The Fourteenth Amendment (Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. Considered one of the most consequential amendments, it addresses citizenship rights and equal protection under the law at all levels of government. The Fourteenth Amendment was a response to issues affecting freed slaves followi. Section 1: Citizenship and civil rightsSection 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment formally defines and protects various from being abridged or denied by any or. In (1948), the Supreme C. Under the of Article I, the size of state delegations to the was by adding their free populations with of their enslaved populations. After the abolished.