Ratified in 1868, Congress and the courts have applied the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause to many aspects of public life over the past 150 years. Southern governments began to write black codes to restrict the freedom of formerly enslaved people and guarantee the continuation of a cheap labor force.A YES VOTE would eliminate the requirement that students pass the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. It is generally agreed that African slaves first arrived in Massachusetts in the 1630's, and slavery was legally sanctioned in 1641. The Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863, granting freedom to all enslaved people within rebelling territories. The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Nonetheless, despite the presence of 16 Black legislators in the state assembly, the law was passed. The clause conferred U.S. and state citizenship at birth to all individuals born in the United States. The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution provides that, with few discrete exceptions, people born in the United States are citizens of this country. Gordon Lloyd and Margie Lloyd, (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1998), 218–224.