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At the time of the introduction of the 14th Amendment there were 37 states in the Union. By the middle of 1867 the Federal Secretary of State had recieved offical documents giving the states answer to the proposed 14th Amendment. The Result was a rejection of the amendment as follows:

States in the Union: 37

Needed to Ratify 28

States Voting Yes 22

States Voting No 12

States not voting 3

Mississippi's rejection resolution did not reach Washington and therefore it is numbered with the non-voting states. Even if all the non-voting states had voted for the amendment, it would still be short of the required number for ratification.

The Northern Congress realized that their attempt to secure passage of the amendment had failed. Thus the letter of constitutional law had survived the initial post-war assault. But the Northern Congress was determined to complete the radical change it had initiated. Frivolous Technicalities such as constitutional limitations, ethics and morality proved no obsticle.

To Secure accomplishment of the 14th amendment the Northern Congress did the following.

1. Declared the Southern States to be outside the erswhile indivisible union.

2. Deny Majority Rule in the Southern States by the disfranchisement of large numbers of the population.

3. Require the Southern States to ratify the Amendment as the price of getting back in the Union from which they had been denied the right to secede.

The third point is a real brain-teaser. The North in 1866 removed the Southern States from the Union. This was the Same North that in 1861 refused to allow the States to secede from the Union. This same North now declared the Southern States non-states. To get back in the Union (that they originally didn't want to be part of anyway) it was required to preform the function of a state in the Union, while still officially no longer part of a Union, by ratifying an amendment previously as states in the Union, it had legally rejected!

Remember also that many of the states that voted against the 14th Amendment in 1866, Voted for the 13th in 1865, AND THEIR VOTE WAS COUNTED IN THE TOTAL in 1865, without their vote the 13th is invalid.

So either the 13th is valid and the 14th is not, or the 14th is valid and the 13th is not.

Take your pick pal.

Please if you disagree, Enlighten Us to why the above is not correct!