Differences Between Fifth And Fourteenth Amendments

The United States takes pride in the justice and fairness offered to the residing population; we have been seen as the land of opportunity and liberty. The Bill of Rights and Constitution entails much of the credit for this ideal of American Democracy, but more specifically, the Due Process mentioned within the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. The Due Rights Clause grants protection to the people from the government within the legal system. Originally, the Due Process applied towards the federal level, but was later extended to the State through the reconstruction amendments serving to further the notion for better democratic treatment within the justice system. The sole purpose of the Due Process clause is to grant citizens protection and avoid governmental invasion of privacy and unfair treatment. There are speculations showing the concept originated from the Magna Carta; chapter 39 states, “No freeman shall be arrested, or …show more content…
By law, everyone is required to receive equal treatment and no wrongful punishment can be granted when the law is broken. This means a person cannot be charged with a crime twice, also known as double jeopardy. Also, a person can choose to “plea the fifth” and not answer a question of they feel as if the answer can lead to incrimination (Strauss). Due to the Fifth Amendment only applying to the Federal level, there were some reconstruction amendments added. One of them included the fourteenth amendment, which granted citizens with more protection from government. The fourteenth amendment extended the protections offered by the Due Process Clause to the state level. Surprisingly, it uses the same phrasing as the Fifth Amendment, which deals with the federal level (Zitko). Adding this amendment provided further protection for the people; it forces the state level to act in accordance with the protection of the residing