The 14th Amendment was one of the most significant changes to the Constitution. The amendment contains the equal protection of the laws clause. It was added to the Constitution after the Civil War. The rules that the amendment states have been the result of several Supreme Court cases. The amendment has deeply influenced American History and the perception of equality. The Citizenship clause states that anyone born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of the U.S. and their state. The Due Process law states that no state may deprive any person of life liberty or death. Perhaps the most important clause is the equal protection of the law. The equal protection of the law clause guarantees that every citizen receives the same rights,
The 14th Amendment was important because if played the most major factor on our society it gave each individual equality. The 14th Amendment allowed us to take this to the future and our children’s future and will forever and always live in this society even after we are long gone. To come to my conclusion I will recap some of my final thoughts about the above. First I do agree with some of the things that President Lincoln did I also love the fact he issues the Emancipation Proclamation. I do agree that a start needed to be made in reference to our slave’s freedom. From what I was told from my grandmothers it was hard going out working and doing as you were told and they were born in the 1900’s. I can only imagine what their parents and grandparents had to deal with in the 1800’s. I know life had to be very hard generations before we was even thought of. Therefore when the Emancipation Proclamation was issued it was a blessing for many slaves. It was a chance for them to finally live a free kind of normal life as much as possible. When we discuss the 13th Amendment it makes me free good to know that all slaves are free. To me no one should have ever been slaves in the first
This decision angered both northerners and southerners. The North was upset due to the decision, which declared that black Americans didn’t count as citizens, which made no effort in the abolition of slavery. The South’s issue was that the majority of their state population was African American, and would give them less representatives if they did not count as citizens, or people in general. This affected the election of Abraham Lincoln, which led to the South’s succession and the start of the
This amendment allowed blacks to have an equal part in American society barring the exception of voting. They were provided with due process of law and a right to a fair trial, this made them equal in the courtrooms in theory. They were still discriminated against in the courts and really did not have fair trials and due process. Many whites still believed themselves superior to blacks, so most times when a black was brought into a legal proceeding they were convicted, no matter if they were innocent or guilty. They also had the right to run for local political offices, while this was a tremendous stepping stone for black rights, those blacks that ran for office never were elected because blacks did not have the right to vote, and no white man would vote for a black in this time period. This amendment helped blacks economically because they could now sue whites for cheating them thanks to due process; however, as previously stated, most times if a black and a white were against each other in a trial, the white man would have the victory due to the prejudices of that time. Socially blacks were forbidden to serve on a jury thanks to the Black Codes being passed under Andrew Johnson’s racist presidency. The fourteenth amendment allowed blacks more freedom in the eyes of the government, but in local settings this tenement was not practiced fully, most of
New Amendments were added to give African Americans rights after the war, all giving them some equal rights to whites. The first of the three added was the Thirteenth Amendment, it gave African Americans freedom from slave owners, and stated that no one could be kept as a slave in the U.S.. The next of the three is the Fourteenth Amendment, it made it so anyone born in the U.S. is a U.S. citizen, making it so states cannot take away one’s right, as well as giving all people equal protection of the laws. The
In 1962, in the midst of the international space race, steel prices in the U.S. began to rise. In this speech delivered by John F. Kennedy, he claims that there is no justification for these increasing steel prices through the use of logos and pathos.
Over time, there have been many interpretations in the meaning of the 14th Amendment due to the use of both explicit and implicit language in the document. Having been written at a time when African-Americans were starting to get their rights. For some at that time, the 14th Amendment meant to just give African-Americans rights but as time progressed, the interpretation of the amendment was challenged and began to change. The 13th Amendment’s meaning is to end slavery in the United States except as a punishment for a crime. The 13th Amendment didn’t help African-Americans because states passed the Jim Crow laws. The 14th Amendment meant no state can make or support any laws that take away the rights of U.S. citizen equal protection under the laws. To understand the intent and purpose of the 14th Amendment, one must analyze the language closely.
The 14th amendment is split into five sections. Section one is the most important of them all and it states, “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.” (The Constitution 2014). However it was put to test in the south early on. Even though it granted Blacks citizenship it did not give them equality, and soon arose numerous
People always want to demand their essential rights from government’s restriction by passing new laws. There was a period when people demanded their rights in the 1900s. Within the United States, most African Americans’ rights were denied by state governments. Hence, in the 1960s, they took a stand on requiring their rights through the Civil Rights movement around the country. During this movement, the Voting Rights Act was significant and for the reason is that this act gave African Americans a chance to participate in US politics by their votes. Even though the government adopted the Voting Rights Act in 1965, African Americans’ suffrages were still restricted because of southern states’ obstructions.
It was rough for African Americans in the 1890’s, and though they tried to live a normal easy life they always had obstacles that got in the way. They had thought everything was going good for them with the 13th and 14th amendment being announced. Also The Emancipation Proclamation which stated, on January 1, 1863, "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free" was a speech that actually came out before the 13th and 14th amendment which was the whole reason why those amendments had came out. The 13th amendment stated that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction”. This was such a big deal since
The Inaugural speech by John F. Kennedy is a landmark type of speech that was given to the American populace in order to inspire confidence and to provoke them to take immediate action. His speech made extensive use of rhetorical devices in order to successfully express his goals. His stylistic devices include antithesis, parallelism, and varying structure flows in order to attract attention and to show what his service will accomplish. Kennedy details “a new generation of Americans” by contrasting old and new with his antithesis. He states, “Symbolizes an end as well as a beginning” and “signifies renewal as well as change” in order to do so. This connects the younger generation of Americans and the older generation. He unites them under one goal and one purpose by using antithesis, ignoring their differences, and prepares them for what’s there to come in the future.
In 1945, World War Two ended with the unconditional surrender of the Japanese Empire. In 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed by ten European nations, the United States of America, and Canada in order to organize a united front against the Soviet threat. In 1955, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Albania, Bulgaria, and the Soviet Union signed the Warsaw Pact as a communist counter to the capitalist NATO. In 1961, in the midst of a heated cold war, John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) stood in front of the nation and delivered his inaugural address as the 35th president of the United States of America (USA). He stood in front of a nation
One of the few things that needs recognition is the Declaration of Independence and our 14th Amendment. After earning our independence, slavery and segregation occurred. For almost a century, whites treated African Americans unfairly until the 13th Amendment passed, the amendment to abolish slavery. Our whole country was in chaos for many years due to unfairness and racism. We all wouldn’t be have our rights today if it wasn’t for the 14th Amendment.
A month after Abraham Lincoln became president of the United States. He was pursing to abolish slavery on December 6, 1864. This was known as the 13th amendment. Lincoln did purse abolishing slavery even though he was executed in April. On December 18th, this amendment was authorized.
The Fourteenth Amendment was designed to grant citizenship to whoever was born in the United States and grant protection of civil rights to all Americans and the recently freed slaves.