The Importance Of The Fourteenth Amendment In The United States

In the past, the United States established the Articles of Confederation, giving states the opportunity to govern themselves through elected officials, but this proved to be a weak government system because Congress did not have any power to regulate domestic affairs (Ushistory.org, 2014) Since challenges were arising, the idea of government needed to be revised to protect individual rights and to support the majority rules concept. With the people in mind, the farmers of the Constitution responded by creating a strong government with limited powers under the separation of state and federal government and to provide three branches as checks and balance. After some controversy, the Bill of Rights was ratified to afford individuals with basic privileges. Under the Bill of Rights, the Tenth Amendment was important in this conflict in granting certain powers to the states not afforded to the federal government. While all of the Amendments of the Constitution are important in establishing individual rights and the relationship between the state and the federal government, the Fourteenth Amendment was one of the most
This means, congress has no power to tell states how to make state laws as long as the laws do not prohibit ones Constitutional rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment was intended to establish citizenship and the rights of the people. In the wake of the civil war, the states argued that the Bill of Rights only applied to the federal government. After the civil war, Congress proposed that the Fourteenth Amendment ensures the states provide the freed slaves equal protection under the law (Connen etl., 2008, p. 6). In addition, the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the states from denying individual’s life, liberty and property without due process under the law (Cornell University Law School,