Pres. Andrew Johnson's Veto of the First-Ever Civil Rights Act

On this day in 1866, Pres. Andrew Johnson vetoed the first-ever Civil Rights Act, which allowed Black people to become U.S. citizens. In his veto message, Johnson expressed the now popular White supremacist talking point that any equity effort amounted to “anti-White” racism. 1/ pic.twitter.com/UFgXimrcB8

— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) March 27, 2023

Johnson became POTUS when Lincoln was assassinated in 1865. Johnson went on to oppose Black civil and voting rights, and hardly did anything to stop the postwar White supremacist violence of former Confederates and their new "Black Codes" that all but reconstructed slavery. 2/ pic.twitter.com/yr3MXrHNm3

— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) March 27, 2023

SCOTUS's Dred Scott decision in 1857 denied citizenship to even free Black people. The 1866 Civil Rights Act stated Black people born in the U.S. were citizens, listed rights they had as citizens, and also penalties for anyone who aided in the deprivation of those rights. 3/ pic.twitter.com/mX0xqvSTY1

— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) March 27, 2023

Johnson claimed that forcing White southerners to treat their former property as citizens would be a federal overreach. Opponents of civil and human rights still push "states' rights!" They still rejoice when federal safeguards fall like when SCOTUS overturned Roe last summer. 4/ pic.twitter.com/05biJRJ878

— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) March 27, 2023

Black people spent centuries subjected to laws that enslaved them, all the while, with their backs, building U.S. wealth and U.S. institutions, like the White House and Capitol. But Johnson called Black people “strangers” who are “unfamiliar with our institutions and laws.” 5/ pic.twitter.com/nSOlLGOuyU

— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) March 27, 2023

Since Black people were “illegal aliens,” to use a present framing, Johnson suggested they needed to go on “probation.” The 17th president, who allowed almost all Confederate rebels to be citizens again, said Black people “must give evidence of their fitness” to be citizens. 6/ pic.twitter.com/JlgNs8MR06

— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) March 27, 2023

By letting Black people be citizens, the CRA “proposes a discrimination against large numbers of intelligent, worthy and patriotic foreigners,” Johnson wrote. Black citizens still hear "Go back to your country" or "We should bring in more people from places like Norway." 7/ pic.twitter.com/CXZJF1hp8D

— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) March 27, 2023

To Johnson, the protections of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 go "infinitely beyond any that" the U.S. "has ever provided for the white race." In his mind, the U.S. had not protected White settlers as they stole Native lands? Had not protected White people from being enslaved? 8/ pic.twitter.com/hhK1AdaIuK

— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) March 27, 2023

Since the 1790 Naturalization Act, U.S. citizens had primarily been White. With the 1866 CRA granting Black citizenship, Johnson didn't see equity. "In fact, the distinction of race and color is by the bill made to operate in favor of the colored and against the white race.” 9/ pic.twitter.com/iuZllBjHEn

— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) March 27, 2023