U.S. Senate: Landmark Legislation: The Fourteenth Amendment (2024)

Passed by the Senate on June 8, 1866, and ratified two years later, on July 9, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to all persons "born or naturalized in the United States," including formerly enslaved people, and provided all citizens with “equal protection under the laws,” extending the provisions of the Bill of Rights to the states. The amendment authorized the government to punish states that abridged citizens’ right to vote by proportionally reducing their representation in Congress. It banned those who “engaged in insurrection” against the United States from holding any civil, military, or elected office without the approval of two-thirds of the House and Senate. The amendment prohibited former Confederate states from repaying war debts and compensating former slave owners for the emancipation of their enslaved people. Finally, it granted Congress the power to enforce this amendment, a provision that led to the passage of other landmark legislation in the 20th century, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Congress required former Confederate states to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment as a condition of regaining federal representation.

U.S. Senate: Landmark Legislation: The Fourteenth Amendment (2024)

FAQs

U.S. Senate: Landmark Legislation: The Fourteenth Amendment? ›

Passed by the Senate on June 8, 1866, and ratified two years later, on July 9, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to all persons "born or naturalized in the United States," including formerly enslaved people, and provided all citizens with “equal protection under the laws,” extending the provisions of ...

What was the landmark legislation of the 14th Amendment? ›

A major provision of the 14th Amendment was to grant citizenship to “All persons born or naturalized in the United States,” thereby granting citizenship to formerly enslaved people.

How did the Senate vote on the 14th Amendment? ›

The Senate passed the 14th Amendment (H.J. Res. 127) with amendments by a vote of 33 to 11.

What did the Congress pass the 14th Amendment in response to? ›

Usually considered one of the most consequential amendments, it addresses citizenship rights and equal protection under the law and was proposed in response to issues related to formerly enslaved Americans following the American Civil War.

What are the 5 main points of the 14th Amendment? ›

The Fourteenth Amendment contains a number of important concepts, most famously state action, privileges & immunities, citizenship, due process, and equal protection—all of which are contained in Section One.

What is the landmark legislation in U.S. history? ›

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 remains one of the most significant legislative achievements in American history.

What is the most famous section of the 14th Amendment? ›

Section 1.

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.

What landmark Supreme Court case did the 14th Amendment void in 1954? ›

It signaled the end of legalized racial segregation in the schools of the United States, overruling the "separate but equal" principle set forth in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case. On May 17, 1954, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren delivered the unanimous ruling in the landmark civil rights case Brown v.

What was a landmark US Supreme Court case that enforced the guarantees of the 14th Amendment to the states? ›

Loving v. Virginia (12 Jun 1967) ―By 1967, 16 states had still not repealed their anti-miscegenation laws that forbid interracial marriages. Mildred and Richard Loving were residents of one such state, Virginia, who had fallen in love and wanted to get married.

Why was the Fourteenth Amendment considered unsuccessful? ›

The Fourteenth Amendment is viewed as unsuccessful due to insufficient enforcement, particularly in the South, where states enacted laws that undermined its purpose of ensuring citizenship and equal protection to African Americans.

What are the three main clauses of the 14th Amendment? ›

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Who opposed the 14th Amendment? ›

") 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 the Southern states had to accept before they could be readmitted to the union, including ratification of the 14th Amendment.

What did the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution accomplish responses? ›

Passed by the Senate on June 8, 1866, and ratified two years later, on July 9, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to all persons "born or naturalized in the United States," including formerly enslaved people, and provided all citizens with “equal protection under the laws,” extending the provisions of ...

How does Congress enforce the 14th Amendment? ›

In enforcing by appropriate legislation the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees against state denials, Congress has the discretion to adopt remedial measures, such as authorizing persons being denied their civil rights in state courts to remove their cases to federal courts,7 and to provide criminal8 and civil9 liability ...

What is the 14th Amendment insurrectionist ban? ›

What does the 14th Amendment say? The 14th Amendment says Americans who take an oath to uphold the Constitution but then “engaged in insurrection” are disqualified from holding future public office.

What is the landmark legislation for civil rights? ›

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Provisions of this civil rights act forbade discrimination on the basis of sex, as well as, race in hiring, promoting, and firing.

What is a landmark case in the history of equal rights? ›

Board of Education (1954, 1955) The case that came to be known as Brown v. Board of Education was actually the name given to five separate cases that were heard by the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the separate but equal concept in public schools.

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