14th Amendment sign at the entrance of the Brown v Board of Education Historical Site in Topeka, Kansas
(Credit: Shutterbugsage licensed CC by 3.0
The Fourteenth Amendment
United States History Cross-Links
The Importance of the 14th Amendment
PAGE SUMMARY
This page explores the 14th amendment to the United States Constitution. This amendment gave citizenship rights to all Americans, no matter their race or ethnicity. This specifically helped African Americans who were enslaved before and emancipated during the Civil War. There are examples of court cases that made it to the Supreme Court regarding the 14th amendment, including the Slaughterhouse case which was the first case to revolve around this amendment. Additionally, this amendment has been used to fight for LGBTQ+ rights and protections for other minority groups during the 21st century. (Harry Blackman, April 2022)
Overview
- State and federal citizenship for everyone, no matter of race, born or naturalized in the US
- States are not permitted to limit "privileges and immunities" of citizens
- No citizen is denied life, liberty, or property without"due process of law"
- No citizen can be denied "equal protection of the laws"
- Congress has the power to enforce these laws
Click here for the full Amendment text
- Click here to know more about the Fourteenth Amendment
John Bingham: The Father of the 14th Amendment
- Congressman from Ohio who wrote the words: “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.”
The Fourteenth Amendment and Equal Protection, Kahn Academy
Image shows Brown v. Board of Education court decision that declared segregation a violation of the 14th Amendment
Teaching the Bill of Rights: The Fourteenth Amendment, Bill of Rights Institute
- Click here for the history of the 14th Amendment
Brown v. Board of Education (1954): School desegregation
Mapp v. Ohio (1961): Illegal search and seizures
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963): Right to access to an attorney
Griswold v. Connecticut (1965): Right to privacy
Loving v. Virginia (1967): Interracial marriage
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978): Affirmative action
LGBTQ Rights Court Cases
Timeline for the 14th amendment
The Slaughterhouse Cases (1873)
- Louisiana granted monopoly to Crescent City Livestock Landing and Slaughterhouse Company
- Since LA granted slaughtering rights within New Orleans, the company will follow state regulations on product, price, etc...
- Independent butchers could be hired at set prices to work for the company
- Local butchers sued LA on the grounds that forbidding them to operate their slaughterhouses violated their privileges stated in the 14th Amendment
- The state courts ruled that the law was constitutional, so the butchers appealed it to the Supreme Court
- Ruling:
- "privileges and immunities" protected by the 14th Amendment were limited to those specified by the Constitution
- Do not include rights from individual states
- The 14th Amendment forbade the states from withholding privileges and immunities belonging to American citizenship, not state
- The butchers could still make their living by working for Crescent City
For additional info, click here
- Click here for a video about the Slaughterhouse Cases.
- Click here and here to read about the impact of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Click here for a video on the importance of the 14th Amendment. Includes lesson plan and quiz.
- Click here for a lesson plan "The Meaning of the 14th Amendment" from PBS Learning Media
- Click here for the lesson plan "How Supreme Court Decisions and Supreme Court Decisions Affect History" from PBS
Congress Debates the Fourteenth Amendment, Facing History and Ourselves
Sources:
1. About.com. 14th Amendment
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