-
Reconstruction
While citizens did not succeed in empowering the 14th Amendment during Reconstruction, they effectively articulated arguments and offered dissenting opinions that would be the basis for change in the 20th century. -
Lincoln's Assassination
After Lincoln's assassination, president Andrew Johnson took over and he had to preside over the complex process of incorporating former Confederate states back into the union after the Civil War. Established former enslaved people were now free and equal citizens. -
Northerners Outraged
Northerners were outraged when the newly elected southern state legislature enacted 'black codes', which were repressive laws that strictly regulated the behavior of black citizens. It also effectively kept them dependent on white planters. -
Submission
The House Joint Resolution proposing the 14th Amendment to the Constitution was submitted to the states. -
Creating this Amendment
In creating this Act, Congress was using the authority given it to enforce the newly ratified 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, and protected the rights of black Americans. -
The 14th Amendment
granted citizenship to all person born or naturalized in the United States, including former enslaved people and guaranteed all citizens "equal protection of the laws." -
Failures
The 14th Amendment failed to extend the Bill of Rights and also failed to protects the rights of black citizens. -
Equal Protection Clause
The "equal protection laws" was clearly intended to stop the state governments from discriminating against Black Americans, and over the years it would play a key role in many landmark civil rights cases. -
Legacy
A legacy of Reconstruction was the determined struggle of black and white citizens to make the promise of the 14th Amendment a reality. -
Voting
Southern states continued to deny Black men the right to vote using a collection of state and local statues during the Jim Crow era. Subsequent amendments to the Constitution granted women the right to vote and lowered the legal voting age to 18. -
Plessy vs Ferguson
In Plessy vs Feguson, the court ruled that racially segregated public facilities did not violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment which is a decision that would help establish infamous Jim Crow laws throughout the South for decades to come. -
Amendment Ratification
In the beginning of the 1920's the Supreme Court increasingly applied the protections of the 14th Amendment on the state and local level.