Due Process Clause; "Scottsboro Boys" Case (1931)

The due process clause was one of the more important parts of the Fourteenth Amendment that redefined freedom after the Civil War. The clause protects the First Amendment rights of the people and prevents those rights from being taken away by the government without “due process.” Due process is a trial by jury for all people accused of wrongdoing. This part of the Fourteenth Amendment ensured that states could never limit the rights of Americans without fairness before the law. Along with citizenship, freedom was expanded under the due process clause because it prohibited states from depriving “any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” and therefore created a new standard of liberty that extended to all people, instead of the select few that were entitled to it before the Civil War. By preventing states from denying rights and privileges to blacks, the Fourteenth Amendment, for the first time after the Civil War, directly challenged and attacked the tradition of denying blacks the right to due process (Levy, 1986.) The South voted against the amendment, but it was still ratified with the required three-fourths majority of the states. Through this, freedom changed significantly and began to extend to all parts of the nation when the Fourteenth Amendment made it illegal to deny citizens of their rights. The due process clause was a crucial part of the Fourteenth Amendment, which replaced a regional standard of freedom with a universal one.

The due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment (Picture Source: Texas Politics)

The due process clause has been used in numerous Supreme Court Cases since the Civil War, including the 'Scottsboro Boys" trials of 1931, in which nine African-American men were convicted of raping two white women. In 1935, the Supreme Court ruled for the second time, and said the exclusion of blacks from the juries violated the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Following the Civil War, due process was invoked to defend wrongly convicted people, something that never would have happened before the War and before anything was written into law (Civil Rights in America, 2010.)

The Scottsboro Case, 1931, in which the due process clause was used to defend wrongly accused African-Americans ("Scottsboro Boys: Civil Rights in America, 2010.) 

1. "Due Process." International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. William A. Darity, Jr. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. 461-462. U.S. History in Context. Web. 18 Dec. 2013
2. "Texas Politics - Reconstruction and the Civil War Amendments." Texas Politics - Reconstruction and the Civil War Amendments. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2013.
3. "Scottsboro Boys." Civil Rights in America. Woodbridge, CT: Primary Source Media, 2010. American Journey. U.S. History in Context. Web. 19 Dec. 2013.
4. LEVY, LEONARD W. "Due Process of Law." Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. Ed. Leonard W. Levy and Kenneth L. Karst. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2000. 828-829. U.S. History in Context. Web. 19 Dec. 2013.