Question

Which of the following describes the reasoning behind the addition of the fourteenth amendment to the united states constitution?

O congress was worried about a divided country and wanted to limit the power of the president after the civil war.
O women who owned land and property wanted the right to vote on issues that impacted their livelihoods.
O southern states were enacting black code laws to keep recently freed slaves from obtaining the rights of other citizens.
O after the civil war, the economies of the northern states were negatively impacted by the thirteenth amendment.

Answer 1

The Fourteenth Amendment was added to the U.S. Constitution to counteract Southern states' Black codes, which restricted the rights of freed slaves post-Civil War, ensuring citizenship, due process, and equal protection for all, regardless of race. The correct answer is option 3.

Step-by-step explanation:

Reason Behind the Addition of the Fourteenth Amendment

The reasoning behind the addition of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was primarily to address the actions of Southern states after the Civil War. These states had begun to enact Black codes, which were laws designed to restrict the rights of recently freed slaves and maintain White supremacy.

In response, the Radical Republicans in Congress sought to ensure civil liberties and the rights of freed African Americans, eventually leading to the drafting and ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, which provided citizenship, due process, and equal protection under the law to all individuals, regardless of race. This amendment nullified the Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision and was a major step in the broader project of Reconstruction aimed at rebuilding the nation and extending full civil rights to former slaves.

The Fourteenth Amendment developed concurrently with the Civil Rights Act to bolster its constitutionality and to ensure that state laws did not deny due process or discriminate against particular groups of people. Its ratification signaled the federal government's commitment to enforce the Bill of Rights over the authority of the states and to protect individuals from discriminatory laws and practices.

Therefore, the correct option that describes the reasoning behind the addition of the Fourteenth Amendment is: O southern states were enacting black code laws to keep recently freed slaves from obtaining the rights of other citizens.