"More Than Any Man Except Abraham Lincoln, John Bingham Was Responsible for Establishing What the Civil War Meant for America’s Future"

"It is Bingham who is responsible for the words: 'No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of 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.'
"This sentence would be the legal basis for the Supreme Court’s subsequent decisions desegregating the public schools, securing equality for women, and creating the right to sexual privacy. Bingham also said that his text would also extend all of the protections of the Bill of Rights to the actions of state governments, which is largely, though not completely, the law today."

Gerard N. Magliocca in The New York Times discusses the "Father of the 14th Amendment."