The 14th Amendment Origin Story

Question 1

14th Amendment Section 1

Answer 1

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. 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.

Question 2

Describe the Dred Scott decision.

Answer 2

Issue: Was Dred Scott a US citizen? (Scott sued in fed court, which only US citizens could do via diversity jurisdiction).

Holding: Those born in the US of African descent, either via slavery or descended from slaves, are not citizens. Therefore, even free men descended from slaves can’t sue in fed court.

Reasoning: The Declaration of Independence used the phrase “all men” but didn’t include black people because colonial laws allowed slavery and those laws had not changed at the time of the Constitution’s ratification. Also, the P&I clause says citizens of 1 state have the rights of citizens of all states. If the framers had meant to include slaves, that would have meant giving them 2nd amendment rights which could have enabled rebellions and therefore would not have been intended.

Dissent: 5 states at the ratification included freed slaves as citizens and 4 allowed them to vote. The Constitution could not have denied citizenship to people who had the right to vote on its ratification. The framers of the Declaration of Independence also mostly accepted slavery only as a compromise to get the southern states on board with the Revolutionary War, but intended to curtail slavery and grant rights to free blacks where possible.

Regarding the P&I clause argument, it’s unconvincing because it was repeating an older clause from the Articles of Confederation that used “free inhabitants” and state delegates struck down a North Carolina proposal that would have edited it to say “free white inhabitants” which shows that those who ratified the Constitution did not intend to exclude blacks.