Classic Film Series: Liberty and Justice

The Western Heritage Museum and Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame’s Classic Film Series, Liberty and Justice, gives our patrons the opportunity to explore the concepts, which form the basis of our democracy. Our theme is taken from the Preamble to the Constitution, which states: 

            We the People, of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect union establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

            The films chosen for this series demonstrate Americans’ aspirations for their government. In 1776, The Devil’s Disciple, Jefferson in Paris, The Alamo, and Amistad the focus is on “liberty.” In Lincoln, Inherit the WindandSeparate But Equalthe focus is on “justice.”  

            

            Although not always perfect, the constitution has survived the test of time. The Framers of the Constitution established a structure for governing a nation that could insure the opportunity for all its citizens to achieve the goals stated in the preamble. The Framers also understood that this structure would need to be modified and refined from time to time and provided a path for making amendments in Article V of the Constitution. 

            July 9^th marks the 150^th Anniversary of the ratification of the 14^th Amendment to the United States Constitution. The amendment, proposed on June 13^th 1866, was needed to insure that the newly freed slaves (by ratification of the 13^th Amendment in 1865) were given “equal protection of the law.” During the Reconstruction period that followed the Civil War, many of the former Confederate states enacted “black codes” that severely restricted the rights of black citizens.  

            In the spring of 1866, the Congress of the United States proposed a constitutional amendment that would address the aftermath of the Civil War and Reconstruction: civil rights for blacks, apportionment for Congressional representation, and the Confederate war debt. Despite President Andrew Johnson’s veto, the Congress (with large Republican majorities) overrode the veto and the amendment was submitted to the states for ratification.

            Because Congress made ratification of the 13^th and 14^th Amendments a condition of regaining representation in Congress, and also because of the presence of the Union Army in their midst, the former Confederate states grudgingly complied. On July 9, 1868, the states of Louisiana and South Carolina ratified the 14^th Amendment to the United States Constitution. 

            Section 1 of the 14^th Amendment states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” There would be no going back from this point forward. 

            

            The second clause states, “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of the law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” This means that the civil rights of all legal citizens are protected against infringement by the states or federal government. 

            Since its ratification, many court decisions have involved the 14^th Amendment. But some of its interpretations of have often gone against its original intent. In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) for example, the Supreme Court ruled that segregated public facilities did not violate the equal protection clause. This decision was used to justify the “Jim Crow” laws. It wasn’t until the Court revisited the “separate but equal” doctrine in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that the protections outlined in the 14^th Amendment were reinforced. Future Justice Thurgood Marshall argued the case in front of the Supreme Court. In a unanimous decision the Court ruled, “In the field of education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place.” The ruling made it clear that segregated schools are “inherently unequal” and therefore the plaintiffs in the case were being “deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14^th Amendment.” 

            We will show two films that specifically deal with the 13^th and 14^th Amendments. On July 15^th we will show Lincoln (2012) directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Daniel Day Lewis (in his Oscar Winning performance). The film focuses on President Lincoln’s struggle to pass the 13^thAmendment, which freed the slaves. On July 29^th we will show Separate But Equal (1991) directed by George Stevens, Jr. and starring Sydney Poitier as Thurgood Marshall. We hope that you will join us for our Classic Film Series: Liberty and Justice, Sundays at 2 pm. Admission is free of charge. 

Sources 

History.com Staff. “14th Amendment.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/black-history/fourteenth-amendment. 

Amendment XIV, Constitution Center.
Akhil Reed Amar, America’s Constitution: A Biography(New York: Random House, 2005).
Fourteenth Amendment, HarpWeek.
10 Huge Supreme Court Cases About the 14th Amendment, Constitution Center.