The fourteenth amendment guaranteed rights for citizens (regardless of race, gender, or creed) who are born or naturalized within the United States. Although racism still exists today, it is clear that race is not a factor in citizenship. The fifteenth amendment guaranteed all African American males the right to vote, and the nineteenth amendment gave women the right to vote. The effects of the fourteenth and nineteenth amendment are clear. While all citizens over eighteen now have the right to vote, the 2008 election proved that the effects are more far-reaching. For the first time, the presidential race saw both an African-American and a female seriously competing for the presidency.
