The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution Created the Idea of a Citizen and Country of the United States. Sovereign Status Fades Fast in NWO.

The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution of the United States is the first of what are commonly known as the “Reconstruction Amendments”.

These amendments were passed after the Civil War and after the passing of the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery.

The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is in five basic parts, or sections, and the last two relate to war debt and the enforcement of the new amendment.

The first section is in two parts: the first defines a citizen of the United States, which had never been done before, while the second requires that the individual States abide by the Bill of Rights.

The second section changed how members of the House of Representatives in the U.S. Congress were numbered and elected, as well as the requirements for office.

The third section of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution limited who could be an elected member of the U.S. government as a way to keep former elected officials of the South from being elected into office again.

Each of these sections was created in response to the various post Civil War concerns of the States, and was especially aimed at the Southern states of the former Confederacy.

Accordingly, many see much of the 14th Amendment as being a political backlash against the Southern states for their rebellion.

A joint committee was given the job of creating an amendment to nullify the laws that were enacted in many Southern states immediately after the war and the abolition of slavery in those states.

These laws systematically removed the rights of the freed blacks, and reduced them, for all intents and purposes, back to slaves.

Arguably, the first sentence of the section was set forth in order to define what a citizen was, so that States could not redefine citizenship and therefore change how a former slave was viewed by the law.

At the time, this was seen as a major legal loophole that needed to be closed.

That Question of Citizenship

Significantly, the part of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that concerns us most today is the first section.

This portion is seen by many as a major turning point in the governmental powers of the United States Federal government and a beginning of our trip down the road toward the removal of liberty and freedom in this country.

The first section reads as follows:

“Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

“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.”

This section was, to the framers of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the primary intent of the amendment.

Most of the debate surrounding the amendment and its wording was regarding this section.

Representative John Bingham of Ohio was the first to begin drafting this amendment as a member of the Joint Senate-House “Committee of 15”, who were given the task of creating the amendment.

The Debate Now

While the debate raged, consideration for how the wording would be construed in later times was not a part of that discussion.

Because of the somewhat ambiguous nature of the second part of the first section, several Supreme Court rulings on its interpretation have been required since the adoption of the 14th Amendment.

These rulings have found that the rights spoken of in the amendment refer to the rights enumerated in the first ten amendments of the Constitution, although all rulings have been on individual rights and not all the rights as a whole.

Furthermore, the 2nd Amendment has not actually been ruled upon in this manner, while the fifth has been severely restricted.

It is for this reason that some states do not recognize grand juries.

The controversy over the first section of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which has not appeared in court thus far, has been centered on the first sentence.

Before the adoption of this amendment, most Americans called themselves “Virginians”, “Alabamans”, “New Yorkers” and the like.

In doing so, they were referring to their individual State as their place of citizenship.

Accordingly, ever since the adoption of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Americans have been referred to as “citizens of the United States” in both official documents and court proceedings.

For many, this distinction is vitally important.

In technical terms, the United States of America is actually a corporation created by agreement among individual States of the Union, and citizenship in this corporation creates very different legal boundaries and definitions for individuals than citizenship in an individual State (or nation) would.

This distinction, while never having specifically appeared in court, continues to fuel the debate over several aspects of government.

Definition of a “United States Citizen”

The definition of who exactly are citizens of the United States of America affects everything from property ownership to taxation, from individual rights to individual sovereignty.

The only rulings from the Supreme Court regarding that controversial first sentence in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution have been in the definition of whether those born on U.S. soil to non-citizens are, in fact, naturalized citizens.

Those rulings are what set the precedent for President Obama to be considered a “natural born citizen”, a qualification that is required by the office of President of the United States.

Nevertheless, many are concerned that not only did Obama have a Kenyan father, but he was reportedly born in Kenya, and he was educated as a Muslim in Indonesia.

The courts continue to hear arguments about challenges to Obama’s presidential qualifications based on his lack of rights to be considered a natural born U.S. citizen.