A thought, nay a collection of thoughts. Ideas and opinions spreading like the tendrils of a spider's web, touching people's minds and sparking curiosity.
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.
This amendment, the third installment of President Lincoln's New Birth of Freedom, gave citizens the right to vote. Previously only landowners could vote, which means essentially only white males could vote. The vote was seen as being needed to be given to the newly freed slaves so that they become complete citizens. There was a few separate camps on how to accomplish this: one major one was advocating the allocation of land to the freed slaves. This presented a problem because it brought up the question, "Where is this land going to come from?". The answer was primarily Southern plantation owners and that did not please the South, therefore this current solution was promoted. Instead of requiring them to have land (and therefore more influence) the vote was simply given to any citizen. What do you think about this? Was there a better way to go about this that Congress did not see? What about just giving them land and hence the vote, where would that leave us today? Comment below!
Now that black men (and all men) have the right to vote, what are some policies that would change with the huge influx of votes? How would politicians campaign and what would the separate groups be focused on?
This video addresses some of the other things going on with the 15th amendment, with a good soundtrack. It also shows that there is still work that is being done to continue the progress made by this amendment.
If you want to learn more about this amendment, click here.
Section 1
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 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.
Section 2
Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
Section 3
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section 4
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Section 5
The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Finally! An amendment that furthers the accomplishment of freeing the slaves. Before this, freed slaves were not considered citizens and neither were their children. This obviously caused a lot of problems for the black American population at this point and something needed to be done. This amendment, in broad sweeping strokes gave citizenship to these people as well as confronting the problem that this would bring about regarding the representation of all these brand new citizens. I think that anyone reading this can agree that this amendment was a good idea, but if you're an outlier then please let me know what your reasoning is for your dissenting opinion.
So with this particular sub-portion of the amendment, can you think of any current day happenings that are applicable to this? Perhaps the issue of ABORTION? What rights to life does an unborn child have and how are we abridging those rights today? Tell me about your pro-life or pro-choice arguments below!
This video, albeit rather lengthy, gives a good summary to the amendment (no I didn't watch it all).
For even more information about this amendment, click here.
Section 1
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.
This amendment, rather simple in writing, was revolutionary for its time. It banned all slavery of all forms from the United States forever. Beyond the freeing of African and African American slaves from the constraints of the South (most Northern states had already banned slavery), this also required any labor to be paid for. Some interesting exceptions to this would be the duly convicted felons stated in the amendment, any form of the military draft (although there are ways to get out of that, e.g. bed wetting, drugs, etc.), and jury duty service. While this decision solved many problems, there remained a few glaring errors; namely that the newly freed prisoners had no place to go, no land, and no income. But this was simply a step-wise solution that Abraham Lincoln pioneered and called a "new birth of freedom".
Conditions for freed slaves were quite similar to that of the time of their slavery.
In the movie Django Unchained, the man known as Dr. King Schultz treats slaves just as kindly as free men. This is a movie full of racial inequality and brings to question a lot about this particular time period.
More information about this amendment can be found here.
The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate; — the President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted; — The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President. — The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.
This amendment is designed to redesign the process by which the president and vice-president are elected. A redesign based on problems in the 1800 election. Before this amendment, the president and vice-president were voted on in the same election and the 1st and 2nd place were given the offices, respectfully. Now with this new amendment there are specific guidelines to elections and preventative measures to avoid problems in the future.
Now that elections are revised, what do you think are some problems in our selection processes? Comment!
The 2012 election explained! This is a basic explanation for our current election system.
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.
This amendment, a change to Article III of the Constitution, basically iterates a rule that one cannot use the federal government to sue state government. One of the reasons for this amendment was the Supreme Court case Chisholm v. Georgia (1793) which affirmed that one could sue states in federal court. This was eventually seen as a breech in state's rights and the 11th amendment was born.
Interestingly, Puerto Rico enjoys Eleventh Amendment immunity as given to it by the US State Court of Appeals.
State's rights are protected, but what does this mean if you wanted to sue a state? How can you do it now?
Is it not wonderful that a HOR minority leader that claims to be "with the Constitution" doesn't even know it?
Make sure to comment and discuss about this amendment, why should Puerto Rico receive immunity or why should it not? What do you think of Nancy Pelosi's gross misquoting of the Constitution she claims to support? What are the implications of a politician of her stature committing this error? Comment below!
For more information about this amendment and it's birth, click here.
