Constitutional Amendments That The Republicans Want To Abolish Part I

In recent months the members of the Republican-Tea Party (RTP) have discussed on the news that there are three amendments to the Constitution that they want to abolish. I thought that it would be a good idea to take a close look at each amendment and see what they are all about.

First I will list the particular amendment and then I will break it down section by section and we will examine what exactly they want to do.

Article XIV

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.

2: 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. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. 

3: No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

4: The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

5: The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Let’s take a look at Section 1. It reads: 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.

Basically what this section is stating is that everyone born in the United States are natural born citizens of the Untied States and are are subject to the laws of the United States. It also states that the States do not have the right to deny any citizens the rights that they are entitled to.

This is the main section of this amendment that the RTP (Republican-Tea Party) objects to. They believe that many people come to the US to have babies, thus making the new babies citizens. They call them “Anchor Babies", a highly insulting termin my opinion.

What they want to do is to alter this section so that babies born of foreign nationals are not guaranteed citizenship.

Here lies the problem . If you deny citizenship status to children whose parents are undocumented foreign nationals, what guarantees are there that citizenship status of other natural born Americans will not be removed?

Seriously think about this for a moment. Any group could be targeted. African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Irish-Americans, etcetera. You get the idea.

Why stop at ethnic groups? Religions could be the next target. Why not strip citizenship from Muslims? How about Mormons or Buddhists? Take it to another group, Roman Catholics! Yes, Catholics, we know that they’ve been persecuted before and not that long ago.

To alter or abolish this section, you are traveling down a slippery slope that you may not be able to stop. This could be just the beginning.

Here is Section 2. 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. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Basically this section is referring to representation in Congress. Prior to the end of the Civil War, slaves were not counted in federal census as a whole person. They were counted as three fifths of a person for determining the number of representatives for each state. This was a compromise between free states and slave states when the Constitution was written.

The other part deals with the right to vote which was denied to persons who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War. This is also the section that states use to deny the right to vote to convicted felons. As far as I know, the RTP does not object to this section.

Now for Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

This section simply states that no one can hold public office either in the Federal or State governments or the military who had previously served in the Confederate Government or military during the Civil War. This provision was not enforced as there were several members of the US Army who were former Confederate soldiers fighting in the Indian Wars after the Civil War.

This section also prohibits anyone from holding office who has given aid and comfort to the enemy in wars following the Civil War. The RTP does not oppose this section either.

Now for Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

This section is a Civil War era section about the Federal Government promising to pay debts and pensions incurred during the war. It also is declaring null and void all pensions and debts of the former Confederacy. This has no bearing on today’s political debate.

Now for Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

This is merely the enforcement clause.

If the RTP gets their way and tries to alter or abolish this particular amendment, no one’s citizenship rights are guaranteed. We will no longer be citizens, but subjects. We will be subject to the will and desires of whomever happens to be in power. Think about this before you vote. This election will determine the course that the United States will go. Please vote responsibly!