The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. It addresses many aspects of citizenship and the rights of citizens. The key provisions of the 14th Amendment are:

• Citizenship Clause: This clause grants citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including formerly enslaved people, and provides all citizens with “equal protection under the laws,” extending the provisions of the Bill of Rights to the states.

• Due Process Clause: This clause prohibits a state from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

• Equal Protection Clause: This clause prohibits a state from denying to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

• Apportionment Clause: This clause provides that representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed.

• Enforcement Clause: This clause grants Congress the power to enforce the provisions of the 14th Amendment by appropriate legislation.

The historical context in which the 14th Amendment became a part of the Constitution was the establishment of equality in the enjoyment of basic civil and political rights and the preservation of those rights from discriminatory action on the part of the States based on considerations of race or color. The 14th Amendment also authorized the government to punish states that abridged citizens’ right to vote by proportionally reducing their representation in Congress. Finally, it granted Congress the power to enforce this amendment, a provision that led to the passage of other landmark legislation in the 20th century, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.