14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States has threesections. Section I guarantees all citizens equal protection under the lawand forbids denying some privileges of citizenship to people. Section IIensures that all male citizens age 21 or over (excepting Native Americans)will have the right to vote and be counted when deciding how manyrepresentatives a state will have in the House of Representatives, with theexception that the right to vote can be denied those convicted of crimes,and that only adults allowed to vote will be counted when determiningrepresentation in Congress. Section III denied the right to hold publicoffice to anyone convicted of rebellion or giving aid and comfort to theenemy. Congress had the power to make individual exemptions. President Lincoln quoted the Declaration of Independence when he said
" While today we consider that philosophy a cornerstone ofour government, it was not part of the original Constitution. In reality, the southern states found a variety of ways to prevent Blackmen from voting. While this process began withthe passage of Amendment XIV, it was a century before it had full effect. Section III wasaimed at those who had actively participated in the Confederacy so that thepost-war Congress would not be packed with people who had recently, in theview of the victorious government, acted as traitors. The excesses to which some Southern governmententities went to prevent real enfranchisement of Black residents led to twoimportant laws passed by Congress: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and theVoting Rights Act of 1965 (Meinfeld & Julian, 1998). As a result, voter participation by Blacks grew significantly, andthis has led to markedly more Blacks being elected to local, state andfederal offices (Meinfeld & Julian, 1998). The three sections of Amendment XIV addressed specific post Civil Warissues. This provided incentive for states to get votersregistered so the state would have more power in Congress. Section I guaranteed equal legal protection to all, and was theforerunner of such practices as the Miranda warning, which makes sure thatall people arrested are made aware of their rights. Inaddition, only those males allowed to vote could be counted whendetermining how many representatives a state would have in the House ofRepresentatives. s dedicated to the proposition that all men arecreated equal. Section II guaranteedthe right to vote to all males 21 or over with few exceptions. In addition it gave the right to vote to whitemen who did not own property or who could not afford to pay a poll tax,making voting at least theoretically available to a great many more men. The Fourteenth Amendment clearly intended for all black males to begiven the right to vote.
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Acceptance Essays
