The Fourteenth Amendment was passed by the 39th Congress on June 13, 1866. Known as the "Reconstruction Amendment(s)" (one of three, the other two being the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Amendments) it contains five sections. Its main purpose was to make black slaves, freed under the Thirteenth Amendment, citizens under the Constitution of the United States.

Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment modified Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States. In addition, Section 1, Clause 2 changed the wording in Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution of the United States.