Final answer:
The Fourteenth Amendment faced challenges that limited its immediate effectiveness in protecting civil rights due to Southern resistance and Supreme Court decisions that curtailed its enforcement capabilities.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Fourteenth Amendment, considered one of the Reconstruction Amendments, was crucial in extending citizenship rights and equal protection under the law to African Americans following the Civil War. Despite its significance, it faced considerable challenges during its early years, primarily due to resistance from Southern states and the Supreme Court's limitations on its scope, thereby affecting its immediate success in protecting the civil rights of African Americans.
Enacted on July 9, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment included the equal protection clause, the extension of the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment to the states, and defined national and state citizenship, thus overruling the infamous Dred Scott decision. Initially, the amendment was not fully enforced, and the Supreme Court decisions U.S. v. Reese and U.S. v. Cruikshank greatly diminished federal powers to protect the rights it furnished, especially in matters involving individual discrimination and state elections.