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新GRE考试阅读部分机经Fourteenth Amendment The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution， ratified in1868， prohibits state governments from denying citizens the equalprotection of the laws. Although precisely what the framers of the amendment meant by thisequal protection clause remains unclear， all interpretersagree that the framers immediate objective was to provide a constitutional warrant for theCivil Rights Act of 1866， which guaranteed the citizenship of all persons born in the UnitedStates and subject to United States jurisdiction. This declaration， which wasechoed in the text of the Fourteenth Amendment， was designedprimarily to counter the Supreme Courts ruling in DredScott v. Sandford that Black people in the United States could be deniedcitizenship. The act was vetoed by President Andrew Johnson， who arguedthat the Thirteenth Amendment， which abolished slavery， did not provideCongress with the authority to extend citizenship and equal protection to thefreed slaves. Although Congress promptly overrode Johnsons veto， supportersof the act sought to ensure its constitutional foundations with the passage ofthe Fourteenth Amendment. 第一段：14修正案禁止政府否认法律对公民的平等保护equal protection of the laws 虽然不太明白提案者这么说的具体意义，但所有解释都认同提案者的直接目的是为Civil Right Acts提供支持，这个Act的内容是保证所有出生于美国的并遵从美国法律的公民的市民权citizenship。14修正案重提Act的内容主要是为了反对最高法院Super Court的黑人应该没有citizenship这一判决。Act被总统否定了，他认为13修正案中废除了奴隶制，但没有向国会提供将citizenship和equal protection扩展到黑人的权力authority。尽管国会又否决了总统的否定，Act的支持者们仍然去寻找Act的宪法基础constitutional foundations，这样就有了14修正案。 | 
