Before the 14th amendment was made there were a lot of injustices going on in the south. After slavery was abolished shortly after the civil war more than four million African Americans were left starving, living primarily on rural low income areas having to rebuild from the ground up with nothing.

Shortly after slavery was abolished, the 14th amendment was added which guaranteed African Americans the rights to American citizenship. As a result of this amendment, African Americans received a chance to push forward in politics. Many African Americans decided to use this period of time to cultivate a period of black activism where many African Americans held political positions.

During this period of Reconstruction, there was a group of angry southerners who believed that African Americans should not be allowed to associate with or be equal to Caucasians. This group of people created a terrorist group named the Ku Klux Klan or the KKK for short.

On July 9th 1868 the 14th amendment was created. What it entailed was that if you are born within the United States you have the right to be a citizen.

Also in this amendment it stated that anyone who rebelled against the government was no longer able to hold a federal job.

Being a citizen of the United States means that you have protections guarenteed by the federal government. This means that the state that you live in cannot take away your rights to due process of law. They also must provide equal protection for all.

This amendment to the constitution was made possible by 28 of the 37 states. At the time the Civil War had just ended and there were a lot of African American former slaves left in limbo. Were they actually full citizens and could they vote?

A man named John Bingham came up with a solution to this dilemma. Because former slaves weren't full citizens they could be treated poorly by prior masters. By making anyone born in the United States citizens the former slaves were given an identity.

This amendment sparked a lot of controversy in modern times. Should illegal immigrant children be considered citizens of the United States just because they were born here?

This amendment helped everyone besides the rude people who thought it was okay to treat human beings like property. It gave slaves freedom to become their own person while also providing a foundation for future immigrants and their children.