Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Name	Fourteenth Amendment
Caption	First page of the amendment in the National Archives
Constitution	Constitution of the United States
Created	June 13, 1866
Ratified	July 9, 1868
Location	National Archives and Records Administration
Author(s)	John Bingham
Signers	39th United States Congress

Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is a pivotal Reconstruction amendment ratified in 1868. It established a national definition of citizenship, extended federal protections to individual liberties, and fundamentally altered the relationship between the federal government and the states. Its core clauses have been the foundation for landmark decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States on issues ranging from civil rights to privacy.

Text

The amendment consists of five sections. Section 1 contains the pivotal Citizenship, Privileges or Immunities, Due Process, and Equal Protection Clauses. Section 2 addresses apportionment of Representatives, modifying the Three-Fifths Compromise. Section 3 disqualifies from office those who engaged in insurrection after swearing an oath to support the Constitution, a provision targeting former officials of the Confederate States of America. Section 4 affirms the validity of the public debt while repudiating debts of the Confederacy. Section 5 grants Congress the power to enforce the amendment's provisions.

Adoption

The amendment was proposed by the 39th United States Congress in June 1866, following the American Civil War. Its passage was driven by the Radical Republicans, led by figures like Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner, who sought to constitutionalize the principles of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and protect the rights of freed slaves. Ratification, completed on July 9, 1868, was contentious, with former Confederate states like Tennessee and Arkansas compelled to ratify it as a condition for readmission to the Union. Secretary of State William H. Seward certified its adoption on July 28, 1868.

Citizenship Clause

The clause declares, "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." This overturned the ''Dred Scott'' decision and established birthright citizenship. Its primary intent was to guarantee citizenship to formerly enslaved African Americans, but its language has been interpreted to apply broadly. The clause was central to cases like United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which affirmed citizenship for children born to non-citizen parents.

Due Process Clause

It prohibits states from depriving "any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." While echoing the Fifth Amendment, this clause applies explicitly to state governments. Through a process known as incorporation, the Supreme Court has used this clause to apply most protections in the Bill of Rights to the states. Landmark cases invoking this clause include Gideon v. Wainwright (right to counsel) and Roe v. Wade (right to privacy).

Equal Protection Clause

This clause mandates that no state shall "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." Initially aimed at preventing discriminatory Black Codes in the post-war South, it became a cornerstone for dismantling legal segregation. The Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional under this clause. It has since been invoked in cases involving interracial marriage, gender discrimination, and same-sex marriage.

Enforcement

Section 5 grants Congress the "power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article." This authority has been used to pass significant civil rights legislation, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. However, the Supreme Court has placed limits on this power, ruling in cases like City of Boerne v. Flores that enforcement legislation must be "congruent and proportional" to remedying constitutional violations.

Category:Amendments to the United States Constitution Category:Reconstruction Era