Welsh+Period+1+Amendment+14

By Joseph, Matt, and Annamarie
 * __Amendment 14__**

//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.//

//Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the// [|//male//] //inhabitants of such state,// [|//being twenty-one years of age//] //, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state.

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. //

Source: [|www.law.cornell.edu]

The Civil War took place from 1861 to 1865. The Civil War was a war between Northen United States and Southen Unites States over slavery. The North didnt want there to be slavesand the South did. Eventually, the North won and the government made it illegal to have slaves. After the Civil War, the government and the United States needed to establish new laws and rebuild the country. One new law they created was Amendment 14. This was important at the time because it stated that everyone born or naturalized in the United States was an American citizen and that everyone was equal under the Constitution. This meant that people who were slaves were now equal to the people who used to own slaves. Source: [|www.14amendment.us] Source: [|americancivilwar.com]
 * Amendment 14 in our words is: ** All the citizens of the United States are equally protected by the governement and the amount of representatives of the state is based on the population, including freed slaves.
 * Reason for Amendment 14: **

Questions and Answers: **

Q: In which year was Amendment 14 ratified?

A: Amendment 14 was ratified by three-fourths of the states in 1868.

Q: Who proposed Amendment 14 and when?

A: Congress proposed Amendment 14 in 1866.

Q: What event(s) took place that made Amendment 14 neccesary?

A: The Civil War ended a year before Amendment 14 was proposed and 3 years before it was ratified. During this time, the United States was fighting for equalism among slaves and whites. The goverment used Amendment 14 as one form of equalism between them.

Q: What did Amendment 14 replace?

A: Amendment 14 replaced the Three-Fifths Compromise. The Three-Fifths Compromise declared that for every 5 slaves 3 of them would count as part of the population. Q: How many sections are there in Amendment 14?

A: There are 5 sections in Amendment 14.

Q: Do immigrants have the same protection that citizens born in the United States do?

A: Legal immigrants are protected by the Constituion in the same ways citizens born in the United States are. However, there are some rights that belong only to people born in the United States. For example, only a person born in the United States can become President of the United States.

Q: Do the poor have equal protection compared to the rich, under the Constituion?

A: The rich and the poor have equal protection under the U.S. Constitution. However, the financial status of a person does affect the protection a person is abke to give themselves and the equality a person can afford.

Q: If two illegal immigrants have a child in the United States, is that child a U.S. citizen?

A: Yes. Any person born in the United States is automatically a United States citizen.

Q: Are illegal immigrants protected in the United States?

A: Illegal immigrants are not protected in the United States.

Q: How does the government deal with illegal immigrants?

A: The government had many ways to deal with illegal immigrants. The national government can deport them. The local government can enforce criminal justice. Also, the United States is working to made it harder to illegally cross the border.

Title: ** __Proposal Would Deny Citizenship to US-born Children if Illegal Immigrants__
 * Annamarie
 * Author: ** Michael Famiglietti
 * Date: ** March 23, 2007
 * Source: ** http://www.house.gov/list/speech/ca50_bilbray/70023203.html

In this article, the controvirsy of wether a child born to two illegal immigrants, in the United States, should automatically become a U.S. citizen or if they should be illegal, is explained. Some republicans think that it should not be allowed for a child of illegal immigrants, which is born in the United States, to automatically be a citizen. However, even though it has been proposed, it has never gone to a vote. Many people are against changing the law because they think that anyone born on U.S. soil is a United States citizen, as said in Amendment 14 of the Constitution. A woman who crossed the border, and then was naturalized, had a way to explain why some people do. She said that women from Mexico may cross over the border because they want a better life for their children or because they are in love. However, others argue that the illegal children are causing the states to have to spend more money. Another woman, a governer in Arizona, Janet Napolitano, believes that the government shouldn't do anything to the children because it is not their fault that what their parents did was wrong. Besides her view on this subject, she and everyone else think that we have to find a way to stop people from illegally crossing the border. I think this article did a good job in describing a topic of great controvirsy in the Unites States lately. This article helped me to understand the different sides being argued about Amendment 14 and the eligibility to be a United States citizen.

Matt Title: __The Impact of Non-Citizens on Congressional Apportionment__ Author: Steven A. Camarota Date: December 6, 2005 Source: [|www.cis.org]

In this article,the immigration population is growing bigger each year and the immigrants are not protected.The United States is currently experiencing the largest sustained wave of immigration in its history, with 1.5 million legal and illegal immigrants settling in the country each year. The foreign born or immigrant population stood at over 31 million in the 2000 Census, and the total has grown to 36 million by the end of 2005. There is an unfortunate tendency to view this immigration one dimensionally. Some see immigrants only as workers, other see them as a potential voters, or only the fiscal problem they may create, still others see only possible terrorists. All of these perspectives capture some aspect of immigration. But immigrants are much more than this. Immigrants are not simply things, they are human beings. As a result, their presence in the United States has wide ranging economic, cultural, demographic, national security, and political effects on our country. Whether one thinks the effects of immigration is on balance a net gain or a net loss to the country, the fact remains its impact is very broad and not confined to one area.This article explains that immigrants population grow each year and they are not protected in the 14th amendment.

Joe Title: __Proposal Would Deny Citizenship to US born children If Illegal Immigrants__ Author: Michael Famiglietti Date: March 23, 2007 Source: [|www.house.gov]

When children of illegal immigrants are born in the United States, they automatically become citizens. Some republicans want to revoke which means take away this privilege to discourage people from crossing the border. They have been trying to take this privelege away since 1995 but it has never passed. The immigration act was passed in 1952, and the 14th amendment to the constitution have guarrenteed citizenship to any child born in U.S. soil. An estimate of 12 million illegal immigrants have settled in the United States. President George Bush has said he wants to incorprate a guest worker program to employ some immigrants as seasonal workers and offer a path to citizenship for others who have lived in the U.S. for an extended time. But Congress refused to adopt this plan. Some people want a better life for their children so they cross the border. Some people are arguing that illegal children are causing the states to spend more money. Some people think that the illegal children should not be punished just because their parents made the wrong choice. Many people's views on this subject is that we need to find a way to stop people from crossing the border illegally. In my opinion this artical did a good job explaining the subject about illegal immigrants.