Civil Rights Act of 1866

Questions for Further Study

• 1. What was the meaning of “civil rights” in the 1866 Civil Rights Act?
• 2. How would you describe the relationship between the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Fourteenth Amendment? Describe their similarities and differences.
• 3. Compare and contrast the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Civil Rights Act of 1875. Did the later statute differ substantially from its predecessor? In what ways?
• 4. Suppose that Congress had extended the 1866 Civil Rights Act to the realm of private actions. Do you think that revised statute would have had a significant impact on the history of race relations in the United States?
• 5. How would you evaluate what some have characterized as judicial revisionism in the interpretation of the Civil Rights Act of 1866?