falling in love

Adrione Ashley
October 16, 2013
Period: 7
The 14th amendment What is freedom? Freedom is the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without limitations or restraint. To me, the most important freedom or right we have as Americans is guaranteed in the 14th amendment. The 14th amendment states that all people in the United States have equal rights. And equal protection under the law, regardless of race or religious preference. Most importantly it states that citizens of this “great nation” can’t be punished by the government, without due process. Which means everyone gets a fair trial. Even though I don’t plan on committing any crimes, anytime soon; I think it’s great that they give everyone a fair shot at being accused for a crime they did not commit. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was adapted on July 9TH of 1868. It was a Reconstruction Amendment. This amendment is one of the longest amendments in the whole constitution, with five parts in total. The primary purpose of this amendment was grant citizenship, equal, civil and legal rights to African Americans and slaves, who had been emancipated after the American Civil War; which it does very nicely. The passage of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution was a significant event in the history of our country because it made anyone born here a citizen. Although most people think of the fourteenth amendment as being a "civil rights" amendment, it also defines citizenship, voting rights, and states congressional representatives and elector’s numbers. It defines everything you could ever think of. The Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution is so important because it still affects us today by granting citizenship, civil rights, and congressional representation. The Fourteenth Amendment is the main source of power for most of the laws concerning affirmative action, desegregation, hate crimes, voting, and congressional representation that are used today. Without the fourteenth amendment there would have been no basis for the civil rights movement, we would still have had separate facilities for blacks and whites. We would have no base for determining citizenship, voting rights, or congressional representation; which means that our country would have failed. If it wasn’t for this right, we would have no freedoms period. Out of all the Amendments I personally think this was the fairest one, I'm surprised it took them so long to pass it, because it is and will always be the most important freedom we have as Americans.