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The 14 th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Learn about the history and impact of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, civil rights failures, landmark cases like Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education, and the fight for equal protection under the law.

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The 14 th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

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  1. The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -Due Process of Law (the protection of all citizens under the laws and rights provided in the Constitution)

  2. History of the 14th Amendment • The 14th amendment was originally ratified to protect the freedman from the abolishment of his rights by southern states. • The 14th amendment was ratified in 1868.

  3. Slavery in the Constitution • Framers did not abolish slavery • Because Southern states would not have ratified Constitution if it abolished slavery. • Main goal in 1787: create stronger nat’l govt. • Congress can’t ban importation of slaves until 1808 • Fugitive slave clause: free states had to return runaway slaves to their owners • 3/5ths Compromise

  4. Dred Scott case • Supreme Court ruled (1857) that • African Americans are not U.S. citizens • Congress cannot prohibit slavery in new U.S. territories • Constitutional Amendment was required to grant citizenship to blacks

  5. Civil War Amendments • 13th: (1865): freed all slaves, outlawed slavery permanently in the U.S. • 14th (1868): all persons born in U.S. are citizens; states cannot violate citizens’ rights; “equal protection of the laws” • 15th (1870): right to vote cannot be denied based on race

  6. Failure of Civil War Amendments • Congress passed civil rights laws, but President refused to enforce • Withdrew federal troops from South in 1877 • Leads to Southern states passing “black codes / Jim Crow Laws” to prevent blacks from gaining power or equality • Former slaves and free blacks were not treated equally for another 100 years

  7. 14th Amendment • Original purpose: protect the rights of former slaves and free blacks • Made state govt’s protect citizens’ Constitutional rights • Limited the power of state govt’s after the Civil War

  8. 14th Amendment “No state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” • Applies only to state governments • Does it require “equal opportunity”? • When can people be treated differently by the law? • “rational basis” • “compelling” social interest

  9. Do these laws violate the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment? Why/ why not? • Adults under 21 can’t drink alcohol • Women can’t be firefighters • Physically handicapped people can’t be firefighters • 15% of all University of Michigan students must be minority races • Women can’t be guards at all-male prisons • Only men have to register for the draft

  10. “Equal Protection” Cases • Plessy v. Ferguson: started June 7, 1892 • Homer Plessy was a 30 year African American Shoemaker. • He was put in jail for sitting in “white” section on a railroad car in East Louisiana. • The judge on the trial was John Howard Ferguson. • In 1896 the supreme court heard Plessy’s case and found him guilty.

  11. Plessy v. Ferguson • Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896) • Segregation by race does not violate the equal protection clause as long as the separate facilities were equal • “separate but equal” doctrine • Allowed states to continue racial segregation in public facilities

  12. The Plessy Decision • Set the precedent that separate facilities for blacks and whites were constitutional as long as they were equal.

  13. A Sign at the Greyhound Bus Station, Rome, GeorgiaSeptember 1943. (Esther Bubley, photographer)

  14. "The Rex theater for Colored People." Leland, Mississippi, November 1939.Marion Post Wolcott, photographer.

  15. "A cafe near the tobacco market."Durham, North Carolina. May 1940.

  16. " People waiting for a bus at the Greyhound bus terminal." Memphis, Tennessee. September 1943.Esther Bubley, photographer.

  17. “Equal Protection” cases 2. Brown vs. Board of Education (1954) • “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal” • Overturned Plessy decision • Outlawed segregation in every state • Not followed in some southern states until forced by federal troops

  18. Brown v. Board of Education “Segregation of white and Negro children in public schools of a state solely on the basis of race, pursuing state laws that permit or require segregation denies Negro children the equal protection of laws guaranteed by 14th amendment even though other factors of white and Negro schools should be equal.”

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