Overview:

The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, granted equal protection under the law to all citizens born in the United States, including formerly enslaved people. It also held states accountable for blocking people from voting and paved the way for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. However, the author argues that the 14th has failed to protect the communities it swore to protect, and it is the duty of American citizens to ensure that this aspect of democracy is not erased.

The United States Senate recognizes it as “Landmark Legislation” to this day.

Florida and both the Carolinas were the last states to ratify its text.

What makes the 14th Amendment so powerful that it’s still newsworthy exactly 157 years later?

The promise of equality. Which is something our community is still fighting for today. 

What They Didn’t Teach Us in School

Growing up as Gen-Z in the South, they didn’t teach us about the importance of the 14th as much as the 13th Amendment. The 13th was all we needed to know. Civil rights were limited to Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. We didn’t need the basis for the movement that allowed us to sit in integrated classrooms to this day.

I didn’t know my home state of Louisiana was one of the last to ratify the amendment, either. But growing up where field trips to plantation homes were the norm, this didn’t surprise me until I got older and improved the quality of my education. 

But now more than ever, people are attempting to monopolize freedom. The current U.S. administration is actively fighting to suppress marginalized groups similar to the Reconstruction Era. Our nation is at a fragile point and the faults are being formed by false pretenses of what it means to really be free. 

The Promise: Citizenship and Equal Protection

The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, made everyone born in the U.S., including formerly enslaved people, official citizens. But it took two years for the amendment to officially become ratified after first being presented in 1866.  

The author of the 14th Amendment, Representative John Bingham of Ohio, wanted “a simple, strong, plain declaration that equal laws and equal and exact justice shall hereafter be secured within every State of the Union,” guaranteeing “equal protection” for “any person, no matter whence he comes, or how poor, how weak, how simple—no matter how friendless.” 

This Amendment was a huge deal, to make the understatement of the century. It promised newly free people equal protection under the law. It also was one of the earliest instances of expanded civil rights for marginalized groups in this country, as it held states accountable if they tried to block people from voting.

The 14th also:

  • Banned Confederate leaders from holding office without special approval
  • Stopped payments for Confederate war debts and blocked compensation for slaveowners
  • Gave Congress power to enforce civil rights laws, paving the way for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965

Florida, the Carolinas, and the Confederate Holdouts

Former Confederate states were forced to ratify it before rejoining the U.S. Government. Which means, yes, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina had to eventually give in. After 28 out of 37 states at the time agreed on the Amendment, it was ratified two years after its 1866 introduction in 1868. 

Indeed, this Amendment still shapes the fight for justice today, but only if we continue to support its core principles. If not, we’re doomed to repeat this history of the late 19th century. 

Today, the 14th Amendment has actually failed the communities it once swore to protect.

Yes, that’s right. The 14th has failed Black people.

Why?

Firstly, in an era of Reconstruction and Jim Crow, the 14th did little other than offer more ammunition for racists to work actively against the success and survival of Blacks outside of an enslaved system. Moreover, the 14th as a document failed to extend the Bill of Rights to the states, as ruled by the Supreme Court, without its due process clause. Why is that important? The Bill of Rights is intended to limit the federal government. If it’s not extended to states, then state power can go basically unchecked. And we all know where “States Rights” got this country before, right?

Why We Still Care, 157 Years Later

In recent months, Trump’s anti-DEI tirade has threatened some of the liberties we now enjoy thanks to the 14th. It’s our duty as American citizens to ensure this is one aspect of democracy that cannot be erased.

Alligator Alcatraz is nothing short of an internment camp, stripping people of their humanity when all they sought was citizenship.

In the midst of No Kings protests, and the Good Trouble protests, let us remember the America that promised us equality and delivered. Let us remember the true impact of the 14th, even though this administration wants us to forget it. 

Equality wins when we call out inequality. Keep checking your state and federal governments. 

Happy birthday to the 14th.