ramsey, Rochelle, 
     Springer, Williams, Womack and Mr. Speaker Wilder.
       A Resolution to post-ratify Amendment 15 to the 
     Constitution of the United States of America guaranteeing the 
     right of citizens to vote regardless of race, color, or 
     previous condition of servitude.
       Whereas, on February 26, 1869, the Fortieth Congress of the 
     united States of America, at its third session, by a two-
     thirds (2/3) majority of both Houses, submitted to the 
     legislatures of the several states for ratification a 
     proposal to amend the Constitution of the United States of 
     America in the following words, to wit:


                             ``amendment 15

       ``Section 1. The right of citizens of the united States to 
     vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or 
     by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition 
     of servitude.
       ``Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this 
     article by appropriate legislation.''; and
       Whereas, by proclamation of Federal Secretary of State 
     Hamilton Fish, dated March 30, 1870 (16 Stat. 1131-2), this 
     proposed amendment to the United States Constitution was 
     officially declared to have been duly ratified by the 
     legislatures of the constitutionally-required margin of at 
     least three-fourths (3/4) of the several states, there being 
     at the time 37 states in the Union; and
       Whereas, after Amendment 15 had made its way into our 
     Nation's highest law in early 1870, the legislatures of five 
     other states which had been in the Union prior to its 
     adoption--but which, like Tennessee, had not approved the 
     amendment--post-ratified it, many years after 1870, as 
     follows: Delaware in 1901 (Senate Joint Resolution No. 13); 
     Oregon in 1959 (Senate Joint Resolution No. 7); California in 
     1962 (Senate Joint Resolution No. 9); Maryland in 1973 
     (Senate Joint Resolution No. 56); Kentucky in 1976 (House 
     [Joint] Resolution No. 75); and
       Whereas, for the past 21 years, Tennessee has stood alone 
     as the only State in the Union, both well before Amendment 15 
     was proposed and long after it was adopted, whose legislature 
     has never placed its own unique imprimatur upon these 
     fundamental two sentences of the United States Constitution; 
     now, therefore,
       Be it Resolved by the house of Representatives of the one 
     Hundredth General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, the 
     Senate concurring, That Amendment 15 to the United States 
     Constitution, quoted above, is hereby post-ratified by the 
     Tennessee General Assembly.
       Be it further Resolved, That House Joint Resolution No. 98 
     (Act ``Number LXXX'') of the Thirty-Sixth General Assembly of 
     the State of Tennessee, in which Amendment 15 was rejected by 
     the Tennessee House of Representatives and by the Tennessee 
     Senate, be hereby revoked, repealed, and utterly rescinded.
       Be it further Resolved, That a properly inscribed copy of 
     this Resolution be transmitted by the Secretary of State of 
     Tennessee to the Archivist of the United States, Washington, 
     D.C., in compliance with Pub. L. 98-497.
       Be it further Resolved, That properly inscribed copies of 
     this Resolution be individually transmitted by the Secretary 
     of State of Tennessee to each of the following persons in 
     Washington, D.C. with the respectful request that this 
     Resolution be published in the Congressional Record: the 
     Vice-President of the United States, as presiding officer of 
     the United States Senate; the Parliamentarian of the United 
     States Senate; the Speaker of the United States House of 
     Representatives; and the Parliamentarian of the United States 
     House of Representatives.
       Adopted: April 2, 1997.
     Jimmy Naifeh,
       Speaker, House of Representatives.
     John S. Wilder,
       Speaker of the Senate.
       Approved this 8th day of April 1997.
                                                    Don Sundquist,
                                                         Governor.


     
                                                                    ____
                   [From Jet Magazine, Apr. 21, 1997]

         Tennessee Becomes Last State To Ratify 15th Amendment

       Just after the Civil War, the 15th Amendment to the U.S. 
     constitution guaranteed that no one could be denied the right 
     to vote because of their ``race, color or previous condition 
     of servitude.''
       Today, 127 years later, Tennessee recently became the last 
     state to formally agree with the amendment.
       The state's House of Representatives and the Senate voted 
     to make amends by unanimously approving a resolution that 
     ceremoniously ratified what has been the law of the land 
     since 1870.
       The resolution was sponsored by Rep. Tommie Brown of 
     Chattanooga, who learned in September from constitutional 
     scholar Gregory Watson of Austin, TX, that Tennessee had 
     never post-ratified the amendment.
       The 15th amendment was submitted to the states for 
     ratification after it was approved by the 40th U.S. Congress 
     in February 1989. Three-quarters of the 37 states in 
     existence at the time approved it; the bill was ratified in 
     March 1870.
       Sen Keith Jordan of Franklin reminded his colleagues that 
     because Tennessee was the first state to rejoin the Union 
     after the civil War, it was not required to ratify the 13th, 
     14th and 15th Amendments as were other Southern states.
       Many states post-ratified the amendment later, including 
     Delaware in 1901; Oregon in 1959; California in 1962; 
     Maryland in 1973 and Kentucky in 1976.


     
                                                                    ____
              State of Tennessee, House of Representatives


                              Proclamation

       Whereas, it is appropriate for this Legislative Body to 
     honor those persons who through their outstanding 
     accomplishments in public service have established a legacy 
     that others can merely hope to emulate; and
       Whereas, Gregory D. Watson of Austin, Texas is one such 
     noteworthy public servant, whose watchful eye and attention 
     to microscopic, and often overlooked, detail are legendary to 
     all who have come to know, or know of, him; and
       Whereas, during his meritorious tenure with the Texas 
     Legislature, Gregory Watson championed numerous and varied 
     causes in the quest for better government at both state and 
     federal levels; and
       Whereas, Mr. Watson is best known for the May 1992 
     ratification of the 27th Amendment to the United States 
     Constitution; the ratification of the 27th amendment was the 
     culmination of a decade of hard work on his part and on the 
     part of those state lawmakers across the nation who joined 
     with him in the endeavor; and
       Whereas, in March of 1982, a government class at the 
     University of Texas in which Mr. Watson was enrolled was 
     assigned by the instructor the task of writing a report about 
     ``a governmental process'. While at the Austin Public 
     Library, Mr. Watson happened upon a book about the U.S. 
     Constitution which contained a chapter devoted exclusively to 
     those constitutional amendments which the U.S. Congress had 
     adopted and transmitted to the state legislatures for 
     ratification, but which a sufficient number of the state 
     legislatures had never ratified; and
       Whereas, in the chapter, Mr. Watson noticed the proposal: 
     ``No law, varying the compensation for the services of the 
     (U.S.) Senators and (U.S.) Representatives, shall take 
     effect, until an election of (U.S.) Representatives shall 
     have intervened''; having researched the issue of time 
     constraints on the ratification of proposed amendments to the 
     U.S. Constitution, Mr. Watson knew intuitively that the 
     quoted amendment, which had been submitted by Congress to the 
     state legislatures with no expiration date, was not only 
     still pending business before the state legislatures, but 
     indeed, was a vehicle to correct what many Americans during 
     recent years had come to view as something of a conflict of 
     interest within the Congress; and
       Whereas, to his astonishment, Mr. Watson received a grade 
     of ``C'' on the report, because the professor disagreed with 
     his conclusion that what was then a 192-year-old 
     constitutional amendment could still be subject to full 
     ratification by modern-day legislative bodies; and

[[Page E1971]]

       Whereas, not only to provide her wrong, but also to achieve 
     something positive for the nation as a whole, Mr. Watson, in 
     April of 1982, vigorously embarked on a nationwide crusade to 
     secure ratification of the constitutional amendment; and
       Whereas, Mr. Watson's astute efforts with respect to the 
     27th Amendment have been chronicled in many different places; 
     he was featured in the June 1, 1992, issue of People's 
     magazine and in the February 22, 1993, issue of U.S. News and 
     World Report magazine; he was also prominently featured in 
     such legal periodicals as 10 Glendale Law Review (92-109) 
     during 1991 and 61 Fordham Law Review (497-557) in late 1992; 
     he was cited in the Congressional Record by U.S. 
     Representative J.J. Pickle on March 24, 1987; and
       Whereas, Mr. Watson is an integral part of the 393 page 
     novel, Amending America, by Richard B. Bernstein with Jermone 
     Agel, which novel explores various amendments proposed to 
     (some of which later successfully became part of) the U.S. 
     Constitution; and
       Whereas, Mr. Watson's work has been noted in countless 
     newspaper articles, including, such trusted as the Los 
     Angeles Times, The New York Times, USA Today and The 
     Washington Post; and
       Whereas, the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution of the 
     United States of America, guaranteeing the right of citizens 
     to vote regardless of race, color, or previous condition of 
     servitude, made its way into our Nation's highest law in 
     early 1870, the legislatures of five other states which were 
     part of the Union prior to its adoption, but which, like 
     Tennessee, had not approved the amendment, post-ratified its 
     many years after 1870; and
       Whereas, for the past 21 years, Tennessee has stood alone 
     as the only state in the Union, both well before Amendment 15 
     was proposed and long after is was adopted, whose legislature 
     had never placed its own unique imprimatur upon these 
     fundamental two sentences of the United States Constitution; 
     and
       Whereas, on April 8, 1997, the 15th Amendment of the 
     Constitution of the United States of America was ratified and 
     signed by the Honorable Don Sundquist, Governor of the State 
     of Tennessee; and
       Whereas, it is fitting and appropriate that the elected 
     Representatives of the State of Tennessee should pause to pay 
     tribute to an exemplary gentleman who has given unreservedly 
     of himself, his time and his talent to perpetuate the public 
     good; now, therefore,
       I Jimmy Naifeh, Speaker, of the House of Representatives of 
     the One-Hundredth General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, 
     at the request of and in conjunction with Representative Joe 
     Armstrong, Chairman, Tennessee Legislative Black Caucus and 
     its members do hereby proclaim that we recognize, honor and 
     thank Gregory D. Watson for the intregal part he played in 
     ``Amending America'' and his many contributions to 
     constitutional law.
       Proclaimed in Nashville, Tennessee on this the 28th day of 
     April, 1997.
         Jimmy Naifeh, Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
           Joe Armstrong, Representative, Knoxville. Henri Brooks, 
           Representative, Memphis. John Deberry, Representative, 
           Memphis. Larry Turner, Representative, Memphis. Joe 
           Towns, Representative, Memphis. Barbara Cooper, 
           Representative, Memphis. Tommie Brown, Representative, 
           Chattanooga. Roscoe Dixon, Senator, Memphis. Thelma 
           Harper, Senator, Nashville. Edith Taylor Langster, 
           Representative, Nashville. Mary Pruitt, Representative, 
           Nashville. Kathryn Bowers, Representative, Memphis. 
           Lois Deberry, Speaker Pro Tempore, Memphis. John Ford, 
           Senator, Memphis. Ulysses Jones, Jr., Representative, 
           Memphis. Larry Miller, Representative, Memphis.

           

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