Amendment 14: Granted former slaves citizenship and equal protection, established principle of selective incorporation


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 the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

An amendment put in place to further the rights of blacks after they had gained freedom. It allows all citizens (free blacks included) had the right to have individual rights protected to pursue a life of their own. This was instrumental in getting all citizens to fully exercise their rights and freedom free of burdens or restrictions previously placed on them. These rights were finally protected for all people, or at least supposed to, so that the government can protect these rights that were not equally enforced for all citizens previously.



This video does a great job discussing the amendment in it's entirety, especially relating the the right to bear arms for self defense. This was protected under the 2nd Amendment but also in the 14th as a right of the people. The huge shift of allowing blacks to now gain the right to make their own living was seriously challenged by whites and other groups against blacks having freedom. So much so that this amendment needed to be put in place to protect their rights and any other minorities rights from being diminished by states and individual groups.



Here we cover civil liberties and civil rights and the how equality was defined, even as far as "separate but equal" which fought against segregation in bathrooms, schools, and any other institution. It does a really good job about how minorities are protected from laws, since they are already of a disadvantage. It goes even further into how each case can apply "strict scrutiny" to decide if the government practice in unconstitutional toward minorities. All in all the 14th sticks up for minorities since its inception to make laws fair to all.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Amendment 18: Prohibition