[NovemberCharlie]

There's a Lew Rockwell article about this that goes into more detail of the irregularities in the Amendment's ratification.

[H.Akston]

Superb!

I'm so glad this message is finally getting out!

The 14th Amendment is a fraud, and the foundation of judicial activism in this nation.

The 14th Amenmdment is why no true conservative can ever bash the Confederacy. The Radical Republicans centralized this government, and gave the US judiciary veto power over State Legislatures.

This is not government by consent of the governed.

It can't be stressed hard enough how this amendment destroyed the Union the victors of the Civil War were supposedly trying to "save".

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a38ae1fc86628.htm

[H.Akston]

Don't forget, that the clause in this amendment which cancelled all debts for the emancipation of slaves was one of the first time the US Government blatantly took property without just compensation. Compensated emancipation for the LEGAL slaves which were to be freed, was the only just way to do it.

James Madison even said so.

http://www.jmu.edu/madison/emancslaves.htm

To provide a commensurate remedy for the evil, the plan must be extended to the great mass of blacks, and must embrace a fund sufficient to induce the master, as well as the slave, to concur in it. Without the concurrence of the master, the benefit will be very limited as it relates to the Negroes, and essentially defective as it relates to the United States; and the concurrence of masters must, for the most part, be obtained by purchase.

The 14th Amendment was one of the first times the US Government took property without just compensation, and they've been doing it ever since, with less and less qualms every year.

[Amerigomag]

And because of this new influx of federalism, the Southern States, now composed only of Federalist representatives, were finally forced to ratify the 14th Amendment

This would lead a resonable person to assume that the amendment had the requesit 3/4 of the states before approval by the senate.

Not true. Just before submission to the senate New Jersy withdrew it's ratification in protest to the high handed tactics of the Republicans.

The 14th then stands alone as the only extraconsitiutional amendment approved by the senate.

It comes as no surprise to anyone that this amendment has changed the face of our democratic republic. This amendment has singlehandedly reshaped our government into the centralized institution that it is today.

[The Shootist]

While I generally agree with the author, his treatise is of no consequence.

The short of it is Congress, the President and SCOTUS care NOT for what is written in the Constitution.
If they did;

Your money would be made of gold, silver or copper.
RICCO would never have become Law,
There would be no Federal Reserve Bank,
You could own and shoot machine guns,
Abortion would be legal at the Federal level, not because of some non-existant privacy right, but because the Federal Government does not have the right to legislate physicians or surgeons.
Police could not search your car without a search warrant or your permission,
You could buy codeine over the counter like asprin.
There would be no FDA, FAA, FEC, FCC or FBI.

You can probably name more. The point is the Federal Government ignores the US Constitution, the Several States don't seem inclined to demand their Rights and most of the People either don't know or don't care.

[mrustow]

Thanks for posting your essay. It makes for a very disturbing history lesson.

[inquest]

CPIng

[inquest]

While I'm not disputing the fact that the 14th is an illegitimate demon-child, I still should say that it doesn't go as far as the courts have said it does. The notion of "substantive due process", whereby, among other things, the Bill of Rights supposedly becomes binding on the states, is completely bogus. It was something that the courts pulled out of their behinds in - of all places! - Dred Scott vs. Sanford.

[edsheppa]

Reading between the lines, the article seems to say that the doctrine of substantive due process was the intent of the 14th amendment. It has always been a question of mine whether the intent was more limited and applied only to actual process. Instead it appears the drafters of that amendement really did intend that BOR restrictions would apply in future to state as well as federal gov't.

Regarding the legitimacy of the amendement that's called into question, I bet (but this is just a guess) that all the points made have been considered and rejected by the SC.

[steve-b]

Andrew Johnson, who was the U.S. President at the time, vetoed the "Reconstruction Act." Congress, undeterred, voted to override the veto, and later decided to impeach Johnson because of his opposition to the Act.

***BBZZZZTTTT!!!*** I'm sorry; the correct answer is that Johnson was impeached for violating the "Tenure of Office Act" (which required Senate approval to fire any appointee who had required Senate confirmation). The Act was repealed in 1887 and found un-Constitutional in 1926 (in a case regarding the power of the President to remove postmasters).

Nathan McClintock is a self-syndicated columnist.

If he learns the fine art of fact verification, maybe he'll be able to get a real job.

[ned]

However, a more conservative interpretation would lead us to conclude that this Amendment was designed to protect from discrimination between blacks and whites. Very simply, the Amendment dictated that State governments must give equal rights to all races.

Didn't the Supreme Court utilize the equal protection clause in a non-racial setting to decide the Presidential election in Bush v. Gore?

[Polonius]

Arguing that the 14th Amendment is invalid is a foolish undertaking — there will be snowball fights in hell before a single court accepts such an argument. As for the 14th being responsible for centralization of government, couldn't the case for "incorporation" be made just as easily on the basis of the Supremacy Clause?

[Sloth]

Big deal. Suppose the 14th was found to be invalid. The legislatures would fall all over themselves to re-ratify it today to avoid rocking the boat, and we'd be in exactly the same situation.

[Bob J]

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[Sgt_Schultze]

Thanks Nathan, and a bump to your post.