The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-02-23
STEPHEN NEAL.
The Man Who Wrote the Fourteenth Amend
ment to the Constitution.

ment to the Constitution.
Lebanon (Ind.) Letter in Cincinnati Enquirer.
Hon. Stephen Neal, of this city, was the mar
in whose mind was first originated and whose
hands first penned the fourteenth amendment
to the Constitution of the United States. In
1867 Hon. G. s. Ortiz was the Representative in
Congress from this district, and among his
warmest friends and most ardent supporters was
Mr. Neal. In the various political battles from
the first organization of the Republican party
they had been enlisted under the same banner,
fought together on the political skirmish line.
rejoiced with each other over political victories,
and together counseled as to the future Of the
country.
In February, 1867, Andrew johnson, Presi-
dent of the United States, vetoed the civil
rights bill, claiming that it was unconstitu
tional, and, although the measure was passed by
Congress, Notwithstanding the veto, great
many statesmen felt that some measure ought
to be incorporated into the Constitution
clearly defining citizenship, and the power
OF States in relation thereto. At this
time the newly -emancipated slaves of the South
occupied rather precarious position. They
were freed. but were not considered by many as
citizens. Their rights to hold property were not
| clearly defined, and there was nothing prevent
ing any State adopting laws that would place the
negro in worse condition than that of slavery.
He could have been deprived of the right to hold
property, to testify in courts, and thus left
| the mercy of any villain who might wish to i'm
pose upon him.
In April, 1867, Mr.. Neal wrote to Mr. Ortiz
then in Washington, inclosing a draft of the
fourteenth amendment, substantially as it was
afterward adopted April 49, 1867, Mr. Orth
wrote Mr.. Neal acknowledging the receipt of
his letter and Enclosure, and stated that the
same had been submitted to a caucus of Repub-
lican statesmen, and that ere he received that
letter it would be introduced in Congress A
few days later the matter was taken up in Con
gress, and on June 20, 1867, Congress recon-
| mended to the various States the adoption of
the same, which was afterward done. Such
is the origin of an act without
which the emancipation of the slaves of
the South would have been OF but little effect
| By this act citizenship was defined, and the
enactment, by any State. of any law abridging
any of the rights or immunitieS of citizenship
| forbidden Henceforth all were entitled to the
| equal protection of the law in the enjoyment Of
| lfe liberty and the pursuit of happiness, of
whatever color. race or previous condition. and
could be deprived of neither, except by due
process of law.
Mr. Neal was born in Pittsylvania county. vir-
| ginia June IL. 1917, and is now in his sixty
ninth year. When he was about three years old
| his father removed to Bath county, Kentucky.
| Here at that early dav. living remote from any
town, young Meals educational facilities We're
necessarily restricted. However. he learned to
| read and write, and being of a retiring and mod
est disposition. and having the faculty OF caution
| largely developed, he managed to keep out of
| bad company. something rather unusual for a
| Kentucky youth in those days of horse-racing
| free fights and free whisky. Mr.. Neal was not a
coward by any means. but always thought it
| better to avoid trouble than to fight out of it:
but if the occasion required, he could assert and
maintain his rights against any who interfered
with them.
In his fifteenth year his mother died, and the
year following his father gave him the privilege
| of choosing his life vocation. He continued to
| work on the farm and attend school alternately
| until about bis nineteenth year, when he entered
| the academy at Moorfeld, KY, then in charge of
| Prof. Henry T. Trimble. a graduate of Transyl-
vania University. In this school Mr.. Neal ac-
gured knowledge of Latin and Greek. and laid
| the foundation for his subsequent professional
| and literary attainments. He quilted school in
| his twenty second year. and soon thereafter en-
] gagged in school-teaching Unwilling, however,
| to adopt teaching as lifetime pursuit he re-
solved to study law, and in the spring of 1841 he
| removed to Madison, Ind. and entered the law
| Office of the Hon. JOS. G. Marshall as a student.
| lie afterward returned to Carlisle. KY. where
| he passed an examination by Judges Reed, OF
| Maysville. and Simpson, of Mount Sterling. KY,
and Was admitted to practice in all of the courts
Of that State, In the year 1843 he returned To
| Indiana. aud located at Lebanon Boone county.
where he has since resided. with the exception of
1 about two years spent in Iowa. AT this time the
practice of law in Indiana was not very lucrative
! and Mr.. Neal also farmed little during the