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What the Fourteenth Amendment Protects

What the Fourteenth Amendment Protects

Letters from an American vor 2 Monaten

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Podcast

Letters from an American

895 Episoden

A newsletter about the history behind today's politics.

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July 9, 2026

On July 9, 1868, Americans changed the US Constitution for the
14th time, The Fourteenth Amendment brought the principles of the
Declaration to life, requiring the Federal government to protect
the equal rights of all American men, The Thirteenth Amendment
prohibited slavery on the basis of race, but did not guarantee
equality for Black Americans, The Fourteenth Amendment took on
the Dred Scott v Sandford decision and provided that all persons
born or naturalized in the US are citizens of the US, It also
overturned the idea that democracy was created at the state
level, forbidding states from making laws that were
discriminatory, The principles of the Fourteenth Amendment were
behind civil rights decisions of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, Opponents
objected, and called for “originalism,” an idea promoted by
Robert Bork who was nominated to the Supreme Court by Ronald
Reagan, Reaction to the nomination recognized the importance of
the Fourteenth Amendment to equality.

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