~ Prologue ~
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on July 9, 1868, and granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” which included former slaves recently freed. In addition, it forbids states from denying any person “life, liberty or property, without due process of law” or to “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
The Fourteenth Amendment, virtually the only piece of legislation that helped raise the status of African Americans after the Civil War, was intended to provide the newly freed slaves with equal rights. Because of the vague terms it used, it did not actually guarantee black suffrage, but only set the foundation for the 15th Amendment. It was ratified by the southern states solely because ratification was one of the required steps to take before readmission into the Union. As a result, this legislation that could have made it unwise for southern states to continue discriminating against blacks did actually not have much power at all. President Johnson did not support the amendment, and it had little impact on bettering the status of African Americans.
As the south continued to take advantage of the lack of authority used in enforcing the 14th Amendment, Congress got the chance to reinforce the equality of races once and for all. Many southern states had passed Jim Crow laws, which segregated everything in society, from drinking fountains to restaurants to seating in buses and trains. When the constitutionality of these practices was brought to the Supreme Court in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court upheld the practice of segregation, saying that it was not discriminatory if the facilities were “separate but equal.” This ruling gave the green light on segregation, which made it seem as if treating African Americans differently was an okay thing to do. People continued to feel that blacks were inferior because they weren’t even good enough to use the same restrooms and sit in the same areas on buses.
~ AMENDMENT XIV ~
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.
There will be more to come on this important Issue. ~ Ed.