Apr 29, 2017 3 min read

At the end of the Civil War, the United States struggled with what role 4 million newly freed slaves would assume in American life.

The 14th Amendment was an important step in granting equal rights for all Americans, stating that “all citizens born or naturalized in the United States … are citizens in the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall … deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” The 14th Amendment introduced the ideal of equality to the Constitution for the first time, promising “equal protection of the laws.”

After four years of bitter fighting between the Union and the Confederacy, Reconstruction was needed to bring together our shattered nation and its citizens. Even though slavery had been abolished and there was a new civil rights bill in place, most of the white Southern population had little respect for African Americans, failing to accept that they shared the same rights under the Constitution. Therefore, the 14th Amendment was created and approved by three-fourths of the states, giving legal validity to the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and introducing equal protection of the law.

This amendment, along with the 13th and 15th amendments, became known as the Reconstruction amendments. The 14th Amendment created a new idea explained by Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan that “the Constitution is color-blind.”

The 14th Amendment has been cited in more Supreme Court cases than any other part of the Constitution. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, women cited the amendment to proclaim and validate their right to vote. This amendment also became the key in the Plessy v. Ferguson case, in which the Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal” facilities were constitutional, and in the Brown v. Board of Education case, which brought an end to segregation in schools and began integration across the country.

The amendment continued to aid progress for civil rights in the establishment of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act in the 1960s. Throughout history, this amendment stood as a guide to anyone searching for more rights, and therefore created more opportunity and equality in American democracy. From slaughterhouse cases in 1873 to the battle for homosexual marriage rights in current day, the 14th Amendment has been influential in Supreme Court cases.

United States citizens are very fortunate to live in a democracy with the right to vote, being allowed to hold unique opinions and ideas, and be equal with all other citizens under the Constitution. Even though prejudice will never cease completely, the 14th Amendment was vital to former slaves gaining rights. This significant amendment led to continued reform that shaped our nation into the democracy that it is today. Thurgood Marshall, a civil rights activist and Supreme Court justice, once said, “In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.”

Citizens of this nation should aspire to spread this ideal to lead and improve American democracy.

Malinak is an eighth-grade student at Trinity Middle School. This essay won first 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.