Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

( 1868 ) Commentary by M. Philip Lucas, Cornell College

Questions for Further Study

1. How does the Fourteenth Amendment respond to the concerns of President Johnson in his veto of the Civil Rights Act of 1866? To what extent are the goals of the Civil Rights Act contained in the Fourteenth Amendment?
2. Does the Fourteenth Amendment undermine the federal system set up by the Constitution by subverting the rights of the states? Does it delegate too much power to the central government? Has this readjustment of powers been taken too far in our current society?
3. Does the Fourteenth Amendment undermine democracy by overemphasizing equality at the expense of majority rule and the predominant values of American society?
4. Constitutional scholars and Supreme Court justices debate whether the Fourteenth Amendment incorporates the Bill of Rights. To what degree do the Bill of Rights conflict with or complement the intention of Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment?

The Fourteenth Amendment (National Archives and Records Administration)

View Full Size