Amendment 14

"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.

Section 2.Representatives 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.

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.

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.

Section 5.The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article."

Section 1 of amendment 14 gives citizenship to all people who are born or naturalized in the U. S. This helped with African American people who were born into slavery or people who had immigrated to this country and had children, etc. This section keeps the states from creating any laws that would affect a citizens' rights, or take the right of due process of law away from them. This section is very important especially because of the civil war. The next section of the 14th amendment corrects the 3/5th's compromise and makes sure that all citizens, except Native Americans, will be counted for the total population. In section 3 of amendment 14, it prohibits people who had been involved with the rebellion from being a Senator, Representative, or President/VP. This is important because it will prevent the government from another potential civil war if they do not have those supporters in office. Section 4 states that the government simply won't pay for any debt incurred during the civil war if it was for the rebellion.. which makes sense. And in section 5, Congress is stating that they have the power to enforce the previous 4 sections.

Hughes does a great job of explaining the key points of this amendment, noting that all people are automatic citizens if they are born in the U. S. and also providing facts on cases like Plessy v Ferguson and Brown v Board of Education.

Here is an image that I found interesting in my research. On the left you see a sign saying: Don't mess with the constitution! On the right you see a sign saying: Repeal the 14th amendment! And in the middle you see a person or "siamese twin" rather, in the middle holding the two signs. In my opinion, the point the artist is trying to make is that people are hypocrites, especially when it comes to politics. It's interesting because the world makes it difficult not to be hypocritical, but this is a really great, and funny, example of people who either do exist or have existed in our country. I can tell you right now, I don't associate with them.