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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Fourteenth Amendment: The Great Equalizer Of The American People, Abel A. Bartley
The Fourteenth Amendment: The Great Equalizer Of The American People, Abel A. Bartley
Akron Law Review
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was ratified on July 28, 1868, demonstrated the change in attitude, which hit many Americans after the chaotic Civil War. It was America’s first attempt to legally challenge White supremacist ideas by creating a truly equal multiracial society. With its emphasis on equal protection and equal justice, the Fourteenth Amendment was intended to be the great equalizer of American people, legally changing African American men into White men so that they could enjoy all the rights, privileges, and immunities of United States citizenship. However, determining the meaning of equality uncovered the …
The Continuing Importance Of Congressman John A. Bingham And The Fourteenth Amendment, Richard L. Aynes
The Continuing Importance Of Congressman John A. Bingham And The Fourteenth Amendment, Richard L. Aynes
Akron Law Review
In the now-famous 1830s chronicle of a visit to America, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote that in America every political issue is ultimately a legal issue in the courts. For Americans who lived through the antislavery and abolitionist era as well as the crisis of the war of 1861-1865, the military victory of the Union forces on the field of battle still left open large political issues. These issues were attempted to be resolved through the political process that produced a legal solution: a constitutional amendment that we currently identify as the Fourteenth Amendment. The meaning of the Amendment was ultimately …
The Union As It Wasn't And The Constitution As It Isn't: Section Five And Altering The Balance Of Powers, Elizabeth Reilly
The Union As It Wasn't And The Constitution As It Isn't: Section Five And Altering The Balance Of Powers, Elizabeth Reilly
Akron Law Review
This article argues that in reconstituting that Union, the 39th Congress and the Fourteenth Amendment not only altered the fundamental structural principles of the relationship between the states and the national government and the responsibility of government to protect individual liberties. It argues that the original structural alignment of national powers and the boundaries of their respective spheres were also, of necessity and by understanding, recast as well.