The 14th Amendment wrote the Declaration of Independence's promise of freedom and equality into the Constitution. African Americans gained the formal, if not the practical, right to study alongside their white peers in primary and secondary schools.This is an amendment that was ratified after the Civil War in 1868. ' Still, over 100 years after passage of this amendment, Americans had not yet come to a complete agreement on its meaning. That included former slaves, which meant all Black Americans born or naturalized in the US were now citizens. Nonetheless, despite the presence of 16 Black legislators in the state assembly, the law was passed. The Thirteenth Amendment has ensured far more than an end to AfricanAmerican slavery. The 14th Amendment was necessary to make clear that Black people, as well as anyone born in the country or naturalized, were American citizens.