When (not) to amend the Constitution

The aftermath of the Civil War saw the passage of three amendments, collectively known as the Civil War Amendments. The intent of these amendments, the 13th, 14th, and 15th, was to end slavery once and for all in the United States, and to insure that the freed slaves were granted full rights as citizens.

The political party that pushed these amendments was the Party of Lincoln. This same party today, it seems, now regrets its part in getting the 14th Amendment passed. The 14th Amendment states that anyone born in the United States is a citizen, even those who had been born into slavery.

There are those who believe the Amendment was also meant to clarify who had the rights of citizenship. A lot of immigrants from all over the world were entering the U. S. at this time, and it was unsure who had the right to call themselves Americans.

Fast forward to the 21st Century, and we now find ourselves embroiled in a great debate over illegal immigration into our country. Among those who are in favor of drastically curtailing entry into the U. S. are those who are sure that illegal immigrants are coming to El Norte to have their children here to insure they become American citizens.

The push is now on by leaders of the Republican Party, to include our own senior U. S. Senator, Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell and the Minority Leader in the House, John Boehner, R., Ohio, among others, to either change our interpretation of the 14th Amendment, or to rewrite the Amendment, so that the children of illegal immigrants would no longer have American citizenship conferred upon them.

The only trouble is, if you go back far enough, pretty much every American was an illegal immigrant at one point. I would exclude those who were brought here forcefully as slaves. They didn’t get much choice in the matter. But for a while, the doors were pretty much wide open. And people came to America from everywhere; from every part of Europe; and when laborers were needed to construct the nation’s railroads, from China, to name but two areas of the world.

Heck, Americans themselves took part in illegal immigration in the period prior to the Civil War. They crossed the northern border of Mexico into Texas and California en masse. The result was that Mexico lost quite a bit of its northern territory.

There are steps that could be taken to control illegal entry into our country that aren’t quite so dramatic. One way would be to address immigration reform in Congress. Not that this is likely. This is a perennial issue, one that no Congress has been willing to tackle. Those members of Congress who express a willingness to address the issue soon come back down to Earth, and abandon their principles lest they incur the wrath of the voters.

Does anyone think that we can succeed in altering our interpretation of the 14th Amendment? Probably not. Nor can we easily amend the Constitution. This issue has been taken up because its supporters believe it will resonant with the voters.

Anyway, it’s easier to pontificate than it is to come up with a practical solution to the immigration problem that will actually work.