Essay On The 14th Amendment

In order to show how the “separate but equal” doctrine came to be, as a class we created a mock trial of the Plessy v. Ferguson case. The idea of separate but equal allowed states to segregate black and white people through public services and accommodations for over 60 years. Despite this idea of equality in the doctrine, many people took advantage of it, as it gave both black and white people an influence on whether they were inferior or superior.

The 14th Amendment of the United States constitution guarantees that, “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” (U.S Constitution, Sec. 1). This amendment gives the citizens of the United States their basic human rights and the process that must be taken accounted for in any given court cases. No individual born in the United States should be stripped from their rights no matter the circumstances, for example the skin color, race, religious beliefs or sexuality preferences should interfere. The Constitution is a document that was signed on September 17, 1787 for the nation in order to solve any pre-occurring disagreements that were bound to happen soon (“Constitution Faqs”). The document establishes the rights that are given to all U.S citizens laying out their rights, the freedoms that they are granted, and the series of events that were to occur in the court of law. When the Constitution was signed into effect many people at that time period had a hard time adjusting to the new laws and regulations. Despite the new laws, many would still abide their own personal traditions and not follow the new established laws. This Mentality that many had would continue to happen for the next couple of decades to come. For example,

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 Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson is known for having established the precedent of “separate but equal.” The case originated in Louisiana and was specifically made to the separate passenger cars that were for the black and white races. The Supreme Court, in this case, upheld the right of Louisiana to separate the races and “this decision provided the legal foundation to justify many other actions by state and local governments to socially separate blacks and whites” (Zimmerman, 1997). It was not until the famous Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954 that the highest court in the land outlawed the principal of segregation and the concept of “separate but equal.”

The Fourteenth Amendment accomplished three important things in terms of providing equal protection of the laws. These three things, which are found in Sections 1 and 5, were providing a definition of citizenship, declaring what protections states were required to give to their citizens, and giving the federal government broad power to take action against states that did not provide the necessary protections to their citizens.

In 1791, the tenth Amendment expressed, "The forces not appointed to the United States by the Constitution, nor precluded by it to the States, are saved to the States separately, or to the individuals." Public instruction was not said as one of those elected powers, thus truly has been assigned to the nearby and state governments. In 1868, the fourteenth Amendment ensured rights to all American Citizens by expressing, "all persons conceived or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the locale thereof, are natives in the United States and of the state wherein they live. No state should make or uphold any law which might abbreviate the benefits or immunities of nationals of the United States; nor might any state deny any individual of life, freedom or property, without due procedure of law; nor deny to any individual inside of its locale the equivalent security of the

In 1896 the U.S. Supreme Court case upheld the constitution of segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine in the Plessy vs. Ferguson case. This case examined one key issue, was it constitutional to make black people sit in separate cars from white people? In 1890, Homer Plessy broke the law in Louisiana, by sitting in the white people car and he was 1/8 black and 7/8 white. The state of Louisiana passed the Separate Car Act, which required railway companies to have "separate but equal." There was punishment for not following the law which if a person would sit in the wrong car they had to pay $25 fine or go to jail for 20 days. Plessy was asked to move, but he refused and was arrested. When he was sent to jail he argued that Separated car acts violated the 14th amendment. Plessy took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court and it was

Imagine living in a world where everyone was considered equal. Imagine living in a world where people were considerate of others. Imagine living in a world where everyone had the same rights and privileges. The Framers took a step at achieving this world with the passage of the 14th amendment. The intent of the 14th amendment was to prevent state governments from denying African Americans in the U.S. from their citizenship. At the time Africans were unable to attain citizenship because of their skin color. The Framer’s objective in formulating the 14th amendment was to grant citizenship to everyone born in the U.S., regardless of skin color. The 14th amendment expanded the protection of civil rights to all citizens in America.

The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868 and the amendment was put in place to protect former slaves and their rights in life. The most important part of the amendment reads, “No state shall ‘deprive a person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person… the equal protection of the laws.’” This simple statement has one of the most profound and incredible parts of the United States today. The equal protection of the laws show that there must be equal treatment for all citizens regardless of race, class, or gender. Although there has been many racial events happening after this amendment was passed this clause still stands to today and has helped shape the United States for the better. Having this clause in the Fourteenth Amendment protects the ‘little guy’ and makes sure that everyone has the same ability to do whatever everyone else is doing.

The 14th amendment is an amendment about civil rights and liberties. In the 14th amendment, it talks about equal protection of the law for all people no matter what race, religion age gender economic status or anything else it also states that due process and equal protection must be enforced at state levels too.The 14th amendment was created in an effort to end discrimination. In theory the 14th amendment sounds wonderful and very effective however in real world situations the 14th amendment and bill of rights are not as effective as they were thought to be. This is evident through many things a few these are inequalities that are still present (document 1,4), still favored rich over the poor(document 3) and still does not show equal protection for all races (document 5).

The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is commonly regarded as a major victory against racism that further advanced democracy in America. Adopted on July 9, 1868, it attempted to transform the oppressive culture of the Confederacy by granting citizenship rights to all people born or naturalized in the United States and affording equal protection under the law to all U.S. citizens. Nonetheless, in spite of aiming to put an end to discrimination against African-Americans and other minority groups, this important amendment did not entirely succeed in eradicating racism during the Reconstruction era.

The 1860s were an extremely turbulent decade with numerous cultural, social, and political upheavals in America. During this time period the 13th and 14th amendments were ratified giving African Americans more freedom than they had ever had. However even with the ratification of these amendments whites and blacks were still segregated. It's not possible to achieve equality while the two are races are separated. Equality can only be achieved through communication, so you can begin to understand each other's side.

The fourteenth amendment is also known as equal protection clause. Under the fourteenth amendment, the U.S. Constitution prohibits the states from denying a person that lives in the state the equal rights of the law (LII, 2017). The fourteenth amendment applies to education, especially those that are English language learners (ELL), this means that these students cannot be denied the same rights as non-English language learners. In the Supreme Court case of Lau v Nichols in 1974, this case involved a Chinese American student that attended the San Francisco Unified School District, this student was placed into a general education classroom despite the lack of being proficient in English (Wright, 2010). The school in which this student attended was found in violation, the school was giving ELL students the same material as all other students who speak proficient English and expected the Chinese American student to be able to comprehend the information that is being taught. School districts need to provide the same material, but in a modified form where the student’s will be able to access the information to learn it in the same manner as those non-English language learners.

One of the most famous cases that influenced the Fourth Amendment was that of Entick v. Carrington. This was only one of many civil cases against officials who raided people’s homes and other places in search of materials connected with John Wilkes' political pamphlets that attack both the government and the King. Mr. Entick, who was an associate of John Wilkes, sued because agents had entered his house forcefully and broken into desks and boxes that were locked. They then seized pamphlets, charts, and other printed materials. The courts decided the warrant gave the officials the right to search and seizure and the ability to issue a warrant for all a person's papers rather than only those accused of being criminal ''contrary to the genius of the law of England.'' The warrant was said to be invalid because it had no probable cause and no record was made of what had been seized. The Supreme Court has said this case is a guide to understanding what the Framers meant when writing the Fourth Amendment.

For centuries, the success of a democratic society has been measured by its commitment to equality, a resounding principle central to our nation’s founding. The Enlightenment-inspired language of the Declaration of Independence, namely the age-old axiom that “all men are created equal,” pervades our perception of the American creed. However, nearly a century passed before the Lockean principles espoused in the Declaration of Independence began to bear the force of law. Entitling American citizens to due process and equal protection of the law, the Fourteenth Amendment, perhaps the most transformative Amendment of all, has inspired the steady progression of American society. Nonetheless, while the Amendment serves as the chief legal force behind the democratic goal of equality, questions regarding its achievement of that goal