The 14th amendment is just as important today as it was to the reconstruction era because it granted citizenship to former slaves and any person born on American soil, gave every citizen equal protection under the law, and it upholds the 13th amendment by stating that any U.S. State that does not abide by every citizen’s rights will be punished.
The 14th amendment was passed on May 10th 1866. It is broken down into five sections. Section one gives anyone born or neutralized on American soil citizenship. It also gave former slaves U.S. Citizenship. It also states that every citizen is given equal protection under the law and no one is denied due process. The amendment made sure that no states can make or enforce any laws that would go against
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This was important because the 13th amendment abolished slavery but didn't grant any of the former slave’s citizenship. Without citizenship any former slaves weren't able to own property or vote. It gave former slaves the natural rights of every American citizen. And any child that was born on American soil is automatically a citizen of the United States of America. It is just as important today as it was back then because children of immigrants born in American are born citizens of the United States unlike their parents who have to pay for green cards, and take test in order to become citizens. American was supposed to be the land of the free and the home of the brave but how can that be if every person born in this country not given the same natural rights as every other citizen just because their family wasn't "originally" from America. The 13th and 14th amendment is really and truly what made American the land of the free and why so many people want to come to this country for better …show more content…
This was put in place to let the south know that there would be consequences if they did not abide by every citizen right or tried to pass own laws to override this amendment. If they didn't the punishment was to proportionally reducing their representation in Congress and no states wanted that to happen. No state has the right to tell you can't vote or pass laws to make you feel like less of a citizen because of this amendment. It states clearly in the amendment that no state shall deny or deprive any person of life, liberty or