Who was John Bingham?

0:05This is Ohio Representative John Bingham. John Bingham Republican from the state of Ohio. Ohio was divided between Democrats and Republicans. Bingham was always fighting for reelection, different times when the Democrats seemed to have more power, and sometimes the Republicans seem to have more power. But despite the fact that he was always in a very precarious position, regarding whether or not he was going to be re elected, he believed in equality and American freedom for every person born on American soil regardless of their race. Even before the Civil War, John Bingham had been demanding that every person in America received the rights of due process, and that meant slavery had to end. He was a major supporter of abolition, a major supporter of the 13th Amendment.

0:53But he also understood that something more needed to be done, in terms of preventing the Black Codes from denying Black Americans in the South their equal civil rights, and he believed in even more than that. Believe it or not, the Bill of Rights, and you may have heard of the Bill of Rights, the First Amendment, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion, and freedom of press and second Amendment rights, and the rights of due process and the right not to face cruel and unusual punishment. All of these rights are listed in the first 10 Amendments, and we often think of them as the rights of all Americans everywhere. Well, in the beginning, the Bill of Rights only bound the federal government. The Bill of Rights did not bind the states at all. In the beginning, people believed,

1:38let's leave all of those subjects to state control. We're not sure about the federal government, so we'll do a Bill of Rights that binds them, but the Bill of Rights do not bind the states. That's for local people to decide amongst themselves. If they want to give civil rights, they can. If they want to enslave their local population, they can. All of this was left to state control.

1:57Bingham represented a new generation of Americans, all within the Republican Party, who believed that it was time to take the Bill of Rights and make it enforceable against the states. Americans, white or black, should be able to speak and speak freely, no matter where they were in the country, no matter what state they were in.

2:18Every abolitionist with an abolitionist pamphlet or an abolitionist newspaper, white or black should be able to publish and distribute their newspaper north or south. All of these were rights of American citizenship, and so at the same time he was fighting against the Black codes and proposing an amendment that would allow Congress to prevent discrimination. He also demanded that we add an amendment which protected the national rights of American citizenship, including all the rights listed in the Bill of Rights, the first 10 Amendments. He drafted a clause that said, "No state shall make or enforce any law abridging the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States". When he described what those privileges or immunities of citizens were, he said, Look in the Citizens document. It's right there in the Citizens Constitution

3:13in the first ten Amendments to the Constitution. He proposes Section 1, which is going to bring non discrimination principles and which is going to bring the Bill of Rights and American freedoms in every state in the union. He drafts it, and that's why he's the James Madison on the 14th Amendment. But you need to understand Bingham's role was much more important than that. Everyone, there should be statutes of John Bingham in every town, and I encourage whoever is listening, to this video today, all of you need to contact your local city council or your local state legislature and demand a statute for John Bingham, who's responsible for the most important freedoms we have in the entire country. But he's responsible, not just because he drafted it, he's responsible because he ensured it became a part of the constitution. After they passed the 14th Amendment, and they sent it to the states for ratification.

4:08The Northern states were willing to ratify it, but the Southern states didn't like federal control over all of these subjects that they believed should be left to local control. The provisional governments in the Southern States refused to ratify the 14th Amendment. As you now know, nothing gets added to the constitution unless it meets that three quarters super Majoritary requirement. That meant the 14th Amendment could not become a part of the constitution unless a majority of the Southern States ratified it, and a majority of the Southern states, the provisional governments in the Southern States refused to ratify the Amendment. Right around the beginning of 1867, some Republicans said, it's never going to happen. It's just never going to happen. We should just give up. We should give up on the 14th Amendment. Try to pass some statutes. Hopefully, they'll be upheld by the courts,

5:00but this simply is no longer worth our time. At that point, John Bingham stood up in the House of Representatives and said, you may not do this. You may not forego an amendment which we have given to the people and who the people should have a right to continue to debate and vote on. He said, so here's what we're going to do. Don't give up on the 14th Amendment. The problem is these provisional white governments in the South, are refusing to vote on it. Let's send the military down to the South. Let's have them register all loyal people in the Southern states, not just loyal white Southerners, but register loyal Black Southerners. Then hold new votes. These new votes will not just be the provisional white government under Andrew Johnson, these new votes will be the loyal people of

5:52the United States themselves and the Southern states. Congress agreed, they passed the Reconstruction Act. The Reconstruction Act allowed for the registration of both black and white voters in the South. They created new Southern governments. They held new votes on the 14th Amendment. This time, with the addition of black votes, they ratified the 14th Amendment.

6:15An extraordinary effort of political organization and political power by Black Americans in the South. Again, it was under the leadership of John Bingham.