What is the Fourteenth Amendment
- Steven Topazio wrote this August 21, 2024 at 3:31 pm
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified on July 9, 1868, is one of the most significant amendments in the Constitution. It addresses citizenship rights and equal protection under the law and was a key component of the Reconstruction Amendments following the Civil War. The text of the Fourteenth Amendment includes five sections, but its most influential provisions are found in the first section. The amendment reads:
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.”
Key points of the Fourteenth Amendment include:
Citizenship Clause: It grants citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, thereby ensuring that former slaves were recognized as citizens.
Privileges or Immunities Clause: It prohibits states from making or enforcing laws that abridge the privileges or immunities of U.S. citizens.
Due Process Clause: It guarantees that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, extending the protection of due process from the federal government to state governments.
Equal Protection Clause: It requires states to provide equal protection under the law to all persons within their jurisdiction, forming the basis for many civil rights protections.
Apportionment of Representatives: It modifies the way representatives are apportioned among the states, penalizing states that deny the right to vote to eligible male citizens.
Disqualification from Office: It bars individuals who engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States from holding public office, although Congress can remove this disqualification with a two-thirds vote.
Public Debt Clause: It affirms the validity of the public debt of the United States while declaring debts incurred by the Confederacy or for the loss of slaves to be void.
Enforcement Clause: It grants Congress the power to pass legislation to enforce the provisions of the amendment.
The Fourteenth Amendment is foundational in shaping American civil rights law and has been the basis for numerous landmark Supreme Court decisions, particularly in areas concerning equal protection, due process, and the rights of citizens.