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Hello, everybody, and welcome to
this video

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for the first week of our semester.
We will spend the next two weeks

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studying the 14th Amendment to
the American Constitution.

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Let's immediately address the most
glaring difference between the

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14th and all the other amendments
we will be paying attention to.

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Unlike the First, Fourth,
Fifth, Sixth and Eighth amendments,

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which are also part of our syllabus,
the 14th Amendment is not part

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of the Bill of Rights,
which is made of the first ten

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amendments to the Constitution.

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All the other amendments in our
syllabus were adopted simultaneously

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in 1791.

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The 14th Amendment, on the other hand,
was adopted in 1868,

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77 years after the Bill of Rights.

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Obviously the question becomes
why are we studying the 14th Amendment

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if it's not part of the Bill of Rights

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and it was adopted almost 80 years
after all the other amendments

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we have to study?

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There are two answers to this question.

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First, the 14th Amendment does
meet the two conditions that we

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are using to determine the importance
of an amendment, and that I explained

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to you in the previous video:
It does protect some of the most

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fundamental rights of American
citizens, and it is used by lawyers

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and judges in courts.

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The second reason why we will study
this amendment is that even though

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it is not part of the Bill of Rights,
most constitutional experts consider

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that the 14th Amendment renewed
the Bill of Rights and strengthened it.

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Some of them even say that the
14th Amendment created a second

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Bill of Rights.

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I will, of course, explain to you
why that is in this video as well

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as next week.

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Okay.

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Now that you have a little bit
of context, let's read the text

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of the 14th Amendment and more
precisely, of Section One of the

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14th Amendment, which you can find
in the facts section posted below.

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Quote, "All persons born or naturalized
in the United States, and subject

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to the jurisdiction thereof, are
citizens of the United States and

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of the state wherein they reside.

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No state shall make or enforce
any law which shall abridge the

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privileges or immunities of citizens
of the United States.

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Nor shall any state deprive any
person of life, liberty or property

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without due process of law,
nor deny to any person within its

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jurisdiction the equal protection
of the laws", end of quote.

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Now, if you are to understand the
14th Amendment and its importance,

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I need to give you a little bit
of historical context.

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The 14th Amendment was adopted in 1868,
and it is part of a series of three

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amendments that were adopted right
after the Civil War and are called

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the Reconstruction amendments.

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The 13th Amendment to the Constitution,
adopted in 1865, put an end to slavery.

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In 1868, the 14th Amendment made
sure that black Americans who had

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been freed by the 13th Amendment
would become American citizens

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and would have the same rights
as white Americans.

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Two years later, in 1870,
the 15th Amendment gave black men

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the right to vote.

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So in only five years,
and thanks to three constitutional

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amendments, black people in America
went from being slaves to being

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American citizens with the right
to vote, at least for men.

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The 14th Amendment, the one we
are focusing on, is basically the

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equality amendment.

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It made sure the former slaves
would have the same value,

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quite literally, as all other American
citizens.

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It is made of four clauses.

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The first one is called the Citizenship
Clause, and it says that all people

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who are born in the United States
or naturalized are citizens of

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the United States.

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Before this clause was adopted,
only white people could be American

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citizens.

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Then you have the Privileges or
Immunities clause, which makes

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sure that once somebody is recognized
as a citizen of the United States,

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the individual states do not have
the right to deprive that person

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of their rights.

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Then the Due Process Clause makes
sure that nobody can be sent to

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jail or be put to death without
being judged and declared guilty.

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And finally, the Equal Protection
Clause guarantees that the law

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will apply equally to all

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citizens.

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As you can see, equality and more
particularly equality between black

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and white people was the central
objective of the 14th Amendment.

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But it doesn't mean that equality
became a reality immediately after

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the adoption of the 14th Amendment.

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As you probably know,
from the end of the Civil War to

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the 1960s, segregation was in place
in the South of the United States.

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And even though slavery no longer
existed, even though the 14th Amendment

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had been adopted, true equality
before the law for black Americans

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would not come before the 1950s and 60s.

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First, in 1954, the Supreme Court
put an end to segregation in public

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schools in the Brown v. Board
of Education decision.

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Then in 1964, the Civil Rights
Act put an end to segregation itself

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in the entire country.

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But even though the 14th Amendment
did not immediately achieve its

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goal of guaranteeing black people
would be treated as equal citizens,

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it certainly cannot be described
as a failure.

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Remember a few minutes ago I described
the 14th Amendment as the equality

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amendment.

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The reason I used those words is
that beyond its original mission

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of guaranteeing that former slaves
would now be treated as citizens,

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the 14th Amendment has been used
in more recent years by the Supreme

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Court to make further advancements
in terms of equality.

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Remember, the fourth and final
clause of the 14th Amendment is

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called the Equal Protection Clause,
and it guarantees all American

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citizens the equal protection of
the law.

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That clause and the 14th Amendment
in general were used by the Supreme

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Court in 1967, in the Loving V.

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Virginia decision to put an end
to the ban on interracial marriage

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that existed at the time in several
states.

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Before that decision,
several states actually made it

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illegal for a black person to marry
a white person.

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The 14th Amendment was used by
the Supreme Court to make those

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laws unconstitutional and make
sure that black and white people

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could marry in the entire country.

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More recently, in 2015,
in the Obergefell v. Hodges decision,

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the Supreme Court used the Equal
Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment

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to legalize gay marriage in the
entire country.

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In other words, an amendment to
the Constitution that was adopted

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in 1868 was used by the Supreme
Court in 2015 to legalize gay marriage.

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I'd like to end today's video by
saying two things about this that

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will be helpful for the entire
semester.

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First, you should really not see
the Constitution or the Bill of

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Rights as old documents that don't
really have an impact on the lives

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of American citizens today in 2021.

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Nothing could be further from the
truth.

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Again, the only reason gay couples
can get married today in the entire

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United States is an amendment to
the Constitution adopted in 1868.

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The Constitution still guarantees
and protects the rights of American

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citizens today.

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Second, let's ask yourself a very
simple question.

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Do you think the people who wrote
and adopted the 14th Amendment

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in 1868 thought it was going to
be used to legalize gay marriage

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in 2015?

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Let's face it, probably not.

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What I'm trying to explain to you
here is that the Supreme Court

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and other federal courts need to
interpret the Constitution.

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Some judges called originalists
think the Constitution should be

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interpreted and understood the
same way it was interpreted and

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understood at the time of its adoption.

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Obviously, if you're an originalist,
you're probably not going to use

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the 14th Amendment to legalize
gay marriage, because that's not

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what the people who wrote the 14th
Amendment wanted to do with it.

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However, other judges called living
constitutionalists think the

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interpretation of the Constitution
should follow the evolutions of

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the society, which is exactly the
type of reasoning that was used

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in Obergefell v. Hodges to
legalize gay marriage.

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So every time we study a particular
Supreme Court decision,

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and you don't necessarily understand
how the Supreme Court came to the

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conclusion, remember that the Supreme
Court interprets the Constitution

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and not all judges interpret the
Constitution the same way.

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That's it for today.

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Next week, we will talk about a
central concept related to the

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14th Amendment: incorporation.

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Good bye and see you next week.