Constitutional amendment in USA

Constitutional amendment in USA

Ratification of the 14^th amendment to the constitution of the United States of America took place on July 9 1868. This amendment granted citizenship to all persons born in the United States of America inclusive of all slaves and the recently freed. Another provision of this amendment is that it forbids states from denying any person life, liberty or property without due process of law. It should be noted that this right expanded to a great extent to protection of civil rights to all American citizens.

The 14^th amendment clearly defines what it really means to be an American citizen. For example being a citizen by birth. Every child born in the land of America is a citizen by birth and he or she should not be discriminated no matter his race. There are also privileges that come along with citizenship which are explained in the 14th amendment. Holders of full United States of America’s citizenship are allowed to sponsor their immediate relatives such as spouses and parents for the country’s legal permanent residence status without necessarily waiting for a visa. In addition all naturalized US citizens have the right to possess the country’s passport which gives them protection against deportation and have all the freedom of travel and can live abroad without fear of losing their legal permanent resident status. Stipulation of what state officials can or cannot do especially when it comes to American citizens in various matters is clearly defined in the amendment (Bloemraad 69). In a nutshell, duties of state officials are clearly defined which guides them in their day to day   activities.

Addition of bill of rights to the U.S constitution had the aim of protecting the rights of American citizens against any kind of encroachment by the federal government. Citizens were guaranteed citizenship rights and equal protection, former slaves were granted citizenship which gave them a sense of belonging.

The congress passed a legislation which prohibited any kind of segregation of public facilities as well as discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national religion as well as national origin. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was tasked with ensuring that the above was well implemented and followed to the letter.

As seen above the 14^th amendment has brought about lot of changes since its adoption. Creation of equal opportunities for all despite ones race and color, granting of citizenship to former slaves and also clearly defining what citizens expects from state official which is pretty cool thing.

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Constitutional amendment in USA

Paper details
Civil Rights
Please view and take notes on It’s a Free Country Video and/or Professor Patterson’s
lecture on Civil Rights and read the Civil Rights chapter in your textbook. Then respond
to the following two questions:
Explain the purpose and role of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
How did this amendment change the relationship between the States and the Bill of
Rights? What was the context of this amendment? And why is it so significant to
equality for all?
Discuss one additional action taken by the government to advance equality for all.
Which branch was responsible for this advance?