The US Constitution provides the framework for governing the country. The 14th Amendment, enacted after the Civil War, granted citizenship to anyone born or naturalized in the US and included the due process and equal protection clauses, which have been used in many legal arguments.
The US Constitution provides the basic framework and guiding principles upon which the United States was founded and is to be governed. Since the signing of the Constitution, there have been a number of issues that have required a change or amendment to the Constitution. Among them is the 14th amendment, best known for the first section addressing citizenship, due process, and equal protection.
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution was one of the Reconstruction Amendments that was enacted shortly after the Civil War. Adopted on July 8, 1868, the amendment was, in large part, a response to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 US 393, (1957) which held that persons of African descent could not become citizens of the United States and, therefore, were not protected by the Constitution. Slavery was one of the major catalysts of the Civil War, and although the Civil War was over, slavery issues still needed to be resolved. Both the 13th amendment and the 14th amendment were direct responses to the issue of slavery in the United States.
The Thirteenth Amendment made the Emancipation Proclamation permanent by abolishing slavery. The 13th Amendment followed suit three years later by establishing the basis on which a person can be considered a citizen of the United States. Section 14 of the 1st Amendment reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to its jurisdiction, are citizens of the United States and of the state in which they reside.” Anyone of African descent, including former slaves, was now a citizen.
In addition to granting citizenship to anyone born or naturalized in the United States, the 14th amendment included two additional clauses that have taken on great importance within the law. The first is known as the ‘due process clause’, while the other is the ‘equal protection clause’. The due process clause reads as follows: “No state shall make or enforce any law reducing 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.” The due process clause has been used to argue many legal points in both criminal and civil law. The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, which reads, “…nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws…” has also formed the basis of many important legal arguments.
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