From slavery to equal protection: the misinterpretation of the fourteenth amendment and its lasting effects on American society

Written by the Reconstruction Congress, the Fourteenth Amendment was created with the attempts, in some historical interpretations, of providing humane and equal protection rights to newly freed persons. However, other interpretations of the context in the Fourteenth Amendment oppose the goal of the Thirty-ninth Congress with providing equal protection of the law to all newly freedmen. By engaging in this research, it is my goal to explain the Fourteenth Amendment as it was enacted and intended to be; as well as provide a comparative study of how it has been widely interpreted. In addition, I reference landmark Supreme Court cases affecting American society with their rulings based on the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Finally, I provide an alternative interpretation to the understanding of the Fourteenth Amendment. In addition, I make available various options that the United States government could pursue in order to continue supplying opportunities, as well as maintaining diversity, to societal members without violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Policy Studies

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2010

Author dc:creator

• Parker, Jasmine D.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Parker, Laurence J.

• Reconstruction Era
• 14th Amendment
• Fourteenth Amendment
• Black Codes
• Equal Protection Clause
• Persons
• Color-blind
• Freedmen's Bureau
• Civil War
• Brown v. Board of Education
• Critical Race Theory

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2010 Jasmine D. Parker

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/16205

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/16205