14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
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.”
By directly mentioning the role of the states, the 14th Amendment
greatly expanded the protection of civil rights to all Americans
and is cited in more litigation than any other amendment.
Library of
Congress Web Site | External Web
Sites | Selected
Bibliography
The
African-American Experience in Ohio, 1850-1920
The Cleveland Gazette published
an article on the Fourteenth
Amendment on December 24, 1898, which discusses this
amendment as it relates to a controversy concerning pensions
for Confederate veterans. Also includes another Cleveland
Gazette article from January 11, 1902, on enforcement
of the Fourteenth Amendment.
African
American Perspectives: Pamphlets from the Daniel A.P.Murray
Collection, 1818-1907
In 1873, the U.S. Supreme Court examined the 14th Amendment
in the Slaughterhouse Case. The dissenting
opinions can be read in this collection. Also includes
a speech from 1904 by Edward Morrell, a congressman from
Pennsylvania, entitled "Negro
Suffrage: Should the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments
be Repealed?"
A
Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation
The
Senate passed the 14th Amendment on June 8, 1866,
by a vote of 33 to 11, while the House
of Representatives passed the 14th Amendment on June
13, 1866, by a vote of 120 to 32. On July 28, 1868, Secretary
of State William Seward issued a proclamation certifying
the ratification of the 14th Amendment by the states.
Search
in the 39th Congress to find additional information on
the 14th Amendment.
Votes
for Women: Selections from the National American Woman
Suffrage Association Collection, 1848-1921
In 1871, Sara
J. Spencer and Sarah E. Webster each brought cases
before the court in the District of Columbia arguing
that they were enfranchised by the Fourteenth Amendment.
This pamphlet outlines the arguments of their lawyers
and the decision of the Supreme Court of the District
of Columbia denying their claim.
Jump
Back in Time: 14th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified.
The Chronicling America site allows you to search and view newspaper pages from 1860 to 1922 from the following states: Arizona, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.
Search this collection to find newspaper articles about the 14th Amendment.
A selection of articles on the 14th Amendment includes:
- "The Constitutional Amendment Passed by the House," The Sun. (New York [N.Y.]), June 14, 1866.
- "The President on the Amendment," The Daily Phoenix. (Columbia, S.C.), June 24, 1866.
- "Reconstruction: Ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment," New-York Tribune. (New York [N.Y.]), July 20, 1868.
African
American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship
This exhibition showcases the African American collections
of the Library of Congress. Displays more than 240 items,
including books, government documents, manuscripts, maps,
musical scores, plays, films, and recordings.
July
28, 1868
On July 28, 1868, Secretary of State William Seward issued
a proclamation certifying without reservation that the
Fourteenth Amendment was a part of the Constitution.
May
18, 1898
The Supreme Court ruled separate-but-equal facilities
constitutional on intrastate railroads. For fifty years,
the Plessy v. Ferguson decision upheld the principle
of racial segregation.
Citizenship,
Due Process, and Equal Protection: The Creation of the Fourteenth
Amendment, HarpWeek
Constitution
of the United States of America, Government
Printing Office
Documents
from Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation,
1861-1867, University of Maryland
Equal
Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, Legal Information
Institute, Cornell Law School
Our
Documents, 14th Amendment, National Archives and
Records Administration
Toward Racial
Equality: Harper’s Weekly Reports on Black America,
1857-1874, HarpWeek
Berger, Raoul. The Fourteenth Amendment
and the Bill of Rights. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989. [Catalog
Record]
-----. Government by Judiciary:
The Transformation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund,
1997. [Catalog
Record]
Bond, James E. No Easy Walk to Freedom:
Reconstruction and the Ratification of the Fourteenth
Amendment. Westport,
Conn.: Praeger, 1997. [Catalog
Record]
Curtis, Michael Kent. No State Shall
Abridge: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Bill of Rights. Durham, N.C.: Duke University
Press, 1986. [Catalog
Record]
Epps,
Garrett. Democracy Reborn: The Fourteenth
Amendment and the Fight for Equal Rights in Post-Civil War
America. New York: H. Holt, 2006. [Catalog
Record]
Flack, Horace Edgar. The Adoption
of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Buffalo, N.Y.: W.S. Hein, 2003. [Catalog
Record]
James, Joseph B. The Ratification
of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 1984. [Catalog
Record]
Meyer, Howard N. The Amendment that
Refused to Die: Equality and Justice Deferred: The History
of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Lanham, Md.: Madison Books, 2000. [Catalog
Record]
Nelson, William E. The Fourteenth
Amendment: From Political Principle to Judicial Doctrine. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press, 1988. [Catalog
Record]
Perry, Michael J. We the People:
The Fourteenth Amendment and the Supreme Court. New York: Oxford University Press,
1999. [Catalog
Record]
Hudson, David L. Jr. The Fourteenth
Amendment: Equal Protection Under the Law. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Enslow Publishers,
2002 [Catalog
Record]
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