What the 14th Amendment Actually Meant

The 14th Amendment was not born in a vacuum. It came out of the ashes of slavery, Black Codes, mob violence, and the need to overturn Dred Scott. Its first purpose was to secure citizenship and civil rights for freed slaves and their children.

It was one of the great corrections in American history.

But the fight today is over how far modern courts and politicians have stretched its words, especially the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”

Over the last century and a half, courts, politicians, and activists have used those same words to cover things the men who wrote them never imagined. Some of that came from honest disagreement. A lot of it came from people who found it easier to reinterpret the Constitution than to amend it the way the Constitution itself requires.

Seven months ago, I did a deep dive on the 14th Amendment: Reconstruction, Dred Scott, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and the long fight over the citizenship clause.

Watch that video here:

That debate matters right now.

If Americans do not understand the Constitution, politicians and courts will redefine it for us.

And if good people stay home when it is time to vote, we hand power to people who are more than happy to redefine it for us.

Read the 14th Amendment for yourself in our Indexed Constitution. It is short.
https://patriotroster.com/constitution/#amendment-14
Then ask yourself a simple question:

Is today’s Washington honoring the Constitution, or rewriting it?

Stand up. Be counted.