Passed in 1868, all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the state wherein they reside. 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 the due process of law; not deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law.

Passed in 1868, all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the state wherein they reside. 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 the due process of law; not deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law.

• A. First Amendment
• B. Fourteenth Amendment
• C. Fifteenth Amendment
• D. Thirteenth Amendment

Answer: (B)

Recognizing the Fourteenth Amendment and its guarantees is the key idea here. Passed in 1868, it defines who is a citizen—born or naturalized in the United States—and ties that status to both national and state levels of government. It also bars states from abridging the privileges or immunities of U.S. citizens and requires that life, liberty, and property not be deprived without due process, while also guaranteeing equal protection of the laws. This combination—citizenship plus due process and equal protection—makes the Fourteenth Amendment the constitutional tool for protecting individuals against state action that could infringe their rights. For context, it was enacted after the Civil War to secure civil rights for newly freed people and to lay the groundwork for how the Bill of Rights applies to state governments. The other amendments address different topics—basic freedoms in the First Amendment, abolition of slavery in the Thirteenth, and voting rights regardless of race in the Fifteenth—so they don’t fit this passage as neatly as the Fourteenth Amendment does.

Recognizing the Fourteenth Amendment and its guarantees is the key idea here. Passed in 1868, it defines who is a citizen—born or naturalized in the United States—and ties that status to both national and state levels of government. It also bars states from abridging the privileges or immunities of U.S. citizens and requires that life, liberty, and property not be deprived without due process, while also guaranteeing equal protection of the laws. This combination—citizenship plus due process and equal protection—makes the Fourteenth Amendment the constitutional tool for protecting individuals against state action that could infringe their rights. For context, it was enacted after the Civil War to secure civil rights for newly freed people and to lay the groundwork for how the Bill of Rights applies to state governments. The other amendments address different topics—basic freedoms in the First Amendment, abolition of slavery in the Thirteenth, and voting rights regardless of race in the Fifteenth—so they don’t fit this passage as neatly as the Fourteenth Amendment does.