What is so important about the 14th Amendment How did it fundamentally change the Constitution - Essay Example

One point that shows the importance of the 14th amendment is the issues that it raised with regard to the issue of citizenship in the United States. The 14th amendment made this clause clear as it stated that it offers for the individual born in the United States citizenship. This means that as long as one was born in the United States, they had the right of an American and citizenship (Daniels). This was imperative in that it devolved the constitution to a point where it offers for the nationality and unity of all the people living in the United States.

Prior to the formation of the 14th amendment, the United States had gone through many challenges and issues because there was an imbalance and lack of common ideology between the African Americans and the whites (Ames, 2009). However, when the 14th amendment got to play, it clearly got the issue to rest. This was a very important landmark to the African Americans as they began getting jobs without the fear of discrimination by the whites. Prior to the 14th amendment, African Americans living in the United States went through a lot of suffering.

The whites always deemed them inferior and felt that they did not deserve effective lives in the United States. During those days, the African Americans lived poor lives and did not have a means of feeding their families. Quite opposite to this, the whites were very rich, owning huge areas of land. This much land was important for their agricultural lives. This made the whites require many workers to till their lands. The African Americas that did not have a source of income went to the whites in search of jobs and they were given opportunities though the treatments they received were rather poor.

This went on further and turned to slavery. However, the 14th amendment outlined clearly that everybody born in the United States is equal to any other person born in the country and this is important