November 18, 2009

The Fourteenth 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. 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.

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state.

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article."


First of all, this amendment is ENTIRELY too long. But, aside from that...this amendment ensures that all citizens within the United States have the rights of the federal government as well as the state they live in-- one state's laws cannot knock out the other. Also, this amendment abolishes the 3/5ths compromise. It also ensures that the United States will not be held responsible for debts that its states may owe.




This is a video speaking on the fourteenth amendment-- commenting on the day it was made, the civil rights that it gave African American's, etc. I really like this video-- he is pretty entertaining and a little bit edgy which I like since most of these amendment videos tend to be pretty bland. The video also does a really great job of explaining the amendment while poking fun at many politicians and states.




This is a short lecture on the fourteenth amendment-- it's pretty short but really helps at explaining the fourteenth amendment. I think this teacher does a great job of keeping it interesting, short and to the point, but also not leaving much out so we can really grasp what the fourteenth amendment is all about without being bored out of our minds.

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