The Civil Rights Act, of 1866, was the first attempt at the federal level to protect the civil rights and liberties of the African American community after the Civil War. Its first draft was proposed in 1865, but it was vetoed by President Andrew Johnson. In 1866, Congress proposed a new draft in support of the Thirteenth Amendment but again it was stopped by Johnson´s veto. However, by a majority vote in Congress, the bill was finally passed in 1866 and it was ratified and fortified in 1870 by the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment. This civil rights act was significant because it was the first time in U.S history that a legal act was passed at the federal level which defined what citizenship was and established that all citizens must be treated equally and must be protected by the law, especially in regards to African Americans who had been either brought into, or were born in, U.S territory.
