14th Amendment Advantages

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Kennedy Perez-Harrison Mr. Wright HOTA 17th April 2024.

Where Freedom Becomes Our Power

“By birth, we are American citizens; by the principles of the Declaration of Independence, we are American citizens; within the meaning of the United States Constitution, we are American citizens; by the facts of history; and the admission of American statesmen, we are American citizens; by the hardships and trials endured; by the courage and fidelity displayed by our ancestors in defending the liberties and in achieving the independence of our land, we are American citizens.” (Frederick Douglass). What a beautiful quote from an empowering speech by Frederick. As he kept restating “We are American citizens,” I could not help but wonder how we as individuals, …show more content…
The 14th Amendment was made to “grant citizenship to “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, thereby granting citizenship to formerly enslaved people.” (Archives). By this, the 14th Amendment means that it addressed the citizenship and freedom that the slaves and other citizens followed. By this, citizens were granted the right to have their freedom to express their opinions. The 14th Amendment prohibited and stopped the states from owning slaves as their property, life, and liberty. However, the setbacks that occurred when the 14th Amendment attempted to make America live up to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence was when the Slaughterhouse Cases took place. Now the Slaughterhouse Case was a moment in history in which the rights and protection clauses of the citizens stood by the 14th Amendment were limited. In the Article, Britannica, they state what the cases were and the effect they had on the 14th Amendment. “Slaughterhouse Cases, in American history, a legal dispute that resulted in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1873 limiting the protection of the privileges and immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.” (Britannica). The setbacks that the Slaughterhouse Cases had on the 14th Amendment were absurd and very backhanded to human rights. The Slaughterhouse Cases decision in 1873 stated that rather than broadly and cautiously protecting the rights of individuals against state infringement, the Slaughterhouse Cases protected only some rights specifically granted by the federal government. This concludes that the decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court narrowed the impact that the 14th Amendment could have made sooner in order to protect all citizens such as men, women, children, and individuals of color.
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