Under the 14th Amendment, African Americans could now legally claim the same constitutional rights afforded to all American citizens. The amendment included birthright citizenship, incorporating this protection from the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and then focused on the states.The 14th Amendment was necessary to make clear that Black people, as well as anyone born in the country or naturalized, were American citizens. The 14th Amendment established African Americans as equal citizens of the United States. This amendment overturned the 1857 Dred Scott v. The 13th Amendment formally abolished slavery. The 14th Amendment established African Americans as equal citizens of the United States. The Legislative Branch. Walters, 294 U.S. 405 (1935). The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution provides that, with few discrete exceptions, people born in the United States are citizens of this country.