...The 14th Amendment Since 1868, United States citizens were promised by the 14th Amendment “equal protection of the laws” meaning all groups of people, no matter the race, religion or gender, are protected by the laws written in the Constitution of the United States. The ultimate cause of the Civil War was said to be because of the disagreement between certain states to abolish slavery. The same year the war ended was the same year the 13 Amendment passed which ended slavery. Three years later came the 14th Amendment. This is a very important part of the Constitution, considering that different groups of people have been through several cases of inequality in history, before and after this amendment was passed. Does the 14th Amendment really guarantee equal protection to all groups of people? The answer is no. Even after the 14th amendment was passed, certain...
Words: 615 - Pages: 3
...The Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution reads “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” (Elbel). It was passed by congress on June 13th 1866 and sent to the states for ratification. Twenty-eight of the thirty-seven states’ legislatures had ratified the fourteenth amendment by July 9th, 1868. The intent of the fourteenth amendment was to ensure freed slaves were not denied their rights. The United States did not limit immigration when the fourteenth amendment was ratified, therefore the authors did not explicitly include immigration; but, in “Original Intent of the 14th Amendment”, Elbel claims, “The correct interpretation of the 14th Amendment is that an illegal alien mother is subject to the jurisdiction of her native country, as is her baby” (14th Amendment). Elbel quotes Senators Jacob Howard and Edward Cowan as evidence for the original intent of the fourteenth amendment, Senator Cowan stated “[A foreigner in the United States] has a right to the protection of the laws; but he is not a citizen in the ordinary acceptance of the word...” (14th Amendment). According to the original intent of the fourteenth amendment, in order for a baby born in the United States to be a citizen, the parent must be either a citizen...
Words: 846 - Pages: 4
...The 14th amendment was proposed July 28th, 1868. The amendment gives citizenship to anyone born or naturalized in the U.S. This included former slaves even if they had just been freed after the civil war. The law was proposed because all Americans were not receiving the same rights based on religion, ethnicity, and race. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in April of 1965. He was the one that issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation saying that any slaves could be free. The 14th amendment was in a way similar saying that all should be free to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The law guaranteed everyone equal rights. African Americans had a very strong opinion towards this law because they weren’t usually treated equally to all the other Americans. When the states were approving the law most of the Southern States resisted. But they had to take consideration of the 13th amendment, that protected the African Americans rights so the law passed. The first...
Words: 603 - Pages: 3
...Illegal immigration, citizenship, and peoples rights are all things many people don’t know much about, and some things people know aren’t completely true, what they do know is usually someone else’s perspective rather than the truth. I hope that this essay sheds more light on what the law of soil, the law of blood, birthright citizenship, anchor babies, illegal immigrants, the 13 amendment, and the 14th amendment really are. There are four ways you can gain United States citizenship, one of these is by being born in the united states or one of its territories, another way is for both of your parents to be American citizens. Third, you can be a citizen through the naturalization process, which generally involves applying for, and passing,...
Words: 465 - Pages: 2
...was time to make a change so they implemented the Equal Protection Clause. Throughout this essay, I will explain the Equal Protection Clause, where the clause originated from, give example of the clause being applied to cases, and show how the clause is enforced today. The Equal Protection Clause is part of the United States Constitutions 14th amendment. In the Constitution, it states “nor shall any State…deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” (Epstein and Walker). Meaning that the State must apply equal application of the law to...
Words: 832 - Pages: 4
...the "Second Reconstruction." This comparison highlights both the enduring struggle for African American civil rights and the efforts to address the legacy of racial oppression in America. The Reconstruction era sought to establish civil rights for African Americans through constitutional amendments and federal legislation. However, these gains were short-lived as they faced significant backlash from Southern states and white...
Words: 916 - Pages: 4
...The essay below was a very strong essay answering the question about Reconstruction. It was an actual essay (word for word) written by one of the students in class. It received 28.5 points out of 30. This was a great essay; about the only comment I would write was that the thesis in the introduction could have been a little more direct: As a country, America has gone though many political changes throughout her lifetime. Leaders have come and gone, all of them having different objectives and plans for the future. As history takes its course, though, most all of these “revolutionary movements” come to an end. One such movement was Reconstruction. Reconstruction was a time period in America consisting of many leaders, goals and accomplishments. Though, like all things in life, it did come to an end, the resulting outcome has been labeled both a success and a failure. When Reconstruction began in 1865, a broken America had just finished fighting the Civil War. In all respects, Reconstruction was mainly just that. It was a time period of “putting back the pieces”, as people say. It was the point where America attempted to become a full running country once more. This, though, was not an easy task. The memory of massive death was still in the front of everyone’s mind, hardening into resentment and sometimes even hatred. The south was virtually non-existent politically or economically, and searching desperately for a way back in. Along with these things, now living...
Words: 1268 - Pages: 6
...The case of Plessy v. Ferguson served as a catalyst for the implementation of “separate but equal” segregation laws that were deemed constitutional by the Supreme Court and which profoundly divided White and Colored America throughout the late 1800’s to mid 1900’s. Freshly out of the Civil War, Black America gradually sought after more forms of freedom after the bondage of slavery was destroyed. While Black males especially were granted more citizenship liberties through the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, just when they thought White America could evolve into an accepting and open-minded society, all efforts were shut down by the Jim Crow laws. That is where the Plessy v. Ferguson case starts, the Supreme Court’s endorsement...
Words: 1650 - Pages: 7
...On September 17, 1789, the U.S. Constitution was ratified and made law. In this essay we are going to take a look at the Bill of Rights and the amendments. We will be reviewing how and why the amendments become part of the Constitution, what problems the original document motivated the adoption of the Bill of Rights, what are the effects of the Bill of Rights, what problems with the original document, or changes in society led to later amendments. All of these are very necessary and fun topics to address. Now let’s take a look. There are multiple ways for trying to add an amendment to the U.S Constitution, creating it into law. One way is to propose the amendment in the U.S. Congress who is the law-making body of the United States. Congress is composed of two houses, the House of Representative and the Senate. The amendment must be approved by at least two-thirds of both houses. If they then approve the amendment it is sent to the legislatures of each state of the union. Then all state legislatures must approve the amendment by three-fourths vote. After all is approved, the amendment then becomes law. If vote was not passed in any of the houses the amendment will fail to become law. An amendment is made to the constitution when it is necessary for change while still preserving what the constitution represents. The original document called for a stronger and centralized American government. Antifederalists believed this centralized government would be tyrannical. They believed...
Words: 955 - Pages: 4
...Bill of Rights & Amendments Paper Intro The United States is a country that was founded on the principle of freedom; it took the Bill of Rights to be added to the Constitution to guarantee citizens freedom. The Bill of Rights consists of the first ten amendments in the constitution; a document that outlines how the new American government would be created and operated. The Constitution was ratified in 1788 which was the start of protecting the interests of each citizen, two years later the Bill of Rights was proposed by congress and went into effect in 1791. It was designed to prevent the government from taking total power over citizens and to provide them with legal defenses. This essay will discuss the understanding of how amendments become apart of the constitution and how it adopted the Bill of Rights. As well as the changes in society that led to amendments XIII-XV that became part of the constitution. The effects of the Bill of Rights to this country have been beneficial; they lay down the blueprint for freedom by allowing citizens a voice. The failure of the Articles of Confederation was what led to the Constitution; The Articles had a weak national government with no president, or judicial branch. Hence, this led to the Constitution, which showed the three branches of government legislative, executive and judicial; it describes the power of each branch. It was set up by our forefathers in order to change it if necessary. It tells the relationship of the federal...
Words: 1019 - Pages: 5
...With the help of The Mexican American Legal Defense Education Fund (MALDEF), this this organization managed to provide resources and funds to hire lawyers and as well as file lawsuits against schools and other services that deprived Latinos of education opportunities, fight against discriminatory laws. MALDEF became the leading organization on a national scale to represent the students from Tyler Independent School district in 1975. During that era, Texas wanted to charge tuition to children of unauthorized immigrants who cannot produce paperwork to support lawful entry. With the use of the 14th Amendment that protected equal protection of the laws, it became a staple to ensure equal treatment. This case was taken to the Supreme Court that gave the children a close win. This in turn protected those individuals within the borders. This case brought to the attention of equal rights as well as Mexican Americans to receive free education without the reflection of their immigrant status. Overall, Mexican Americans were denied access to public services based on because they were seen as second class citizens. Race was a major implication based of on who was...
Words: 1458 - Pages: 6
...legislation from being enforced. Due to the district court’s refusal to enjoin future prosecutions for abortion, Roe and her attorneys appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and the case was granted certiorari. By the time the case reached the Supreme Court, however, McCorvey had already given birth, but the Court entertained the case anyway, reasoning that if the traditional standards of mootness and the exclusion of advisory opinions were upheld, no pregnant Plaintiff could ever successfully litigate a similar claim before being precluded by mootness. Issues Presented: Do the Texas statutes improperly invade a right possessed by the Appellant, Jane Roe to terminate her pregnancy, embodied in the 14th Amendment’s Due Process Clause or among the rights reserved to the people by the 9th Amendment? SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT Firstly, should women have their own right to abortion or...
Words: 1358 - Pages: 6
...United States. In the United States there have been and still are many hate groups. Many think that after the civil rights movement African Americans and whites people got along perfectly; however, there are many stories on how white people have been disgracing African Americans. There were many types of protesting during this time. Some protest involved violent and some involved non-violent protesting. Many influential people were here at the time such as: Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. There were also many hate groups at the time that tried to erase the African American population. During this time there were many rights that were violated during the civil rights movement. Many amendments were also made to stop the segregation such as the 14th and 15th amendment. The civil rights movement was a mass protest movement against racial segregation and discrimination in the southern United States that came to national prominence during the mid-1950s. This was in the roots of centuries-long efforts of African slaves. (Carson, 2015) The south was worse than the north about how this. The civil rights movement was about of the Jim Crow laws. These laws gave certain restrictions to African Americans. These laws segregated the whites and the blacks. They would have different types of bathroom and water fountains. (Carson, 2015) The Jim Crow laws were part of a doctrine called Separate but equal. In the beginning of the 1930s, was when the assault started on “separate...
Words: 1920 - Pages: 8
...Law Day Essay “No Courts, No Justice, No Freedom” How Do Courts Protect Our Liberties? --- For hundreds of years the forefathers of the United States of America had been undertaking the task of creating and constantly amending a constitution that all men shall abide by. Alexander Hamilton, along with other contributors of the constitution, created essays which are better known as the federalist papers. These documents were created as a form of mutual interpretation and moral assurance between the government and its citizens with one major objective, to gain and retain the trust of its citizens. --- It is said within that no state "shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. A civil liberty is defined as an individual right protected by the Constitution against the powers that be of the government. When our forefathers assimilated to draft the Constitution they anticipated certain belligerencies that might occur between the Federal Government and the individual citizen. It was cause for these concerns that enabled them to include certain civil liberties in the Constitution endowing its citizens with certain inalienable rights. Though civil liberties were put in effect over 200 years ago, over time they have been challenged up until the present day. It wasn’t until the 14th amendment that civil liberties were finally incorporated into state governments. The primary...
Words: 918 - Pages: 4
...The Supreme Court and Judicial Review Should the Supreme Court's power of judicial review be strictly limited by a constitutional amendment? Yes, the Supreme Court’s power of judicial review should be strictly limited to the constitution; because their judicial power is in all cases, in law and equity, arising under the constitution. Meaning they are over stepping their initial jurisdiction and have been given the power to have judicial reviews, even though it’s unconstitutional. The only power the Supreme Court is supposed to have is; all cases affecting ambassadors, or the public ministers and consuls, and those in which a state shall be party in the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction as stated in article III section 2 of the constitution. The Supreme Court is supposed to be the weakest of the three branches of government. The legislative, and executive branches are supposed to control the judiciary branch, even the states are supposed to have more say than the court. But they have been made more powerful and they are telling the legislative and executive branches what to do. There is no such system of checks and balances any more that protect the states and people when most government branches, are acting in cohorts with one another, eroding and destroying the rights and powers of the states and we the people. Even if the system was working right; who is watching and how will they stop the court from being unconstitutional? Every time the court holds judicial...
Words: 495 - Pages: 2
