Kiana

Sample

10/ 16/ 08

Rebuttal

14th Amendment

The 14th amendment states that all persons born or naturalized in the United States

and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state

wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law, which shall abridge the

privileges or immunities of citizens of the citizens of the United States; nor shall any state

deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to

any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. The 14th amendment

was structured to allow only united state citizens the right to vote. They 14th amendment

was not written for non-citizens of the untied states. It clearly states that citizens of the

United States have the right to vote. This means that US territories do not qualify for this

privilege. They are not even effect when the choice for a president is made. Being a US

territory means that all area belongs to the United States.

One-reason territories shouldn’t have the right to vote is because they can’t even

comprehend what is going on. The English language is a complicated thing to understand

and it is defiantly harder for people that do not live in the United States to understand it.

Also if they did have the right to vote they would be more worried about the economy. If

given the chance to vote they would vote for what is best for them and not what would be

best for the United States as a whole. It is no secret that most US territories have more
poor people then the United States does as a whole and if given the chance to decide

whomruns for president they would only vote for the candidate that had the better

economic views. People in US territories haven’t actually gained the right to vote in the

United States. For hundreds of years American ancestors fought for their right to vote and

to make sure their children would also have the right to vote. If we allow people from the

US territories the right to vote automatically they wont understand the true importance

that this right holds. Also if we allow the territories the right to vote then soon we would

have to allow them to run for office. If we allow them to run for office then there is more

of a chance that they will vote for one of their own people to become president. If a

person from Puerto Rico becomes president then they are more likely to focus more on

helping the Puerto Ricans then helping the people in the United States as a whole.

Becoming president is a big responsibility and helping elect that president is just as big of

a responsibility that should not be taken lightly. Therefore the right to vote should remain

to just be open to united state citizens and not open to anyone else.