-Proposed by Congress on June 13, 1866; Declared ratified on July 28, 1868
Section 1
[Citizenship Rights Not to be Abridged by States]
"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."
Section 2
[Apportionment of Representatives in Congress]
"Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State."
Section 3
[Persons Disqualified from Holding Office]
"No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who having previously taken an oath, as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."
Section 4
[What Public Debts are Valid]
"The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void."
Section 5
[Power to Enforce this Article]
"The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article."
This amendment provides a definition of a citizen of this country. This amendment provides that all states will provide equal protection to everyone within their jurisdiction. It provides due process under the law and equally provides all constitutional rights to all citizens of this country, regardless of race, sex, religious beliefs and creed.
Many republicans want a major change in the Constitution targeting the 14th Amendment that grants citizenship to babies born in the U.S. even if their parents are illegal immigrants. I completely agree with that--because their parents are illegal immigrants, why should they be granted the right to be a citizen when they have not put in any of the effort that countless other immigrants have?
Illegal immigrants are not citizens. Why should they then be granted in-state tuition when many of America's own, naturally born citizens can barely even afford tuition themselves?
I think that this amendment clearly outlines the requirements of being a citizen. And even though being born in the US allows that title of citizen to be bestowed upon that person, that should not apply to anyone that is not legally a citizen. If an immigrant is living in the country after having gone through all the necessary steps to becoming a citizen, then by all means their children have the same right as every other child born to American parents to be an American citizen. But children of illegal immigrants are just as "illegal" as their parents. Therefore they should not be granted the right to be a citizen without taking the necessary steps as everyone else. They should not be allowed privileges such as in-state tuition or any right granted to American citizens by the Constitution.
This amendment provides a definition of a citizen of this country. This amendment provides that all states will provide equal protection to everyone within their jurisdiction. It provides due process under the law and equally provides all constitutional rights to all citizens of this country, regardless of race, sex, religious beliefs and creed.
Many republicans want a major change in the Constitution targeting the 14th Amendment that grants citizenship to babies born in the U.S. even if their parents are illegal immigrants. I completely agree with that--because their parents are illegal immigrants, why should they be granted the right to be a citizen when they have not put in any of the effort that countless other immigrants have?
Illegal immigrants are not citizens. Why should they then be granted in-state tuition when many of America's own, naturally born citizens can barely even afford tuition themselves?
I think that this amendment clearly outlines the requirements of being a citizen. And even though being born in the US allows that title of citizen to be bestowed upon that person, that should not apply to anyone that is not legally a citizen. If an immigrant is living in the country after having gone through all the necessary steps to becoming a citizen, then by all means their children have the same right as every other child born to American parents to be an American citizen. But children of illegal immigrants are just as "illegal" as their parents. Therefore they should not be granted the right to be a citizen without taking the necessary steps as everyone else. They should not be allowed privileges such as in-state tuition or any right granted to American citizens by the Constitution.
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