Final answer:
The Fourteenth Amendment expanded civil rights by guaranteeing citizenship rights, Equal Protection, and Due Process at the state level to all citizens, including former slaves.
Step-by-step explanation:
Expansion of Civil Rights by the Fourteenth Amendment
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is a critical component of the Reconstruction Amendments and was adopted on July 9, 1868. Its primary purpose was to expand civil rights and liberties to former slaves as the nation was rebuilding after the Civil War. The amendment focused on citizenship rights and the equal protection of the laws. It marked a significant change by extending Bill of Rights protections previously only applicable to the federal government to include state actions, thereby ensuring that all citizens would have their rights guarded against infringement by the states.
Significant provisions included in the Fourteenth Amendment are that it defined national and state citizenship, preventing states from abridging the privileges or immunities of citizens, ensured due process at the state level, and introduced the Equal Protection Clause. It also had implications for suffrage, stating that if a state denied an adult male citizen the right to vote, its representation in Congress would be proportionally reduced. This amendment was a part of a broader move during the Reconstruction era to protect the rights of newly freed African Americans and integrate them into the social and political fabric of the country.
Later, the Fourteenth Amendment served as a foundation for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which further reinforced the protection of civil rights against discrimination and secured voting rights for all racial minorities.