The Fourteenth Amendment

Paper Summary:

This paper explains the original intent of the Fourteenth Amendment and looks at how it has been interpreted, at different times in history, to sometimes further the interests of equality and, at other times, to defend the status quo, which often prevented equality among people.

From the Paper:

""I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.'" (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) In the fight for all men to be considered equal, the Fourteenth Amendment was an integral part. But the way in which this constitutional amendment was interpreted differed greatly in the times since it was ratified in 1868. The Fourteenth Amendment's original purpose was to create a society where all people were treated equally under the law. However, through many interpretations, the Fourteenth Amendment made it seem that equal living, education, and working conditions were things the government was responsible for providing. Depending on the time period, there have been many interpretations of the Fourteenth Amendment. For the first three decades since the amendment was ratified, the Fourteenth Amendment actually slowed down the pursuit of equality, while after the 1900's, the Fourteenth Amendment was used in a wide variety of supreme court cases as a stepping stone to the racial equality we have today."

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