[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 92 (Wednesday, June 10, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S4061]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




COMMEMORATING THE 150TH ANNIVERSARIES OF THE RATIFICATION OF THE 13TH, 
   14TH, AND 15TH AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES

  Mr. FLAKE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 198, submitted earlier today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 198) commemorating the 150th 
     anniversaries of the ratification of the 13th, 14th, and 15th 
     Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, often 
     referred to as the ``Second Founding'' of the United States.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, on September 17, 1787, George Washington, 
James Madison, and their fellow framers made the momentous decision to 
sign the Constitution and send it along to the American people for 
ratification--marking a new beginning in our Nation's profound 
experiment in democracy.
  While the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 
established the firm foundation for our democracy, it was not complete 
because it did not address the vexing issue of slavery. It would take 
more than seven decades and a bloody civil war before our founding 
charter would right that wrong.
  This year marks the sesquicentennial, or the 150th anniversary, of 
the Thirteenth Amendment, which, along with the Fourteenth and 
Fifteenth Amendments, has been described by scholars as our Nation's 
``Second Founding.'' Ratified by President Lincoln and his generation 
after the Civil War, these second founding amendments transformed our 
original charter by ending slavery, banning racial discrimination in 
voting, and elevating liberty and equality to a central place in our 
constitutional order. While we rightly celebrate our original founding 
charter, we have often overlooked the importance of these subsequent 
amendments, which has served as the bedrock and inspiration to 
procuring equality for racial minorities and women.
  On January 31, 1865, Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment to end 
slavery and sent it to the States for ratification. Passage of that 
amendment was by no means an easy feat. As brilliantly captured by 
Steven Spielberg in his film ``Lincoln,'' the final vote was every bit 
as dramatic as the film's portrayal. Doris Kearns Goodwin's award-
winning book, ``Team of Rivals,'' noted that before this historic vote: 
``Every available foot of space, both in the galleries and on the floor 
of the House, was crowded at an early hour,'' and the attendees 
included Chief Justice Chase and the members of the Supreme Court, 
along with Secretary of State William Seward.
  Without the support of five Democrats who became the swing votes, the 
amendment would never have passed. One Pennsylvania congressman, 
knowing that his vote could very well cost him his seat, said right 
before he cast his vote that ``If by my action today I dig my political 
grave, I will descend into it without a murmur.'' I am proud to say 
that both of Vermont's Senators voted in favor of the amendment, 
including Senator Solomon Foot, who served as President pro tempore of 
the Senate during the Civil War, and Senator Jacob Collamer, who was 
called the ``Green Mountain Socrates'' by Senator Charles Sumner of 
Massachusetts. Upon the amendment's passage, Secretary of War Edwin 
Stanton ordered 100 guns to fire with their heaviest charges while the 
names of those who voted in favor of the amendment were read aloud 
because ``History [would] embalm them in great honor.''
  Upon passage, President Lincoln received praise from even his most 
ardent critics, including the prominent abolitionist William Lloyd 
Garrison, who once burned a copy of the Constitution while calling it a 
proslavery document.
  While this year marks the 150th anniversary of the passage and 
ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, we should celebrate the 
second founding amendments together, for they are inextricably bound. 
The Fourteenth Amendment, passed in 1866 and ratified in 1868, is 
perhaps the single most influential amendment passed after the Bill of 
Rights. This week also marks the 149th anniversary of the passage of 
the 14th Amendment in the Senate. It was under the command of the 
Fourteenth Amendment providing equal protection for all citizens that 
the Supreme Court held that separate was inherently unequal in Brown v. 
Board of Education; that marriage is a fundamental right that cannot be 
tainted with racial discrimination in Loving v. Virginia; that women 
could not be denied admission into an all-male military institute 
because of their gender in United States v. Virginia; and many others, 
including hopefully, that the fundamental right to marriage extends to 
all individuals regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity in 
Obergefell v. Hodges.
  Ratification of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments cannot be 
separated from the Fifteenth, which outlawed racial discrimination in 
voting. In 1865, one month after the end of the Civil War, William 
Lloyd Garrison called for disbanding an anti-slavery society of which 
Frederick Douglass and others were members. Prescient as ever, and 
about 100 years before the passage of the Voting Rights Act, Frederick 
Douglass responded that ``Slavery is not abolished until the black man 
has the ballot.''
  As we celebrate the second founding amendments, we must also take 
time to recognize that issues of race continue to plague our Nation. 
And as far as we have come, we still have a lot further to go in our 
march toward a more perfect union. There are some who would confine the 
fight for civil rights to a bygone era. They see it as a remnant of the 
distant past in our Nation's history. And they cite the election of an 
African American president as evidence that we have somehow achieved 
full equality under the law. But we know the struggle for equality and 
for civil rights is ongoing. The fight for a more perfect union is one 
that every generation must contribute to--including this one.
  Mr. FLAKE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution 
be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider 
be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 198) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in today's Record under 
``Submitted Resolutions.'')

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