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
A
Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation
This collection contains congressional publications from 1774 to 1875, including debates, bills, laws, and journals.
- June 8, 1866 - The
Senate passed the 14th Amendment
by a vote of 33 to 11.
- June
13, 1866 - The House
of Representatives passed the 14th Amendment by a vote of 120 to 32.
- June 16, 1866 - The
text of the 14th Amendment can be found in the United States Statutes at Large, volume 14, page 358 (14 Stat. 358).
- June 22, 1866 - President Andrew Johnson submitted a message to Congress announcing that the
Fourteenth Amendment had been sent to the states for ratification. Johnson voiced his displeasure
with the amendment by stating that his actions should "be considered
as purely ministerial, and in no sense whatever committing the Executive to
an approval or a recommendation of the amendment to the State legislatures
or to the people."
- 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 legislative information on
the 14th Amendment.
African
American Perspectives: Pamphlets from the Daniel A.P.Murray
Collection, 1818-1907
The Daniel A. P. Murray Pamphlet Collection presents a panoramic and eclectic review of African-American history and culture, spanning almost one hundred years from the early nineteenth through the early twentieth centuries, with the bulk of the material published between 1875 and 1900
- The fourteenth amendment to the Constitution considered : the right to pursue any lawful trade or avocation, without other restraint than such as equally affects all persons, is one of the privileges of citizens of the United States which can not be abridged by state legislation / dissenting opinions of Mr. Justice Field, Mr. Justice Bradley, and Mr. Justice Swayne, of U.S. Supreme Court, in the New Orleans slaughter-house cases.
- Negro suffrage : should the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments be repealed? / Speech of Hon. Edward De V. Morrell, of Pennsylvania, in the House of Representatives, Monday, April 4, 1904.
Votes
for Women: Selections from the National American Woman
Suffrage Association Collection, 1848-1921
The NAWSA Collection consists of 167 books, pamphlets and other artifacts documenting the suffrage campaign.
- Suffrage conferred by the Fourteenth amendment. Woman's suffrage in the Supreme court of the District of Columbia, in general term, October, 1871. Sara J. Spencer vs. The Board of registration, and Sarah E. Webster vs. The judges of election. Argument of the counsel for the plaintiffs. With the opinions of the court. Reported by J.O. Clephane.
Jump
Back in Time: 14th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified.
The Chronicling America site allows you to search and view millions of historic American newspaper pages from 1836-1922. Search this collection to find newspaper articles about the 14th Amendment.
A selection of articles on the 14th Amendment includes:
- "Passage of the Constitutional Amendment by the Senate," The Evening Telegraph. (Philadelphia [Pa.]), June 9, 1866.
- "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.
Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation
The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation (popularly known as the Constitution Annotated) contains legal analysis and interpretation of the United States Constitution, based primarily on Supreme Court case law. This regularly updated resource is especially useful when researching the constitutional implications of a specific issue or topic. It includes a chapter on the 14th Amendment. (PDF, 2.41 MB)
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.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom
This exhibition, which commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, explores the events that shaped the civil rights movement, as well as the far-reaching impact the act had on a changing society.
Fourteenth Amendment and Citizenship
Law Library of Congress page on the Fourteenth Amendment and the history of the citizenship clause.
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.
June 2, 1924
On June 2, 1924, Congress enacted the Indian Citizenship Act, which granted citizenship to all Native Americans born in the U.S. The right to vote, however, was governed by state law; until 1957, some states barred Native Americans from voting.
Citizenship,
Due Process, and Equal Protection: The Creation of the Fourteenth
Amendment, HarpWeek
The Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment, National Constitution Center
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
Landmark Legislation: Thirteenth, Fourteenth, & Fifteenth Amendments, U.S. Senate
Our
Documents, 14th Amendment, National Archives and
Records Administration
Toward Racial
Equality: Harper’s Weekly Reports on Black America,
1857-1874, HarpWeek
Avins, Alfred, comp. 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. [Catalog
Record]
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]
Hay, Jeff, ed. Amendment XIV: Citizenship For All. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Greenhaven Press, 2009. [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]
Burgan, Michael. The Reconstruction Amendments. Minneapolis: Compass Point Books, 2006. [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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