The president and his supporters, and a few academics, also argue that in 1866 there was no such category as an “undocumented immigrant” because we had open borders. Thus, they claim, when Congress wrote the amendment and the state legislators ratified it, no one could have contemplated the existence of “illegal aliens” living in the U.S.

This was not bigotry with an iron fist; it was more subtle bigotry that wore a velvet glove while writing and defending the pages of the nation’s zoning codes.