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The Later Amendments of the U.S. Constitution

Since the Bill of Rights, there have been seventeen Amendments to the Constitution.

Eleventh Amendment

When the Supreme Court decided Chisolm v. Georgia, it frustrated the state of Georgia, which felt that the federal courts had no business meddling by ruling on a suit against a state. Other states, fearing similar actions against them, pushed for the Eleventh Amendment, which prohibited lawsuits against a state in Federal court unless the state concerned grants its consent.

Twelfth Amendment

The Twelfth Amendment fine-tuned the process for electing the President. (See Part III, Chapter 2 for details.)

Thirteenth Amendment

The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States and all areas under its jurisdiction. The courts have ruled that involuntary servitude does not include duly convicted persons working on prison gangs.

Fourteenth Amendment

The Fourteenth Amendment served to extend much of the Bill of Rights to the states by requiring that "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States."

Secondly, the Amendment provided that a state must follow the same due process requirements as the federal government.

Thirdly, the states were required to provide equal protection to all of its citizens- this clause intended to prevent discrimination against African-Americans, though it failed miserably in that regard.

Fourthly, it removed the original Constitutional requirement that "other persons" (slaves) count as three-fifths of a person when determining the official state population.

Fifthly, it required that a state's representation in Congress would be reduced if that state prohibited males over twenty-one from voting for a reason other than commission of a crime.

Sixthly, the Amendment prohibited any person who participates in a rebellion such as the Civil War from serving in government unless the Congress formally agrees, by a two-thirds vote in each house, to exempt the person from this requirement.

Seventhly, the Fourteenth required that any debts incurred by the Union (the North) during the Civil War were to be paid, but any debts incurred by a State of the Confederacy would be void. Furthermore, it provided that a former owner of slaves could not sue the government for the loss of his slaves.

Fifteenth Amendment

The Fifteenth Amendment took another barrier away from minorities right to vote by barring the creation of laws that barred someone from voting based on their color, race, or having been former slaves.

Sixteenth Amendment

The Sixteenth Amendment made Income Taxes constitutional. It was passed to resolve disputes regarding the matter. At one time, the Supreme Court ruled that the Tax was constitutional, while ruling at another time that it was not. All doubts were removed by the Sixteenth.

Seventeenth Amendment

The Seventeenth provided that the people of a state, and not the legislature, would be the electors of Senators. However, it retained the power of legislatures to temporarily fill vacancies until an election can be held.

Eighteenth Amendment

The Eighteenth Amendment created Prohibition, banning intoxicating liquors in the United States. It allowed both the federal and the state governments to concurrently legislate on the matter.

Nineteenth Amendment

The Nineteenth granted women the right to vote on an equal basis with men.

Twentieth Amendment

The Twentieth sought to end a problem known as the lame duck President. Previously, Presidents were elected in November, but took office in March- this was necessitated by the difficulty of travel. However, a President who lost the election but remained in office was known as a lame duck because he still retained the office, but lost some legitimacy for making important decisions. Under the Twentieth, the President would take office in January. Similar provisions were made for Congress.

Secondly, the Twentieth provides for a situation where a President-elect dies before taking office by allowing the Vice-President-elect to become President.

Twenty-First Amendment

The Twenty-First is the only Amendment that repeals, or cancels, a previous Amendment. The Twenty-First repealed the Eighteenth Amendment and ended Prohibition.

Twenty-Second Amendment

George Washington set a standard for all future Presidents when he declined to seek a third term. This standard was either voluntarily followed by the President, or enforced by the voters, in every case until Franklin Roosevelt, who was elected four times. In order to restore Washington's tradition, the Amendment limited all future Presidents to a maximum of two terms.

Twenty-Third Amendment

The Twenty-third Amendment gave citizens of the District of Columbia the right to vote in Presidential election.

Twenty-Fourth Amendment

The Twenty-fourth prohibited the denial of a vote based on failure to pay a tax such as the poll tax. Southern states had used the poll tax to deny poor African-Americans the right to vote.

Twenty-Fifth Amendment

The Twenty-fifth provided special provisions for an emergency such as a disabled but still living President. The Amendment allowed the Vice President and a majority of the Cabinet to formally declare the President unable to carry out his duties. If this was the case, then the Vice President would become Acting President until the President declared himself fit to continue. If the Vice President still felt that the President was not capable of continuing, then he and the Cabinet could again declare the President's disability. If this was the case, then Congress had to assemble to decide the matter. The President would continue unless the Congress, by a vote of two-thirds of each house, agreed with the Vice President and Cabinet.

Twenty-Sixth Amendment

The Twenty-sixth provided that all persons eighteen years or older could not be denied the right to vote due to age.

Twenty-Seventh Amendment

The Twenty-seventh Amendment was originally proposed by Congress in 1789 at the same time as the Bill of Rights. However, it was not ratified by legislatures of the required three-fourths of the states until 1992. It provides that Congressional salary changes cannot take effect until an election (of Representatives) occurs.

Source: Wikibooks
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