Essay On The 14th Amendment

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Introduction The Constitution of the United States is a set of fundamental laws, which was established in 1789. It was amended several times. The 14th amendment of the US Constitution was one of the most important ones. Its main purpose was to give citizenship to African-Americans living in the US, protect their rights and create equality. With the help of the 14th amendment, the national government aimed to increase its power over the local governments and force them to accept the dominance of the national constitution. That was the reason =, that the ratification took a very long time. Despite the ratification, the 14th amendment couldn’t work immediately and the only case, during which it had its power was Yick Wo v. Hopkins case. In all other cases, the 14th amendment couldn’t have its power. Even, “Plessy v. Ferguson” case gave a start to Jim Crow Law, which were racial segregation laws. Thus, the 14th amendment couldn’t succeed, and it could achieve its goals only several decades later. The Reconstruction Amendments The Constitution of the United States is a legal document, which is passed by the Congress of United States. It establishes fundamental laws and guarantees several basic rights for…show more content…
J. F., 1948). This was the reason why some states initially opposed to ratify it. The US Congress passed the 14th amendment in 1866, however it was ratified by almost all states only in 1868. With the exception of Tennessee, the Southern states refused to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment. The Republicans then passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867, which set the conditions, that the Southern states had to accept before they could be readmitted to the union, including ratification of the 14th Amendment. So, finally they also ratified the 14th

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