Racial Discrimination

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.

On July 9, 1868 the 14th amendment to the constitution was ratified. This amendment granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States," which included former slaves recently freed. Although the slaves were freed, there was still discrimination all around them. Discrimination is defined as "differences between things or treating someone as inferior based on their race". In 1800’s through 1900 there was a huge amount of cases that occurred due to violations of the 14th Amendment. Two well known landmark Supreme Court cases involving the 14th Amendment are Plessy vs. Ferguson and Brown vs. Board of Education.

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 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 Fifth, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth amendment were implemented to protect American citizens. The declaration says “all men are created equal” (Jacobus, 412), these amendments are in place to protect our rights and keep us safe. The Fifth Amendment states that no person shall “….Be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law….” (Jacobus, 412) However even though we have these laws here to protect us, discrimination plagued our country and did not grant rights to certain groups of minorities because of skin color, race, or religion. Throughout our history there were many instances of this unfairness, for example “Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Company.” (Jacobus, 412) This case was a huge breakthrough in the fight against segregation, saying that any form of discrimination is a “badge of slavery,” (Jacobus, 412) and therefore violates the Thirteenth Amendment. “The Supreme Court stated that in enforcing the Civil Rights Act of 1866, Congress is empowered under the Thirteenth

In order to protect the diverse races in this country, a new amendment was passed giving every natural born American or anyone naturalized in the United States the right to protection of the laws. Meaning, people that fell into the expectations were granted citizenship and states could not deprive citizens of their rights and privileges. Not everyone was included in the 14th Amendment. Immigrants and especially Native Americans were excluded while whites and African Americans were included.

“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

Our 14th amendment is perhaps the most important amendment because it helps defend some of our fundamental rights. This amendment extends the due process procedure to all citizens when trying to deprive them of life, liberty, or property. The amendment also ensures that everyone born in the United States or naturalized is guaranteed citizenship. This helped grant the right to vote for many americans who before were excluded from this right. It was ratified on july 9th in 1868 following the civil war along with 13th and 15th amendment. These are known as the civil war amendments and had to be accepted by the southern states in order for them to be brought back into the union. The 14th amendment in particular was designed to protect the basic civil rights granted in the constitution to all americans. However a lot of issues have arose over time in regarding the 14th amendment equal protection clause. Movements like Black Lives Matter have brought forth some of these issues happening today. The supreme court has made interpretations of the 14th amendment in cases like Plessy vs Ferguson, Brown vs the Board of Education, and even in when overturning the case Dred Scott vs Sanford. To better understand the 14th amendment’s equal protection clause we have to take a closer look at the interpretations made by the supreme court to

Great post Caitlyn! I like how you pointed out the 5th amendment too. Both are for equal protection, but the 5th amendment focuses on the Federal Government, while the 14thamendment concentrates on the state governments. However, discrimination still may happen even though the sole purpose of the 14th and 5th amendment was to ensure equality. For instance, I don’t believe women are emphasized in that amendment, since it is mainly focused on race, ethnicity and religion. It is mentioned on multiple sources that in order for women to claim discrimination, one must have legal protection and sufficient evidence that is decidedly persuasive. The 14th amendment has helped women in the past, but realistically the amendment does not guarantee that

The 14th Amendment of the constitution, ratified on July 9, 1868 forbids states from denying any person the right to “liberty or property, without due process of law” or to “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. This amendment was made for American slaves whom didn’t have freedom. Its purpose was to give “rights” to African American slaves and to end slavery entirely at first this didn’t work because, for many years to come the U.S. was and has been a very divided nation between minorities and those with higher powers. The corporate took advantage of the 14th amendment to be free from discrimination in certain states. It was side swiped by the corporate American to make more money for themselves other than helping people in need. The Fourteenth Amendment was one of three amendments to the Constitution adopted after the Civil War to guarantee black rights. The amendment was made to grant citizenship to and protect the civil liberties of recently freed slaves. Over the past few years the Supreme Court has found that not only a group of authorized people but also being human should give them constitutional rights. It did this by means of granting citizenship to everyone born in the United States and prohibiting states from denying or abridging the privileges or immunities of residents of the U.S., depriving any character of his life, liberty, or property without due method of law, or denying to any individual within their jurisdiction the

The adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed all races citizenship and ‘equal protection of the laws’. This was the first civil rights act to recognize black’s inalienable rights, but inevitable led to racial discrimination in the following decades. A new rigid system of laws restricted blacks

In the 1960s, Americans who knew the "equal protection of the laws" expected the Congress, and the courts to achieve the promise of the 14th Amendment. The amendment states the rights and equal protection of the laws created. “All three branches of the government and the public debated a constitutional question: Does the Constitution 's restriction of denying equal protection always ban the use of racial, ethnic, or gender criteria in an attempt to bring social

Racial bias is still a very active issue in society today. This paper explores the understanding of racial bias in business hiring. This is critical because racial bias continually uniforms businesses in hiring decisions. The prevalence of racial bias in business hiring, potential interventions, and explanations of why this occurs will be explored. How prevalent is racial bias in business hiring today and how can it be mediated?

“The 14th Amendment was supposed to offer Blacks, citizenship rights of “equal protection under the law, and the right to life, liberty, property and due process (7).” Though the 14th amendment was passed its laws are violated on a daily basis by today's racial profiling of blacks and other minorities. Consequently, the 14th amendment, 149 years later in 2017 still has yet to bestow its promise on people of color.