14th Amendment | Vibepedia

Ratified in 1868 amid Reconstruction, the 14th Amendment granted citizenship to all born or naturalized in the U.S., overturned the Dred Scott decision, and enshrined due process and equal protection clauses that reshaped civil rights.[1][2] Its five sections addressed post-Civil War reconciliation, barring Confederate debts and insurrectionists from office while empowering Congress to enforce its guarantees.[3][5] Today, it underpins landmark rulings from Brown v. Board to modern debt ceiling debates, making it one of the most litigated parts of the Constitution.[1][6]