The Bill of Rights was drafted in response to the national debate over the ratification of the Constitution of the United States. Relate one of the arguments over the need for a Bill of Rights to the wording of the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States.
The Reconstruction Era prompted the 13th through 15th Amendments to address the aftermath of slavery and the Civil War. Summarize how the 13th through 15th Amendments addressed the aftermath of slavery and the Civil War.
Amendments 16 through 19 responded to calls of reform during the Progressive Era. Summarize how the 16th through 19th Amendments addressed the calls for reform during the Progressive Era.
Four Amendments have provided for extensions of suffrage to disenfranchised groups. Cite evidence to show that the Constitution of the United States has been repeatedly amended to extend suffrage to disenfranchised groups.
Five amendments have altered provisions for presidential election, terms, and succession to address changing historical circumstances. Explain the historical circumstances surrounding the adoption of constitutional amendments pertaining to presidential election, terms, and succession.
Amendments 11, 21, and 27 have addressed unique historical circumstances. Describe the unique circumstances surrounding the adoption of Amendments 11, 21, and 27.
Responses:
Anti-Federalists believed there was a need for a Bill of Rights in order to protect citizens' individual rights. To please the Anti-Federalists', a Bill of Rights was drafted to protect individuals' rights; in fact, the first nine amendments reflect the United States principle of limited government. To illustrate, the second amendment states that any citizen has the right to own guns.
The thirteenth amendment addressed the aftermath of slavery and the Cvil War by abolishing slavery and making a stride towards reconstructing the United States. Then, the fourteenth amendment was passed, defining what persons of the United States--African Americans and people of European descent--were qualified to be citizens. The fifteenth amendment gave citizens the right to vote regardless of color, race, or previous condition of servitude.
The sixteenth amendment addressed the call for reform during the Progressive Era as concerns about the usage of tariffs and distribution of wealth caused federal income tax to be in effect. Then, the seventeenth amendment was passed in order to allow the people to directly elect senators after critics of state politics viewed political party bosses and business leaders having too much input on state legislature. For years, alcohol was thought to cause poverty and destruction of year, so the eighteenth amendment called for the prohibition of alcohol. Another reform besides the prohibition of alcohol was the denial of women's voting rights which eventually caused the nineteenth amendment to deny the right to vote based on the sex of a citizen.
Four amendments that have been repeatedly amended to extend suffrage to disenfranchised groups are the fifteenth, nineteenth, twenty-fourth, and twenty-sixth amendments. In the Constitution, there has been a recurrence of the extension of voting rights to different groups. To illustrate, the fifteenth amendment granted people the right to vote regardless of color, race, and previous condition of servitude and the nineteenth amendment gave everyone the right to vote regardless of sex. Poll taxes also discouraged African Americans from voting during the Jim Crow legislation, so the twenty-fourth amendment prohibited the use of poll taxes in federal elections. Since many men were drafted to be in the Vietnam War but were unable to vote, the twenty-sixth amendment was passed to change the voting age from twenty-one to eighteen.
The twelfth amendment altered the procedures of the Electoral College by creating separate ballots for the President and Vice President to avoid a tie, like in the Election of 1800. Then, the twentieth amendment was passed in order to minimize the time between elections and when the President and members of Congress take office as a result of the innovation of transportation allowing easier travel to Washington DC. The twenty-second amendment imposed a two term presidential limit after the four term presidency of Franklin Roosevelt. With the population of District of Columbia increasing, it was decided residents had the right to vote for electors, so the twenty-third amendment granted electors to the District of Columbia. Lyndon B. Johnson, who took office after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, had a history of heart problems which caused the twenty-fifth amendment to outline the provisions for filling the office of Vice President as well as procedures to be used in the unfortunate case of presidential disability.
One year after the Supreme Court ruled in Chisholm v. Georgia, a lawsuit involving a state being sued by a citizen of another state could be heard in federal court, the eleventh amendment was proposed. Questions arose about the extent of federal power which limits the jurisdiction of federal court in similar cases. Difficulties followed the passing of the eighteenth amendment as the prohibition of alcohol caused increased criminal activity in the 1920s. In 1932, a Democratic Party campaign against prohibition led to the proposal and ratification of the twenty-first amendment, which effectively repealed the eighteenth amendment. In 1789, a proposal was introduced to limit conflict of interest between members of Congress when discussing compensation. Originally to be included in the Bill of Rights, the twenty-seventh amendment was not discussed again until the 1980s where Congress members' pay was put into question once again; however, the twenty-seventh amendment was ratified in 1992.