Happy Birthday 14th Amendment!

[usregimechange]

WHAT IT DOES

The 14th Amendment defines U.S. citizenship, including black Americans.
WHY IT WAS ADDED

The 14th Amendment was the second of three Reconstruction Amendments passed in the years following the Civil War. The 13th banned slavery, and the 15th prohibits denying the right to vote based on race.

In the short term, the 14th Amendment resolved the legal status of former slaves–it granted them citizenship and “equal protection of the laws.” Today, the 14th Amendment is referenced frequently in court cases making claims for legal equality.

http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2012/07/happy-birthday-14th-amendment/


And it granted LBGT citizens the freedom to marry in every state in this country.

[Wilms]

1. Section 1

Amendment XIV

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.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxiv/

[valerief]

2. Happy Birthday! nt