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Essay On The 14th Amendment

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The Fourteenth Amendment (Amendment XIV) 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 …show more content…

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 …show more content…

The Due process in the 14th amendment is the same as the due process in the fifth but it regards the states. “It acts as a safeguard from arbitrary denial of life, liberty, or property by the Government outside the sanction of law” (). The due process clause has been upheld and seen in many Supreme Court cases. The most influential and infamous was Roe v. Wade which said the right of privacy under the due process clause of the14th Amendment extended to a woman 's decision to have an abortion. Due

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