The 14th Amendment Essay

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The fourteenth amendment was formed, when the Civil War had just came to a finish, which defeated the Confederacy. Abraham Lincoln, who was president at the time, had declared the slaves freed at the end of the war; but there were still a lot of questions concerning the former Confederates and what the status of slaves in the country would become. Congress shaped the Reconstruction Amendments which included the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the constitution. The thirteenth amendment was ratified in December of 1865 and put an end to slavery in the United States. This new law stated that slaves were no longer the property of the people, but the new law did not answer questions about the new rights that they were now definite. …show more content…

The fourteenth Amendment was also made to contribute anyone under the jurisdiction of the law the right to equality, also known as the Equal Protection Clause. The ultimate amendment in the Reconstruction era was the making of the fifteenth Amendment, meaning that it gave citizens the right to vote in spite of their race, prior slavery or color The main purpose of the fourteenth amendment was to guarantee that the Civil Rights Act that was approved in 1866 was advocated. Another significant aspect of this amendment alleged that states, including federal power as well, were required to stand by the Bill of Rights. This meant that both of these procedures were expected to abide by equal protection. The significance of the fourteenth amendment became a vital part of the Civil Rights Movement and the numerous lawsuits that referenced it during that time. As of today, the fourteenth amendment still stands as one of the greatest historically important building blocks to our country 's democracy. It remains to sustain our nation 's promise that everyone is created equally under the law regardless of race, gender, nationality or orientation. The meaning of the fourteenth amendment defined in the United States Constitution endures to be an effect on the history and growth of our prodigious

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