PRESENTED TOProf. Dr. Maimul Ahsan Khan

A presentation on

14th Amendment of US ConstitutionMd. Mostafizur Rahman

3rd Semester, LLMRoll No.152 01 2015

DEPT. OF LAWGREEN UNIVERSITY OF BANGLADESH

Date of presentation: 09.04.2016

FROM THE PERIOD OF REVOLUTION TO CIVIL WAR:POLARISED STANCE OF AMERICA REGARDING SLAVERY

1776 Slavery was legal in all of the 13 colonies of USA at the time of its Independence.

1880

Importation of slaves were prohibited

1857

BRED SCOTT v. SANDFORD

DURING THIS PERIOD

America was polarised on issue of slavery where abolitionist sentiment was uprising in the north, but quite opposite in the south.

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1789 1800 1821 1846 18571837

Slave StatesFree States

BRED SCOTT v. SANDFORDOn the escalating tension regarding fate of slavery into America, Judgment from US Supreme Court came out with the following:

“A negro, whose ancestors were imported into [the U.S.], and sold as slaves", whether enslaved or free, could not be an American citizen and therefore had no standing to sue in federal court, and that the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in the federal territories acquired after the creation of the United States

“WORST JUDGMENT IN US SUPREME COURT HISTORY”

> Chief Justice Tany Began believed that the decision represented a compromise that would settle the slavery question once and for all by transforming a contested political issue into a matter of settled law.

“INDIRECT CATALYST OF AMERICAN CIVIL WAR”

INTENSIFICATION OF STRAIN THROUGH

FINAL ESCALATION OF CONFLICT INTO CIVIL WAR PRECIPITATING FREEDOM OF SLAVES

1860 Abraham Lincoln won election on the platform of no new slave states. South finally broke away and formed Confederacy.

1861

CONFISCATION ACT

1863

EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION

CIVIL WAR broke down.

1865CIVIL WAR ENDED

13TH AMENDMENT OF US CONSTITUTION WAS PASSED ABOLISHING SLAVERY AND INVOLUNTRAY SERVITUDE. IT WAS 1ST RECONSTRUCTION AMENDMENT.

NEW CHALLENGE FOR NEWLY FREEDMEN FOR AQUIRING THEIR STATUS, RIGHTS AND PRIVLIGES

BLACK CODESEven after 13th Amendment, status of freed slaves were unresolved.

The South started to make Black Code imposing strict restrictions on Blacks facilitating maintenance of white supremacy.

Blacks were bound to show employment papers otherwise fine, in failure of which imprisonment. No movement after evening or not having any right to carry weapons.

ENACTMENT OF CIVIL RIGHTS ACT, 1866 AS ANTI-DOTECongress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, guaranteeing blacks equal rights in every state and territory in the United States.”

Congressmen could not shed away their unease as the rights of freedmen was vulnerable, which can be turned down by simple majority, as such it was thought to give place into constitution for lasting effect.

14th AMENDMENT

14TH Amendment contains 05 sections, most importantly the first section is as under:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

This section alone embodies 04 vital clauses:

> the Citizenship Clause, > Privileges or Immunities Clause,

> Due Process Clause, and > Equal Protection Clause

14th AMENDMENTOTHER PROVISIONS

Apportionment of representation in House of Representatives [section 2]

Participants in rebellion [section 3]

Apportionment of representatives in the Houses on the basis of counting total number of residents.

Reduction of a state's apportionment if it wrongfully denies any adult male's right to vote.

Prohibition of the election or appointment to any federal or state office of any person who had held any of certain offices and then engaged in insurrection, rebellion or treason.

However, a two-thirds vote by each House of the Congress can override this limitation. In 1898, Congress enacted a general removal of section 3’s limitation

14th AMENDMENTOTHER PROVISIONS

Validity of Public Debt (section 4)

Power of Enforcement [section 5]

Confirmed the legitimacy of all public appropriated by the Congress.

Neither the United States nor any state would pay for the loss of slaves or debts that had been incurred by the Confederacy

It enables Congress to pass laws enforcing the amendment's other provisions

CONTINUED….

STRUGGLING PERIOD OF RATIFICATIONRatification was bitterly contested.

Except Tennessee, every former confederate state refused to ratify it.

Except Tennessee, every former confederate state refused to ratify it.

Such refusal led to Reconstruction Acts. Consequently, military government was imposed until new civil governments were established and the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified.

1868Through this labyrinth road of ratification, finally, required number of ratifications (28 states) was fulfilled in 1868, and the 14th Amendment was declared to be effective.

IMPORTANCE OF 14TH AMENDMENTThis Amendment is the 2nd in the Reconstruction Amendments.

It provided strong footing and constitutional niche to the black freedmen .

It finally turned down judgment of Bred Scott v. Sandford, 1857 which declined citizenship of slaves born in USA.

Section 1 of the 14th Amendment is one of the most litigated US constitutional provision embodying that this is as much important today as it was important in that day.

It concluded some vital impending issues of post war period including status of freedmen, debt payment as well as position of rebellion.

It first constitutionally declared who is the citizen burying down all confusion.

It makes inseparable link between that citizen and his/her rights in every aspect.

INTERPRETATIONAL GO THROUGH OF 14TH AMENDMENT

CITIZENSHIP ISSUE

A man born within the United States to Chinese citizens who have a permanent domicile and residence in the United States and are carrying on business in the United States.

United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898)

EQUAL PROTECTION ISSUE

The states could impose segregation so long as they provided similar facilities—the formation of the “separate but equal” doctrine.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

The idea of ‘separate’ itself is inherentyl unequal.Brown v. Boad of Education (1954)