12th Amendment
Everyone knows that Americans vote for the President every four years, but did you
know that the Electoral College that actually elects the President? The Electoral
College is made up of representatives from each state and Washington DC and the biggest
states will have more representatives, which we call “electors.” These electors will give all
of their votes to the Presidential candidate that wins the popular vote in each state. The
popular vote is to total number of people that vote for each candidate. If this system seems
strange to you, then you would be correct, the Electoral College is unique to the United
States.
17th Amendment
Just like the President and our mayors and governors, we elect our senators to
represent us in the United States Senate. The Senate is one of two houses (groups) in
the US Congress. There are two Senators for every state, for a total of 100. This system is
to make sure that every state has an equal amount of representatives in this important lawmaking body. Did you know that Americans were originally not allowed to vote for
Senators? Believe it or not, the legislature of every state used to elect the state’s senators
and the people would elect the Congressmen that serve in the House of Representatives. If
you think this sounds unfair, many Americans in 1912 thought so too. The 17th amendment
provides for regular voters to elect their Senators. The reason for this is simple, when we
look at the process to become a Senator in 1912.
15th Amendment
The 15th amendment protects the rights of Americans to vote in elections to elect their
leaders. Specifically, it confirms the right to vote and lists conditions that are illegal to
deny another person the right to vote. Any American cannot be denied the right to vote,
based on race, color or being a former slave.
19th Amendment
The 19th amendment is a very important amendment to the constitution as it gave
women the right to vote in 1920. You may remember that the 15th amendment made it
illegal for the federal or state government to deny any US citizen the right to vote. For some
reason, this did not apply to women. The 19th amendment changed this by making it illegal
for any citizen, regardless of gender, to be denied the right to vote.
23rd Amendment
The 23rd amendment gives residents of Washington DC the right to vote for
representatives in the Electoral College. Remember that the Electoral College
chooses our next president, based on the voting within their state. Since DC is not a state,
its residents were not allowed to vote for President as well as elected voting representative
to Congress. Today, DC sends a delegate to Congress who may speak on behalf of those
that live in DC, but that delegate may not vote.
24th Amendment
The 24th amendment was important to the Civil Rights Movement as it ended
mandatory poll taxes that prevented many African Americans. Poll taxes, combined
with grandfather clauses and intimidation, effectively prevented African Americans from
having any sort of political power, especially in the South. When the 24th amendment
passed, five southern states, Virginia, Alabama, Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi still had
poll taxes. Most Southern states, at one time or another had poll taxes and in severe
cases, had cumulative poll taxes that required the voter to pay taxes not just from that year,
but also previous years they had not voted.
26th Amendment
When you turn 18 you will be able to vote in all elections, be it state, local or
federal. However, the voting age was not always 18. The move to lower the voting
age was the last barrier on voting that was corrected by an amendment to the
Constitution. Other restrictions on women and minorities were lifted by the 15th and 19th
amendments and poll taxes, which were a barrier to the poor voting, were banned by the
24th amendment
E pluribus unum is a national motto of the United States of America.
Translated from Latin, it means "From many, one" or "Out of many,
one," or in a direct translation, "From a plurality, unity." It referred to
the integration of the 13 independent colonies into one united country,
and has taken on an additional meaning, given the pluralistic nature of
American society from immigration. The motto was selected by the
first Great Seal committee in 1776, at the beginning of the American
Revolution. Pierre Eugene DuSimiti�re originally suggested E
pluribus unum as motto. In 1956, "In God We Trust" was added as
another national motto, but did not replace E pluribus unum.