The US will pay its debts with these exceptions:
"...neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave;..."
So ... what will the fed and state governments pay for? What will they NOT be allowed to pay for?
Thanks for all your help. This is my last question that I have. Promise. How this section of the 14th amendment significant during Reconstruction.
Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void
3 answers
I'm still confused.
Example: Southerners who had owned slaves would not be reimbursed by the government when all slaves were emancipated. (Do a little research and find out what Southerners paid for slaves on average, and then think about that amount times the number of slaves on a plantation or farm.) How much money a Southerner lost depended on how many slaves he had owned and how much he had paid for each. But once all slavery was declared illegal (emancipation of slaves), any Southerner's claim for reimbursement (when he "lost" all his slaves at once) was considered an illegal claim and would not be paid.
What's another example from the statement you posted above? What other kinds of claims would not be paid by either the federal or state governments?
What's another example from the statement you posted above? What other kinds of claims would not be paid by either the federal or state governments?
1 answer