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.
My Opinion: Being one of the reconstruction amendments there are many different parts in this Amendment but they are all equally important. Some of the major points I picked out include: This amendment provides a definition of a citizen of this country. This amendment provides that all states will provide equal protection to everyone within their jurisdiction. It provides due process under the law and equally provides all constitutional rights to all citizens of this country, regardless of race, sex, religious beliefs and creed.
Redefining the 14th Amendment and Third World Immigration
Birthright citizenship is based on the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which was originally enacted to ensure ONLY the civil rights for the newly freed slaves after the Civil War. Fleeced again?
A Texas lawmaker is introducing a bill in February that would battle the 14th amendment, which grants citizenship to children born on American soil — including those born to illegal immigrants.
Lawmaker Leo Berman believes that immigrants are committing a crime against the U.S., from the time they're in the hospital — but we grant their children citizenship anyway. "They're violating our sovereignty and we're granting them citizenship," he said.
Democratic Texas lawmaker, Joaquin Castro says Berman is trying to interpret the Constitution to fit his agenda and create a name for himself. "It's a low blow against children," he said.
"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."A serious and scholarly debate has been on-going for years about whether illegal aliens (and temporary visitors) are, in fact, "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States. Some scholars insist that the phrase has no real meaning of its own, but rather is essentially another way of saying "born in the United States." They believe the Fourteenth Amendment requires that any child born on U.S. soil be granted U.S. citizenship. Other scholars look to the legal traditions observed by most courts, including the presumption that all words used in a legislation are intended to have meaning (i.e., not simply be restatements) and that, if the meaning of a word or phrase is unclear or ambiguous, the congressional debate over the legislation may indicate the authors' intent. These scholars therefore presume that "subject to the jurisdiction" means something different from "born in the United States," so they have looked to the original Senate debate over the Fourteenth Amendment to determine its meaning. They conclude that the authors of the Fourteenth Amendment did NOT want to grant citizenship to every person who happened to be born on U.S. soil.
My Opinion: After reading this article, I realized that I never even would of thought of this. This article makes a good point by saying that the authors of the Fourteenth Amendment did NOT want to grant citizenship to every person who happened to be born on the U.S. soil. We have such a problem with boarder control and it is not helping when anyone who is born in the United States is granted citizenship. I'm curious to see if this argument passes.
The 14th Amendment Cases: Brown vs. Board of Education
My Opinion: This video highlights the most famous supreme cases that deals with the 14th Amendment. The most influential case is Brown vs. Board of Education. Government made the ruling that segregation is not equal in any states. By them realizing that children will not succeed in life if they are denied the opportunity of education. The main point of this video is that separate but equal is inherently unequal. This changed the lives of millions of people getting the opportunity of equal education.
