These three amendments were adopted in order to correct many social injustices, some of which led to the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln said, "I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other." (My italicizes)
Section 1. 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.
The Fourteenth Amendment (Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868 as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.
Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), which held that blacks could not be citizens of the United States.
----The Reconstruction Amendments are the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments to the United States Constitution, adopted between 1865 and 1870, the five years immediately following the Civil War. This group of Amendments is sometimes referred to as the "Civil War Amendments" or the "Three Reconstruction Era Amendments".
The Amendments were intended to restructure the United States from a country that was (in Abraham Lincoln's words) "half slave and half free" to one in which the constitutionally guaranteed "blessings of liberty" would be extended to the entire male populace, including the former slaves and their descendants.
The Thirteenth Amendment (both proposed and ratified in 1865) abolished slavery. The Fourteenth Amendment (proposed in 1866 and ratified in 1868) included a redefinition of citizenship, the Privileges or Immunities Clause, Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses. The Fifteenth Amendment, (proposed in 1869 and ratified in 1870) grants voting rights regardless of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude". Ulysses S. Grant was president at the time
Good clear thinking and reasoning upon study of the amendments and the context of the times when they were made should easily lead one to the realization that there was a mandate for social equality and the assurance that all African-Americans in this country were without a doubt American citizens. During these post-civil war times (the "context") there was no thought (apparently) given to think that one day hordes of Latinos and Caribbeanites would manage to invade this county illegally and, by the Constitution, have their children that were born here be declared US citizens. As it were, there WAS no Great Southwest during that time--at least no Arizona or New Mexico--for illegals to invade. What foresight I latter-day forefathers did not have!
The 14th Amendment should be amended to read, "Section 1. All persons born in the United States of at least one parent who is an American citizen or naturalized...."
