Why Did Congress Propose The Fourteenth Amendment? What Were Its Provisions?
The Fourteenth Amendment was proposed by congress in 1866 and passed in 1868 with Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses. The Amendment was a response to the Dred Scoot Decision, which stated African Americans were not and could not become American Citizens. The amendment requires states provide equal protection under the law for all persons, not only citizens, who are within their jurisdictions. States cannot make nor enforce any laws, which deny the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States. Furthermore, states can not deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process and full protection of the law. Congress believed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 could be overturned by a future Congress without an Amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing citizenship to anyone born or naturalized in the United States. The Amendment states any child born in the United States is a citizen, some exceptions exist.
