Abraham Lincoln or 14 Amendment Essay

Constitution is without any doubts the most important document for the whole country and its citizens. The Constitution of the United States should be considered along with its Amendments, which additionally regulated various important aspects and issues, discussed in it. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments to the Constitution were untied under the name the Reconstruction Amendments and they were adopted in the period between 1865 and 1870, which was the period following the Civil War. All of them played vitally important role for introduction of the Reconstruction policy to the South of the country after the war. Abraham Lincoln said the well-known phase that America was “half slave and half free”, this phrase became the starting point for the proponents of the above-mentioned amendments, as they considered this to be a good chance to introduce the necessary reforms in their country and make it the guarantee of liberty and dignity.

The Thirteenth Amendment declared abolishment of slavery and was ratified in 1865. The Fourteenth Amendment was proposed a year later, but ratified only on 1868, it “created the privileges and immunities clause, applicable to all citizens; and made the due process and equal protection clauses applicable to all persons.” (Flack 2003). The Fifteenth Amendment was ratified in 1870 and prohibited all forms of discrimination in relation to race and color in voting rights for all citizens of the country. All these three amendments had the general key aim of granting of freedom to all people, who used to be slaves and providing them all the needed life conditions and social rights.

Before the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, citizens of the United States had a lot of concerns about the former slaves, who obtained the status of free people. Before the Civil War, the Supreme Court of the country stated that people of African descent could not be considered citizens of America, rather “merely members of a “subordinate and inferior class of human beings” deserving no constitutional protection whatsoever.” (Avins 1967). The Fourteenth Amendment had changed the situation completely. The Civil War was certainly one of the breaking moments in the history of the United States, still it was not the end of the questions with slavery. As even after the Civil War there appeared the Black Codes in the Southern States. According to these codes African Americans didn’t have the access to the basic rights of American citizens, for example they were not allowed to bear arms or to testify in courts. The Black Codes prescribed different kinds of punishment for white and black people, making them more sever for the last, even if similar criminal offense was committed.

The ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment was not positively accepted by the Southern states, however, they had no other choice, but to ratify it, in order to regain their representation in Congress. “The Fourteenth Amendment, particularly its first section, is one of the most litigated parts of the Constitution, forming the basis for landmark decisions such as Roe v. Wade (1973) regarding abortion, Bush v. Gore (2000) regarding the 2000 presidential election, and Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) regarding same-sex marriage.” (Flack 2003). The first section of the amendment consists of a number of clauses, such as Privileges or Immunities Clause, Due Process Clause, Citizenship Clause. The last one was weighty in the question of the right of the American citizens, who descended from African slaves to become the citizens of the United States. According to the Due Process Clause not a single state or local government official could be allowed to deprive an individual of his liberty or property rights without any legal basis for this. This clause was implemented in the process of introduction of the Bill of Rights for all states of the country. Each state should provide equal protection to all citizens in accordance to the laws of the country, as it is stated in the Equal Protection Clause. Later this clause was used for Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 – the well-known decision of the Supreme Court, which contributed to avoiding of racial and any other forms of segregation in the society, which could arise from any from of discrimination of individuals of different groups. “The second, third, and fourth sections of the amendment are seldom litigated. However, the second section’s reference to “rebellion and other crime” has been invoked as a constitutional ground for felony disenfranchisement. The fifth section gives Congress the power to enforce the amendment’s provisions by “appropriate legislation”.” (Flack 2003).

The background of the Fourteenth Amendment was certainly related to the Thirteenth Amendment. In the Section 1 of the amendment there is formal definition of the American citizenship, as well as protection of the civil rights from denials by any state of the country. Denial of civil rights by private persons is not regulated there. Due to the fact that this amendment was constructed with the aim of regulating of the state sector, the Congress didn’t concentrate upon racial discrimination by private persons or private organizations. This was commented by the Supreme Court Justice Joseph P. Bradley in the following way: “individual invasion of individual rights is not the subject-matter of the [14th] Amendment. It has a deeper and broader scope. It nullifies and makes void all state legislation, and state action of every kind, which impairs the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States, or which injures them in life, liberty or property without due process of law, or which denies to any of them the equal protection of the laws.” (Avins 1967). The Thirteenth Amendment was advanced by the Radical Republicans, they aimed at provision of brighter civil rights and human rights to those individuals, who had just gained their freedom. The framers of the Fourteenth Amendment had the aim of fixing of these principles in the Constitution of the country, as they could support the Civil Rights Act, not allowing the Congress to change it by reconsidering through voting. This section played an important role for changing of the situation with violence attacks against black people in the Southern states. According to the Joint Committee on Reconstruction only such Constitutional amendment could really protect the civil rights of the black people especially in the problematic states.

There were a lot of debates about the Fourteenth Amendment, related to the Citizenship Clause. “Senator Jacob M. Howard of Michigan described the clause as having the same content, despite different wording, as the earlier Civil Rights Act of 1866, namely, that it excludes Native Americans who maintain their tribal ties and “persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers.” (Avins 1967). According to the Fourteenth Amendment all children, born in the United States, should be considered American citizens, irrespective of the fact of the citizenship of their parents. Most of the Senators supported this assumption, however Senator of Pennsylvania had absolutely contrary opinion. Other debates were related to the problem of unauthorized immigrants, which developed later than in 1866. In the 21st century the so-called “birth tourism” became popular, when foreign women arrived to the United States to give birth to their children there.

Overall, the Fourteenth Amendment was one of the Reconstruction Amendments, which was passed during one of the difficult periods in the history of the country – the period after the Civil War. The main aim of it was regulation of the social and civil rights of the black people after they became free.

Works cited:

Avins, A. The Reconstruction Amendments’ Debates: The Legislative History and Contemporary Debates in Congress on the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. Richmond: Virginia Commission on Constitutional Government, 1967

Bond, J. E. No Easy Walk to Freedom: Reconstruction and the Ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1997

Flack, H. E. The Adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment. Buffalo, N.Y.: W.S. Hein, 2003

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
Available at:

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]
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