The Fourteenth Amendment (Amendment XIV) The amendments were put into place to protect the rights and civil liberties of all American citizens from the federal government. However, prior to the fourteenth amendment, there was no certainty with the constitution. The constitution did not state in a clear enough way who was protected under it and exactly what rights you had as an American Citizen. The 14th amendment was in response to the just passed thirteenth amendment, which ended slavery in all of the southern states. This document drastically changed the perception of the citizens, showing that it protected the civil rights of whites and blacks. While the fourteenth amendment was instated to expand citizenship, it has caused controversy …show more content…
The 14th amendment is split into five sections. Section one is the most important of them all and it states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” (The Constitution 2014). However it was put to test in the south early on. Even though it granted Blacks citizenship it did not give them equality, and soon arose numerous …show more content…
The Due process in the 14th amendment is the same as the due process in the fifth but it regards the states. “It acts as a safeguard from arbitrary denial of life, liberty, or property by the Government outside the sanction of law” (). The due process clause has been upheld and seen in many Supreme Court cases. The most influential and infamous was Roe v. Wade which said the right of privacy under the due process clause of the14th Amendment extended to a woman 's decision to have an abortion. Due
The 13th amendment outlawed slavery in the United States, while the 14th amendment granted citizenship to anyone born in the United States. The 15th amendment gave all races the right to vote if they are a citizen of the United States. Each amendment are interconnected successes, shaping the Reconstruction period. Each amendment has deeply influenced our society, as well as our attitudes and beliefs. They are an image of positivity and change for the well-being of our nation.
That realization led to the fourteenth amendment being passed to address citizen rights and equal protection of the
The fourteenth amendment states, “forbids states from denying any person "life, liberty or property, without due process of law" or to "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. ”(US Constitution). The fourteenth amendment forces the states that any person has to be tried and convicted in order for them to have all their rights taken away. A person cannot put a person to death, or put them in jail, until they are proven guilty. States cannot just send a person to jail for ten years because they think the suspect killed a person, there needs to be a court process.
The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects any person within their jurisdiction of their due process and equal protection. The Equal Protection Clause under the 14th Amendment requires the states to apply their laws equally to any person within their jurisdiction. The equal protection clause aims to provide equal application of the law. It is also crucial to the protection of civil rights. There should be no discrimination in its application.
The issue of slavery continued to boil as tensions between the north and the south got closer and closer to all out war One of the most important ways that the 14th Amendment impacted the abolitionist movement was by granting citizenship and equal protection under the law to all freed slaves. Prior to the amendment, slaves were not considered legal citizens and had no legal rights or protections in fact they were counted as less than human and were horribly mistreated. The amendment declared that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside" (Britannica schools, Fourteenth amendment). This ensured that all freed slaves were granted the rights and protections that come with
This amendment granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” which included former slaves recently freed by the Thirteenth Amendment. In addition to granting citizenship, it forbids states from denying anyone "life, liberty or property, without due process of law" or to "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws,” no matter who they were. The 14th Amendment expanded the protection of civil rights tremendously to all Americans no matter color or race and is cited in more litigations than any other amendment of the United States today. On June 22, 1866, precisely fourteen days after the senate passed the Fourteenth Amendment, President Andrew Johnson issued a message to Congress announcing that the Fourteenth Amendment had been sent to the states for ratification. Johnson voiced his negative opinion of the amendment by stating that his actions should "be considered as purely ministerial, and in no sense whatever committing the Executive to an approval or a recommendation of the amendment to the State legislatures or to the
The fourteenth amendment protects the little people. The people who are slipping through the cracks, the ones that have fallen by the wayside of the majority. Recently, this has meant rulings in favor of same-sex marriage. Historically, it has granted women the right to an abortion and given African Americans the right to go to the same schools as their fellow Americans. In each case, an oppressed or otherwise infringed group from the overreaches of the state, the society at large.
This amendment allowed blacks to have an equal part in American society barring the exception of voting. They were provided with due process of law and a right to a fair trial, this made them equal in the courtrooms in theory. They were still discriminated against in the courts and really did not have fair trials and due process. Many whites still believed themselves superior to blacks, so most times when a black was brought into a legal proceeding they were convicted, no matter if they were innocent or guilty. They also had the right to run for local political offices, while this was a tremendous stepping stone for black rights, those blacks that ran for office never were elected because blacks did not have the right to vote, and no white man would vote for a black in this time period.
Some people may think that the 14th amendment does a poor job of protecting people’s rights. In document five it explains how on September 11, 2001,with the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, it has caused video surveillance in the United States to increase. For example the U.S has programs that use facial recognition that help match photographs of criminals faces to the criminal. Another program that we use helps prevent suicide bombers from attacking. Some people may think that prevention of terrible events reoccuring or occurring is a good thing, but using security systems everywhere may be a violation of their rights and privacy.
Second came the 14th amendment that was ratified on July 9, 1868 and granted citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the United States. The goal of this amendment was to increase the amount of people that had access to the protections of civil rights to all those classified under the law as American (“Primary Documents in American History." 14th Amendment…). Finally there was the 15th amendment which was ratified on February 3, 1870 and granted African-American men the right to vote. (“Primary Documents in American History."
The 14th amendment essentially grants citizenship to all people born in The United States. The law also states no person can be denied "equal protection of the laws. " In many states this law freed slaves. This changed because of the 14th amendment it allowed colored people to vote and voice their opinions.
The 13th amendment enforces the ban on slavery. The 14th amendment gave Congress authority to enforce the amendment’s prohibition on a state’s denial of equal protection of the laws. Also established the citizenship birthright meaning anyone born in the United States is automatically a citizen. There is also no denying the person in the United States life, liberty, or property without due process. The 15th amendment gave Congress authority to enforce the amendment’s ban on discrimination by race,
The Bill of Rights are the first ten amendments in our Constitution which protect our fundamental rights and ensure a limited government. In 1868 the 14th Amendment was added, which guarantees citizens equal protection under the law and due process. For the Bill of Rights to be effective it would have to protect everyone rights equally, but there are too many cases when minorities or anyone else’s rights are infringed. Therefore the Bill of Rights and 14th Amendment is ineffective and does not protect the rights of all citizens. Someone’s race, gender, and religion could all affect how they are treated.
It has been used in many different court cases and to define the rights of US citizens. The original meanings of The Fourteenth Amendment was to give slaves the right to become citizens and to restrain state governments from abridging the rights of former slaves after the Civil War. The amendment evolved from this as time progressed and as the United States changed. It is now used to define citizen rights, grant citizenship to the free people and guarantee that all people are entitled to the protections of due process of law. The Fourteenth Amendment has become one of the most heavily litigated sections of the Constitution.
Would you like your home to be searched in the middle of the night and have all of your stuff thrown on the ground just because a police officer may think that you have been doing something illegal? Luckily your Fourth amendment right protects you from this ever happening. The purpose of the Fourth Amendment is to protect U.S. citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. During the revolutionary war the British had imposed the writs of assistance which was a law that gave British government much more power over American Individuals. Americans were very unhappy with the writs of assistance because many would be thrown in jail without reason or a very weak one and their property would be destroyed by British officials