Arguments Against The 14 Amendment

The originally Bill of Rights protected the rights of citizens from infringement by the federal government, but made no mention of the states. The Fourteen Amendment, adopted shortly after the Civil War, protected citizenship and individual rights from infringement by state governments. Under the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause, the United States Supreme Court began to apply the most important rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights against the states. This process began in the early 1900s and is known as the doctrine of selective incorporation. Duncan versus Louisiana was the landmark case in which the court incorporated the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial against the states.

Congress gave the amendment seven years for ratification when it was submitted in 1972. Many states ratified the amendment quickly, other states refused the ratification.

Although the Amendment suggests that all men and women are equal, the fact is, the

In my beliefs, I would say that the most important amendments in the Bill of Rights are the number one and five. In fact, there are many consequences that come with each one of them. First, I believe that the number one is the

On a date that will be remembered forever as a step forward for our nation, July 28, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment became part of the U.S. Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment gave a new sense of hope and inspiration to a once oppressed people. It was conceived to be the foundation for restoring America to its great status and prosperity. The Amendment allowed “equal protection under the law”, no matter what race, religion, sex, sexual preference or social status. It was designed to protect the newly freed slaves. However, it only helped the white race.

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 and debate in the court system with two major key points, the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses.

The Fourteenth Amendment is relatively new compared to the Bill of Rights, having been passed in 1868. The first major case that dealt with the amendment were the Slaughterhouse Cases in 1872. In those cases, a group of slaughterhouses that were put out of business by a Louisiana law creating a monopoly claimed that they were denied equal protection under the law. Though the court ultimately denied their claim primarily on the basis that the Privileges and Immunities Clause does not apply to the states, they also

14.|The section of the Fourteenth Amendment that had the greatest legal significance in subsequent years was the section that|

“The purpose that brought the fourteenth amendment into being was equality before the law, and equality, not separation, was written into the law,” says Robert Bork. After the civil war in the US ended in 1865, the fourteenth amendment or the Equal Rights amendment was written in July 9th of 1868. Since the civil war was between south and north, and the south was defending its Black Codes, it was necessary to give the colored people a sensation of belonging to their country. Thus, the fourteenth amendment was established. Of course, the circumstances past then are surely different than the circumstances now a day. However, the Equal Rights amendment is surely still valid till our days. The amendment consists of five sections, and start by defining whom is American. Then, In the first section it clearly states that all citizens of the united states are protected and their rights should not be abridged. Obviously, the amendment does give a feeling of security to all

In the case of Barron v. Baltimore in 1833, the Supreme Court ruled that the Bill of Rights are just restrictions on the federal government alone. To prevent the states from limiting rights granted to the citizens in the Constitution, the 14th Amendment was passed. The 14th Amendment was adopted on July 9, 1868 as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. The amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws and was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves after the American Civil War. It was severely contested, especially by the states of the Confederacy that were defeated and were forced to ratify it in order to regain representation in Congress. The amendment’s first section includes many clauses, but one important one is the Equal Protection Clause. This clause requires each state to provide equal protection under the law to all people, including non-citizens, within its jurisdiction. The clause has also been the basis for many decisions rejecting irrational or unnecessary discrimination against people belonging to various groups. Eventually, selective incorporation occurred in which the civil liberties granted in the Bill of Rights were applied to the states on a case-by-case basis through the 14th Amendment. Now, the same liberties that were granted to the federal government, were now enacted with the state governments. Same-sex marriage is one of these fundamental rights, rights that require a high degree of protection from government

The 14th Amendment also gave Congress authority to enforce this amendment which led to the passage of the Landmark Legislation in the 20th century including the Civil Rights and Voting Act. These two Acts eventually granted Blacks, Women and others their

The 14th Amendment was added to the Constitution in order to guarantee equal treatment and to forbid any state to deny someone the right to receive a fair chance with issues of life, property and due process. (p 30). Today, the 14th Amendment continues to represents as one of the most historically significant building blocks to our nation's democracy. It still symbolizes our country's promise that everybody is created equally under the law regardless of gender, race, orientation or nationality. The relevance of the 14th Amendment outlined in the United States Constitution shapes the origin and growth of our nation.

Later, civil war ensued and following the lose of the Confederacy the 14th Amendment was ratified into law. Its intention was to recognize the ex-slaves as American citizens, guaranteeing them “equal protection of the laws.” However, Section 2 was added stating the states reserve the right to bar persons from voting privileges who have participated in “rebellion or other crime.” This was to convince

The fourteenth amendment has been and still is the most important amendment in the Constitution. It has been instrumental in improving the rights of citizens and has been used to litigate many landmark supreme court cases; it has been referred to in more court case than any other amendment. written into law on July 9, 1868, the fourteenth amendment grants citizenship to everyone born or naturalized in the United States. Furthermore, it bars states from denying any person life, liberty, or property, without due process of law or to deny to any person within its authority the equal protection of the law.

It was not until after the Civil War that the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments were enacted and began protecting individuals against the states. The Fourteenth Amendment has been the principal means by which this protection has been accomplished. It reads, in part, “No State shall...deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.” The Supreme Court had interpreted this guarantee of liberty to embrace the fundamental liberties in the Bill of Rights, meaning that the state governments must observe and protect them to the same extent as the federal government this is also known called incorporation. The amendments in the Bill of Rights are said to be incorporated against the states through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. There has been an ongoing debate on the Supreme Court about the extent of incorporation, and whether the entire Bill of Rights, or only some of it’s guarantees, should be incorporated against the states.