The twentieth Amendment is a long one, and it changes quite a few things. It all relates to the timings and elections of Presidents, Vice Presidents, and congress as well as what to do in situations where the President/Vice President can not take office.
Tag: american government
The Amendments: Nineteen
The Nineteenth Amendment rectifies a wrong in earlier voting qualifications. It has one mission, and that is to give women the right to vote:
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
(source)
There’s not alot of commentary to make on this amendment, given that its pretty straightforward and only has one clause in it (Well, two but the second is pretty standard in Amendments as it gives Congress the power to enforce the amendment).
This amendment was first introduced in 1878, but only passed by congress in 1919. It was ratified in only 13 months. There were lawsuits claiming that the amendment usurped states rights during the early years, but since enough states ratified the amendment, they were shot down. (Leser Vs. Garnett WIKI).
Interestingly enough, there were some states, particularly newer states to the union, that already had some sort of voting laws in place to allow women to vote prior to this amendment. New Jersey actually allowed it from the start, but revoked in 1807. Many of the original states did not offer any voting rights to women till after this amendment.
The Amendments: Eighteen
This amendment is a special amendment. This is the only amendment that has been fully repealed and not not just edited to include more coverage. The Eighteenth Amendment has gone down in history known as Prohibition.
It was passed by congress in 1917 and ratified two years later in 1919. It was repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933. So it only lasted 15 years of actual enforcement.
The Amendments: Seventeen
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.
When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.
This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.
(source)
Previous to this amendment, Senators were chosen by the legislatures of their respective state. After its ratification in 1913 (big year for amendments), Senators were to be elected by popular election instead of by the state governing bodies.
Although, given what I think of my state’s governing body which apparently took eight months to agree on a stupid budget this might have been a good idea.
In a sense, the government had actually moved closer to a true Democracy with this amendment. It’s still a representative Republic, but the population has more a say (when they take it) in what goes on.
The Amendments: Sixteen
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.
(Source)
The Sixteenth Amendment takes a different turn from the previous couple as it has nothing to do with voting rights, or adding to or editing other amendments. Its simply about taxes. Its also the first Amendment passed in the 1900s. It was passed by Congress in 1909 (almost 40 years after the 15th), but took till 1913 to be ratified by the States. That’s not surprising considering even today we aren’t too fond of taxes.
The Amendments: Fifteen
SECTION 1
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
SECTION 2
The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
(Source)
This amendment is pretty straightforward. It was passed by Congress in 1869, and ratified a year later.
Though the 14th amendment protected the right to vote, this adds to the law prohibiting restriction of voting. It still does not include the right to vote to women, but it does give the right to vote to African-Americans as it was no longer legal to discriminate against race.
There are several amendments tied to prohibited discrimination against voters. the 14th, 15th, 19th, 24th and 26th amendments all relate to voting rights.
I found it interesting to learn that previous different states had different voting restrictions. Some would allow all citizens (including women and free blacks) the right to vote, others would require you to own a certain amount of property. The 14th & 15th amendments nationalized voting rights, outlawing most restrictions.
There is an argument now about Voter ID laws, and how they may or may not be constitutionally sound. Some believe that this violates the 14th amendment, and possibly the 15th as it seems to unfairly target some groups within the community and in some places possible racial issues exist.
I’m personally neutral on that subject because on one hand I can see how those who don’t have easy access to the DMV would find it hard to get a state ID that could allow them to vote. On the other hand, so much today requires an ID from writing checks to purchasing age-required items like Decongestant. Its hard to imagine why someone wouldn’t have an ID. But unless the state can guarantee easy access to get the ID, I don’t believe it should be a requirement to vote. Especially considering that the so called fraud its meant to prevent is usually very rare and often enough is simply the result of typographical errors or someone having the same name as a deceased person and their SS# being wrong.
Related Reading:
Myth of Voter Fraud – Brennan Center for Justice
Voter Fraud: A Massive Anti-Democratic Deception – Forbes
Our Documents: The 15th Amendment – you can get to see the actual amendment document
Passing of the 15th Amendment – PBS (For a special on U.S. Grant)
The Amendments: Fourteen
The Fourteenth Amendment is a debatable amendment as some believe it is not clear enough. It has several elements to it, so its not as simple as the last amendment was. I’ve put it behind a read more due to length.
This amendment was passed by Congress in 1866, but it wasn’t ratified till 1868. Continue reading “The Amendments: Fourteen”
The Amendments: Thirteen
This is another amendment that is probably one of the more well known ones:
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
SECTION 2
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
(source)
The thirteenth amendment outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude except in causes where one is found guilty of a crime (basically a prison sentence). Many people believe that the Emancipation proclamation outlawed Slavery, but it didn’t. It only outlawed it in states that had been disloyal to the union. Which I have to wonder how they intended on enforcing that proclamation in that case. However, a few politicians of the age recognized the issue, and decided a more formal amendment was needed. That Slavery should be outlawed everywhere, and not just in the confederate states.
Several representatives submitted proposals, and they were combined and edited to get what you have above. It was approved by congress in 1864, and within a year was ratified by the 3/5ths majority it needed to be. Several states however rejected the amendment at first. A few reversed their position within a few years, but a couple held out till the next century.
As of 1995, all the states who were states when the amendment was passed out for ratification have ratified it. It is however surprising that it took them this long, or that they figured it was still worth looking at despite the fact that it was already ratified. I’m sure the late arrivals felt the idea, even if it was a mute point as far as the amendment went, was still important to pass.
There are a few other amendments connected to this one, as it was realised that this amendment didn’t do enough.
The Amendments: Twelve
This amendment is a bit long, so I’m going to put a read-more cut before it. This amendment affects the Electoral college, so if you are interested in that, considering upcoming events, this is a good one to look into.
It was passed by Congress in December 1803, and ratified in June of 1804. It relates to Article 1, Section II on the elections of Presidents and Vice Presidents as well as Amendments 20 & 22 , which actually edits part of this amendment.
The Amendments: Eleven
The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State. (source)
The eleventh amendment was the first amendment done after the Bill of Rights and the ratification of the Constitution. It was proposed on March 4, 1794 and ratified on February 7, 1795. So it took nearly a year to pass through Congress and get ratified by the states.
This amendment is often debated because of the range of different takes on how to follow this amendment. Does this mean that the state governments can not be sued by their own citizens, or does it just bar out of state citizens and foreign parties? Does it restrict what cases the federal government can view if there is an appeal.
At the very least it protects States from being sued by citizens not their own, and of being named in suits from foreign groups. Debate on how broad or narrow this amendment is continues to this day. It is connected to aspects of the fourteenth amendment, so that tailers what this amendment is read as.
Sokorra Lewis 