or a constitutional amendment (Curtis 59). The president vetoed the proposed amendment; however, it later passed in April of the next year (Curtis 59). It became section five of the Fourteenth Amendment (Curtis 83). The section states: "The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article" (Burns et al. 49). This section gives Congress the ability to enforce the power of the Fourteenth Amendment (Nowak, Rotunda 611). This section also altered the balance of state and federal power, by initiating supremacy of national government over all the states as protectors of our liberties (Epstein and Walker 648).
             The authors of Government by the People, felt this was a wise choice because they could no longer trust the South with the duty to secure basic civil rights for the newly freed slaves (Burns et al. 101). The purpose of this proposal was to end the abuse of certain classes of people, especially blacks. The Radical Republicans wanted to accomplish this by demanding all people, be entitled to the most fundamental rights and freedoms (tenBroek 185).
             The committee went on to clarify what many Republicans deemed was already enforceable in the Bill of Rights, of the Constitution (Curtis 58). Bingham drafted section one of the Fourteenth Amendment on April 28, 1866 (Curtis 58). It consists of two sentences, and contains four clauses (Nowak, Rotunda 611).
             "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" (Curtis 58).
             The Senate added, "The provision making all perso...