Abstract
On the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Fourteenth Amendment’s ratification, this essay examines how the amendment has actually been taught in American classrooms. How do history or civics textbooks present one of the most influential, transformational, and controversial elements of the Constitution? This essay reviews the many ways the Fourteenth Amendment can be and has been interpreted, and then studies which of those interpretations are adopted in high school textbooks from the 1860s to the 2010s. Civics and history classes are the primary ways that most citizens learn about the Constitution. How high school textbooks present the Fourteenth Amendment is an essential, yet hardly studied, aspect of popular constitutional understanding and civic education. This essay seeks to fill that gap by analyzing fifteen historical and contemporary civics textbooks, and placing their content in the context of Fourteenth Amendment scholarship and the history of American constitutional literacy.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
