Section 1. 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. Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. 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. Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
The 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was one of the most important amendments to the Constitution since the Bill Of Rights. It says that anyone born or naturalized in the United States is a citizen of the country, that the state governments have no right to deprive a person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, and that everyone is equal under the law. The amendment overturned the Dred Scott ruling which had made all blacks noncitizens. The amendment passed congress easily, as the Republicans had a lock on both houses because the South had not been readmitted, but the amendment was not ratified by the states for two years after congressional approval. The amendment was finally ratified once the Republicans forced the Southern states to ratify in order to gain remittance to the Union.
The 14th amendment was one of the most historically significant amendments to the constitution. First of all, the amendment gave a way to deal with the Confederate leaders. Section three of the amendment forbade all people who were involved in rebellion from holding public office. This meant that only people who were loyal to the Union would be able to hold office in the South after the war. The amendment also invalidated any debts incurred by the Confederacy, and, more importantly, released the States and the Federal Government from paying any citizen for the emancipation of slaves. The amendment also made the former Confederacy permit all adult males to vote. Article 2 of the amendment made sure of this by decreasing representation in congress for any state that denied people the right to vote. The amendment solved the problem of how to make all of the states permit blacks as citizens. Furthermore, the equal protection and due process clauses have figured into many Supreme Court decisions since the amendment was passed. Some of these include Plessey V. Ferguson and Brown V. Board of Education.
FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT: 1868
Section 1. 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.
Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
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.
Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
The 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was one of the most important amendments to the Constitution since the Bill Of Rights. It says that anyone born or naturalized in the United States is a citizen of the country, that the state governments have no right to deprive a person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, and that everyone is equal under the law. The amendment overturned the Dred Scott ruling which had made all blacks noncitizens. The amendment passed congress easily, as the Republicans had a lock on both houses because the South had not been readmitted, but the amendment was not ratified by the states for two years after congressional approval. The amendment was finally ratified once the Republicans forced the Southern states to ratify in order to gain remittance to the Union.
The 14th amendment was one of the most historically significant amendments to the constitution. First of all, the amendment gave a way to deal with the Confederate leaders. Section three of the amendment forbade all people who were involved in rebellion from holding public office. This meant that only people who were loyal to the Union would be able to hold office in the South after the war. The amendment also invalidated any debts incurred by the Confederacy, and, more importantly, released the States and the Federal Government from paying any citizen for the emancipation of slaves. The amendment also made the former Confederacy permit all adult males to vote. Article 2 of the amendment made sure of this by decreasing representation in congress for any state that denied people the right to vote. The amendment solved the problem of how to make all of the states permit blacks as citizens. Furthermore, the equal protection and due process clauses have figured into many Supreme Court decisions since the amendment was passed. Some of these include Plessey V. Ferguson and Brown V. Board of Education.
Secondary Source:
http://www.scpr.org/blogs/multiamerican/2011/01/06/7518/a-short-history-of-the-14th-amendment/
Primary Source:
http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=2282&chapter=216270&layout=html&Itemid=27