"The original intent of the 14th Amendment, and of the Congress and the American people who ratified it, can best be understood in the light of the change it effected in antecedent constitutional law. Taney's opinion in Dred Scott was still in effect as the Civil War came to an end. By it Negroes, whether free or slave, could not be citizens of the United States. Although the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, it did not settle the question of Negro citizenship. This was however decided by the opening sentence of the 14th Amendment. "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 intent of this sentence could however be frustrated if it were possible to make distinctions within citizenship, by which some citizens would have more rights, and others less. It was to prevent this that the Amendment went on to declare that "No State shall... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.""
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Academics from the United StatesPhilosophers from the United StatesEducators from the United StatesHistorians from the United StatesJews from the United States
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harry_V._Jaffa
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Harry V. Jaffa
Harry Victor Jaffa (7 October 1918 – 10 January 2015) was an American historian, writer, and collegiate professor from New York City, known for his writings on the American Civil War.
171 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Harry V. Jaffa →
Related Quotes
"[T]he generation of the Founding Fathers, who certainly knew the story of Noah and his sons, nonetheless believed in …"
"That one man can run faster than another is no reason to prevent the latter from entering the race. Indeed, until the…"
"[S]laves are never referred to in the Constitution as anything but 'persons', a characterization that is perfectly ne…"
"This remarkable address conveys, more than any other contemporary document, not only the soul of the Confederacy but …"
"According to Davis it did not require a Galileo or a Harvey (or a Darwin) to discover the natural inferiority of the …"
"In 1860 Senator Wilson, like Lincoln, could not ask for recognition of more than the black man's natural rights. But …"
"And it’s important to understand the sequence of events, and the ideas that accompanied that sequence of events that …"
"[S]lavery existed among the Americans largely because of the action of the crown. For the king to have been complicit…"
"The paradox of calling the same human beings persons and property brings the cause of the Civil War into the sharpest…"
"South Carolina cites, loosely, but with substantial accuracy, some of the language of the original Declaration. That …"