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Fourteenth Amendment (Support)

A primary source activity analyzing the different sections of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Fourteenth Amendment (Support) 

Objectives:

  • Use essential vocabulary terms in the context of the Fourteenth Amendment to deepen understanding
  • Identify and describe the main points of each section of the Fourteenth Amendment
  • Analyze how the Fourteenth Amendment creates and defines national citizenship and limits the power of the states

Essential Vocabulary

naturalized

When a person born in another country becomes a citizen of the United States

jurisdiction

The authority or power of a government to make and enforce laws in a specific area

abridge

To reduce or take away certain rights or freedoms

immunities

Citizens’ protections or exemptions from certain laws or penalties

due process

The legal requirement that the government must follow fair procedures before taking away a person’s rights, such as life, liberty, or property

apportioned

Divided and shared based on a specific rule or number

insurrection

A violent attempt to take control of the government or resist authority

validity

The fact that something is legally accepted and true

public debt

The money that the government owes to others

incurred

Gained or acquired, usually referring to debts or costs

pensions

Regular payments made to people after they retire from work, often from the government

Bounties for services

Extra payments given to people as a reward for their help, especially in military or government work

obligation

A responsibility or debt that must be paid or fulfilled

emancipation

The act of freeing someone from slavery or control


Building Context: After the Civil War ended in early 1865, the states ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery. However, southern states passed a series of discriminatory laws called the “Black Codes” that restricted the rights of Black Americans. In response, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which guaranteed civil rights such as owning property, serving on juries, and making contracts. That year, Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment, protecting civil rights from being violated in the states. Due to continued southern infringements of Black rights and waves of violence against Blacks, Congress passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867, which divided the former Confederate states into five military districts. It required the states to write new constitutions and ratify the Fourteenth Amendment as a condition of readmission into the Union. The necessary number of states ratified the Fourteenth Amendment on July 9, 1868. Along with the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Amendments (the Reconstruction Amendments), the Fourteenth Amendment was intended to protect the rights of all citizens, including Blacks, from state infringement. Since then, though, the Fourteenth Amendment has become a center of controversy with different responses to the way it has been interpreted by the Supreme Court. In short, a long debate over how to think about the rights protected and who should protect them has ensued.

Fourteenth Amendment (1868)

Note: Article I, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Text

Notes

Section 1.

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.
  • What protections are provided for U.S. citizens in Section 1, and why are they important?
  • How does the Fourteenth Amendment create and define national citizenship in the United States?

 

Text

Notes

Section 2.

Representatives (in Congress) shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed.

But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age,* and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime,

the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

* Changed by section 1 of the Twenty-Sixty Amendment.
  • How is the number of representatives per state decided?
  • What happens if a state does not allow some people to vote for national leaders like the president or members of Congress?

 

Text

Notes

Section 3.

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
  • According to the text, who is banned from serving as a senator or representative, or holding any government office in the United States?

 

Text

Notes

Section 4.

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
  • According to the text, which debts must the United States pay, and which debts are considered illegal?
  • How does Section 4 handle debts and claims related to insurrection, rebellion, or the emancipation of slaves?

 

Text

Notes

Section 5.

The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
  • Explain how the Congress could enforce the Fourteenth Amendment in Section 5 through legislation.

Analysis Questions:

  • How does the Fourteenth Amendment limit the power of the states?
  • How does the Fourteenth Amendment protect the rights of U.S. citizens? Why is it important?