Every American citizen owes a debt of gratitude to John Mercer Langston, architect of the 14th Amendment and founding dean of the Howard University School of Law.

His writings and speeches are critical to understanding the current implementation of the most important provision of the U.S. Constitution.

Just a month after the ratification of the 13th Amendment in December 1865, Langston spoke about the interpretations by several attorneys general that African-Americans could not be citizens. As the first Black person to address the Missouri legislature on Jan. 9, 1866, Langston said, "Indeed, it has not been uncommon for distinguished officials, occupying high positions in the State and National Governments, to make the assertion that ours is and shall remain a white man's Government."

However, he continued, that is not what the Founders decided. "It was South Carolina that made the proposition, when the Articles of Confederation were under consideration in Congress, to insert the word ‘white’ between the words ‘free’ and ‘inhabitants,' in the fourth article of that document, and make it read that ‘the free white inhabitants of each of these States, paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice excepted, shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities........

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