Question

how did the social context of the mid-19th century influence the creation of the fourteenth amendment

Answer 1

The mid-nineteenth century was a tumultuous time in the United States. The contestation over slavery's expansion in the 1850s was characterized by the Compromise of 1850 , the Kansas Nebraska Act (1854), the Dred Scott Decision in 1857 and the formal secession of South Carolina from the union with the bombing of Fort Sumter in 1861. The Civil War (1861-1865) led to the defeat of the Confederacy and the emancipation of over four (4) million enslaved people. The assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the desire of Radical Republicans to incorporate enslaved people into the Republic as citizens served as the catalyst for the 14th Amendment, which gave African Americans citizenship.

Answer 2

The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was introduced after the Civil War. The clause, which was officially approved on July 9, 1868, includes articles that guarantee legal certainty and equal treatment: "No State will (...) deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

The amendment obliges all the states to treat every person within their territory as equals under the law. Also, every baby born on American territory was automatically granted American nationality.

When the amendment was adopted, these clauses were primarily intended to combat legalized racism, and to put an end to the issue of African American slavery and racial inequality in the United States.