The Importance Of The Equal Rights Amendment

Discussion 5 The Equal Rights Amendment The 14th Amendment to the Constitution states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States” are granted citizenship, which included slaves. Additionally, the 14th Amendment declares that states cannot deny any person “life, liberty or property, without due process of law” and that a state could not “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” This amendment basically outlined who is a citizen of the United States and safeguarded particular rights for the people, making it an extremely important amendment. In the clip from the television show The West Wing, Ainsley Hayes argues that an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution declaring that men and women are equal is redundant. I completely agree that the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) would be redundant because of the 14th Amendment. The 14th Amendment guarantees that civil rights, civil liberties, and equal protection of the law apply to all persons. The intent of the 14th Amendment is to protect the rights of all. This includes women. Thus, the existing Constitution should and does make women (and all) legal equals. I agree that sometimes in practice this does fall short, but if there
The 15th Amendment granted voting rights to members of all races. The 19th Amendment guaranteed women the right to vote. The 23rd Amendment allowed citizens in Washington DC to vote for the president. The 24th Amendment banned poll taxes, which could prevent some from being able to vote. These amendments all deal with giving specific citizens the right to vote and have to do with preventing discrimination of some regarding civil rights and civil liberties. The 14th Amendment protects all individuals’ rights and liberties. No matter the individual, the Constitution protects