Impact of the 14th Amendment has been enormous
The time directly after the Civil War was one of turmoil and uncertainty. The man the United States had chosen to lead it was dead, the North and South were at each other’s throats, and racism ran rampant, with black codes keeping slavery alive in all but name.
This era, Reconstruction, was a pivotal turning point in our nation’s history, and from this crucible came many things we take for granted today. Perhaps the most important were the three constitutional amendments passed during that era, commonly referred to as the Reconstruction amendments. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery. The 15th Amendment ensured the right to vote for all.
The 14th did much more than its creators ever anticipated.
Our Constitution’s 14th Amendment was originally created with the intention of solving the problems of that era. Section 4 ensured that the public debt of the South could not be imposed on the North; Section 2 established that all people, to eliminate the confusion surrounding the representation of millions of newly-freed Americans, would be counted as whole people; Section 3 denied the right to hold office for those who had “engaged in insurrection or rebellion,” so as to prevent the South from taking charge of Congress.
Section 1 did more than just one simple thing. It served as a means to establish all former slaves as citizens by birthright, and served to protect their legal rights to due process. Although originally intended as a quick fix to definitively solve the problems of their era, this Reconstruction amendment has become the most cited amendment in civil litigation, with impacts beyond what its creators could ever have imagined.
Civil rights are far from the only impact the 14th Amendment has had on our nation’s legal system. Some lesser-known cases have established rights we now take for granted. Mapp v. Ohio instituted the precedent that material cannot be used as evidence if it is found during an illegal search, citing the 14th Amendment’s due process clause. The due process clause was also cited in Griswold v. Connecticut, which guaranteed the right to privacy, paving the way for such world-changing rulings as Roe v. Wade. Loving v. Virginia cited the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, and the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that prohibiting interracial marriage was illegal in all states. Court rulings made possible by the 14th Amendment are too numerous to list here, but these few examples give a glimpse into the enormous impact this amendment has had.
Rising from its humble roots, the 14th Amendment, once created simply to solve a few pressing problems, has inspired numerous Supreme Court cases, and its equal protection and due process clauses have decided myriad rulings. It made new pathways to citizenship and ensured equal rights under American law for all citizens.
Truly, I cannot wait to see what impact it makes next.
Cummings is a senior at Canon-McMillan High School. This essay won third place in a Law Day contest sponsored by Washington County Bar Association. Law Day is Monday and commemorates the importance of law in society and its role in our country.