On July 29, 2008, the US House of Representatives approved a resolution apologizing to African Americans for slavery and Jim Crow laws. The resolution declared: "That the House of Representatives ... acknowledges that slavery is incompatible with the basic founding principles recognized in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal[,] acknowledges the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow, and apologizes to African Americans on behalf of the people of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow." The measure was drafted by Representative Steve Cohen, who lauded the resolution's passage as a step forward for racial reconciliation.



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