{"id":2865,"date":"2019-08-30T21:04:09","date_gmt":"2019-08-30T21:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/?p=2865"},"modified":"2026-02-12T08:19:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T08:19:37","slug":"fourteenth-amendment-of-the-united-states-constitution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/fourteenth-amendment-of-the-united-states-constitution\/","title":{"rendered":"Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution: A Detailed Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution is one of the most significant events in American history from the 19th century.\u00a0 It is especially important in relation to the history of\u00a0slavery in the United States<\/a>\u00a0and the events of the\u00a0American Civil War<\/a>.\u00a0 This is because the Fourteenth Amendment dealt with citizenship rights and equal protection under the law for former slaves. It was ratified on July 8th, 1868, just three years after the\u00a0Thirteenth Amendment<\/a>, which had abolished slavery.\u00a0 In fact, the Fourteenth Amendment was significant in relation to the Thirteenth Amendment and the\u00a0Fifteen Amendment<\/a>\u00a0of the American Constitution.\u00a0 Together, the three amendments are often referred to as the \u2018Reconstruction Amendments<\/a>\u2019 since they dealt with issues resulting from the end of the American Civil War and the period of Reconstruction<\/a> in the United States.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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PASSAGE OF THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Slavery in the United States<\/a> existed from the period of\u00a0Colonial America\u00a0in the early 17th century until the events of the American Civil War, which lasted from 1861 until 1865.\u00a0 During the events of the Civil War, American\u00a0President Abraham Lincoln<\/a>\u00a0took steps to limit slavery.\u00a0 For instance, in 1862 Lincoln announced the\u00a0Emancipation Proclamation<\/a>. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22nd, 1862, and it became effective as of January 1st of 1863.\u00a0 It declared that all slaves held in Confederate States were free.\u00a0 With this said, it did not outright end slavery in the United States, so as the Civil War came to an end, the United States government sought to pass an amendment to the United States Constitution which achieved this.\u00a0 As such, on December 18th in 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment<\/a> of the United States Constitution was adopted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Emancipation
‘First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation’ by F. Carpenter. (1864)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Thirteenth Amendment formally abolished slavery in the United States.  However, following the ban on slavery, there were still many issues facing former slaves.  As such, legislators again visited the issue with the Fourteenth Amendment.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the main issues that emerged out of the Thirteenth Amendment was the issue of rights for freed slaves.\u00a0 Many in the Southern states did not want to extend voting rights to the freed slaves.\u00a0 However, many in the Northern states feared that the Southern states would gain a political advantage in the House of Representatives.\u00a0 This is because representation in the House of Representatives is based upon population.\u00a0 As such, with freed slaves now counting towards the population, it meant an increase in political power for the South and the Democratic Party, which was most popular political party in the former slave states.\u00a0 As such, the Republican Party believed it necessary to promote rights for former slaves in order to help the Republican influence in the South.\u00a0 This situation eventually led to the passage of the\u00a0Civil Rights Act of 1866<\/a>.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Civil
‘Civil Rights Bill Passes 1866’ by Allyn Cox in 1973 (From ‘Architect of the Capitol’)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was enacted on April 9th in 1866 during the presidency of Andrew Johnson.\u00a0 It was created following the American Civil War as an attempt to help protect former slaves.\u00a0 For instance, the act dealt with matters related to citizenship and protected all citizens as equal under the law.\u00a0 This was significant at the time, because, as stated above, there was fear in the Northern states that the former slaves in the South were not going to be afforded the same rights as the white citizens.\u00a0 The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was especially significant to the \u2018Black Codes<\/a>\u2019. \u00a0Following the end of the American Civil War, several Southern states passed laws that are commonly referred to as \u2018Black Codes\u2019 as a way of controlling the societal, political and economic activities of African Americans.\u00a0 In fact, the Black Codes were attempts by some states to continue with aspects of slavery after the passage of the\u00a0Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United States.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200bThere were many different proposals of the Fourteenth Amendment that were constructed throughout 1865 and 1866.  The central issues of the time centered on voting rights for former slaves and equal protection under the law regardless of race.  Finally, in April of 1866, a proposal was sent forward to Congress that included elements of both, with several compromises.  For instance, the proposal included provisions related to Confederate war debt from the Civil War, and rights for former Confederates.  The Senate and the House of Representatives voted on the proposal in June of 1866 and passed it.  Following this, the Fourteenth Amendment was sent to the states for the process of ratification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the amendment to be approved, it had to be ratified by two-thirds of the states.  This was a bit of an issue because the Fourteenth Amendment was very unpopular in the Southern states, which had previously been in the Confederacy.  In fact, most of the Southern states refused to ratify the new amendment.  However, the Congress pressured the former Confederate states to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment by denying them representation in the Congress until it ratified.  As such, this led to the eventual ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment by the required number of states and it was adopted on July 9th in 1868.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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TEXT OF THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT<\/h2>\n\n\n\n