California Ratifies 14th Amendment — 91 Years Late!
The state of California ratified the 14th Amendment on this day, May 6, 1959 — 91 years late!
What took them so long?
Read the article below that argues that Californians were not opposed to African-American males (until 1920, that is) voting, but that the 14th Amendment would allow Chinese, Mexican and Native American residents of the state to vote.
The Assembly approved ratification 66-0 and the Senate approved it by a vote of 29-0.
California was also the next to last state to ratify the 14th Amendment. Kentucky was last, ratifying the vitally important 14th Amendment on May 30, 1976 –108 years late. It was also the 37th state to ratify, meaning that 13 states have never ratified the amendment.
The incorporation of the First Amendment protection of freedom of speech into the Fourteenth Amendment in the famous 1925 Gitlow case, which made the First Amendment applicable to all 50 states, marked the beginning of the civil liberties and civil rights revolution in the twentieth century.
Read a fascinating account: Akhil Reed Amar, The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction (2000)
Read an analysis of the racist motives behind California’s long delay in ratifying the 14th Amendment
Learn about the famous Gitlow case: Marc Lendler, Gitlow v. New York: Every Idea an Incitement (2012)
Read a very brief history of California’s ratification of the 14th Amendment