The Fourteenth Amendment and Equality Under the Law Essay

The Fourteenth Amendment and Equality Under the Law The Fourteenth Amendment was adopted in 1868 as one of the longest amendments to the Constitution with five parts in total. The most significant part is section one. In the very first sentence of section one, ? All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, as citizens of the United States and of the state where in they reside? citizenship was universalized. The Amendment was designed to prohibit state governments from curtailing the rights of former slaves after the Civil War, however it has been used to grant all of the personal liberties and rights conveyed in the Bill of Rights. The Amendment gives definition to citizenship,†¦show more content†¦The purpose of the Fourteenth Amendment was to make citizenship of black individual permanent and secure. The amendment did not entirely universalize citizenship because it left out the right to vote, hence the need for the Fifteenth and Nineteenth Amendments granting the right to vote to blacks and then to women, respectively. The Supreme Court under Justice Miller rejected that the ?amendment?s privileges and immunity clause incorporated the Bill of Rights, holding that the only rights protected were access to Washington D.C., and coastal seaports; the right to protection the high seas; the right to use navigable waters of the United States; the right to assembly and petition; and the privilege of Habeas Corpus.? It wasn?t until the 1960?s that this amendment really came into play. The amendment is used to protect our civil rights and liberties as Americans. The Supreme court recognized in 1925 with Gitlow v. New York that the Bill of Rights was meant for all people, not just rich, white males. The court held that freedom of speech and of the press were basic personal rights that were protected by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, ?No?State shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property with out due process of law; nor deny to any person..equal protection of the law.? In the 1960?s the court then applied that clause to those accused of crimes. They more thoroughly interpreted the Eighth Amendment,Show MoreRelated 14th Amendment -EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW Essay939 Words   |  4 Pages EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW In school especially, as well as throughout our daily lives, we learn in America to live by the idea of freedom and equality for all. We do not allow race, class, or creed to determine a person’s stature in the community. It may seem as if this is the standard of society, but these ideas of equality have been fought over since the beginning of written history, and even in America today, prejudice still exists. 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