Primary Source: The Fourteenth Amendment, Section 1
Handout A: The Fourteenth Amendment, Section 1 (1868)
No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Critical Thinking Questions
- With one or two partners, write this section of the Fourteenth Amendment in your own words.
- Identify and explain three ways this amendment protects citizens’ liberty.
- In what ways did this amendment change the protections for individual rights, as well as the division between state and federal power enshrined in the Bill of Rights?