14th Amendment To The US Constitution

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The 14th amendment to the US Constitution was ratified on July 9, 1868 in order to protect the civil rights of freed slaves after the civil war. With that being said, The Dred v. Scott case in 1857 held that African Americans were not U.S. citizens, even if they were free. The Fourteenth Amendment addresses many aspects of citizenship and the rights of citizens. The 14th amendment states that" that all persons born or naturalized in the United States including African Americans are citizens of the country. The 14th amendment contained three major provisions which were the due process clause, the citizenship clause, and the equal protection clause. Its Due Process Clause declared that local and state governments cannot deny any citizen of