On July 28, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution was adopted. The Amendment included sweeping provisions attempting to establish equality for Black Americans in the aftermath of the Civil War.
The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees equal protection under the law, which has been applied to end racial segregation, protect interracial marriage, and more. This Clause has resulted in drastic advances in gay rights as well. In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples’ right to marry is protected by the Equal Protection Clause.
Equally important in protecting and expanding rights is the Due Process Clause, which requires states to respect individuals’ constitutional rights. Many of the aforementioned advances were made possible through this clause. For example, this Clause ensured that state governments could not segregate based on race or deny same-sex and interracial couples the right to marry.
The Fourteenth Amendment also stated that any person born in the United States is automatically a citizen. This provision was especially significant because it repealed the Three-Fifths Compromise. Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution declared that slaves would count as only ⅗ of a person when determining a state’s population for legislative representation. The Fourteenth Amendment superseded this clause and ensured that every American was considered a full citizen in the eyes of the law.
The Fourteenth Amendment was one of three amendments implemented in the aftermath of the Civil War in an attempt to secure the rights of recently freed Black Americans. These are collectively known as the Reconstruction Amendments.
The Thirteenth Amendment, ratified in 1865, outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude at the national level. The Fifteenth Amendment was ratified in 1870 and guaranteed Blacks the right to vote.
The process of amending the Constitution is long and difficult. As a result, only twenty-seven amendments have been ratified to-date.
Proposal is the first step in the amendment process. The first way a new amendment can be proposed is by a ⅔ vote of both chambers of Congress. Alternatively, ⅔ of the states can call for a constitutional convention to make changes.
Once it has officially been proposed, the amendment must be ratified by ¾ of the states before it can take effect.
The Fourteenth Amendment reached this threshold on July 28, 1868, and officially became a part of the U.S. Constitution.
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