Unit 13 Other Amendments
(This unit based on Amendments XI - XXV)
The first ten amendments were not the only
amendments to be added to the Constitution.
Since 1789, 17 more have been adopted.
Voting Rights.
Four of the amendments
adopted since 1789 dealt with suffrage, or the right
to vote.
The Fifteenth Amendment said that
states may not prevent an individual from voting
because of race or previous slavery.
The
Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right to
vote. The Twenty-third Amendment gave citizens
of Washington, D.C. the right to vote in
presidential elections.
Finally, the Twenty-fourth Amendment made it
illegal for any state to require the payment of poll
taxes before national elections. A poll tax was a
tax which had to be paid before an individual was
permitted to vote.
Individual
Rights.
Several
of
the
amendments dealt with the right of individuals.
The Thirteenth Amendment prohibited slavery.
The Fourteenth Amendment gave citizenship to
former slaves and said that no state may take
from its citizens any of their rights as citizens of
the United States.
The Eleventh Amendment
limited the right of individuals living in one state
and suing another state to have their cases heard
by a federal court.
Electing Officials. Two amendments altered
the way in which the President and Senators were
elected. First the Twelfth Amendment changed
procedures in the electoral college. Before this
amendment was ratified, electors voted for two
presidential candidates. The one who received a
majority became President and the next one
became Vice-President. In the election of 1796,
this procedure resulted in the election of two men
who belonged to different political parties. In the
next election, there was tie.
In order to prevent these things from
happening again, the Twelfth Amendment was
adopted. This amendment required the electors
to vote separately for President and VicePresident.
According
to
the original
Constitution,
Senators were to be elected by their state
legislatures. This system was changed by the
Seventeenth Amendment, which provided for the
election of Senators directly by the people.
Income Taxes. One amendment with affects
nearly all Americans is the Sixteenth Amendment.
Several years after the Supreme Court declared
Amendments to the Constitution give citizens
the right to vote regardless of their race or sex.
the income tax law of 1894 unconstitutional, the
nation adopted the Sixteenth Amendment. This
amendment gave Congress the power to tax
people on their incomes.
Prohibition. The Eighteenth Amendment was
the prohibition amendment. Its purpose was to
prohibit the use and sale of liquor in the United
States. It was later repealed, or revoked, by the
Twenty-first Amendment.
The Presidency.
Three
amendments
affected the office of the Presidency.
The
Twentieth Amendment changed the date of the
President's inauguration from March 4 * to January
20"^ . The Twenty-second Amendment limited to
two the number of times a man could be elected
President.
The last amendment, the Twenty-fifth, dealt
with some of the problems which result when a
President dies or is disabled while in office.
According to this amendment, when a VicePresident succeeds to the Presidency, he must
nominate a new Vide-President. The nomination
must approved by a majority vote in both Houses
of Congress.
The Twenty-fifth Amendment also outlines
what is to be done if the President is too ill to
perform his duties. In such a case, the VicePresident would take over as Acting President
until the President is well again.
Name
Hour
Date
ACTIVITY PAGE
A . T r u e or F a l s e
In the space at the left, write T if the statement is true or F if it is false.
1. There have been twenty-six amendments added to the Constitution
2. Citizens of Washington, D.C. now have the right to vote in presidential elections.
3. The Fourteenth Amendment freed the slaves.
4. The original Constitution proved for the election of Senators by their state legislatures.
5. The President is inaugurated on January 2 0 * .
6. The President is no longer chosen by the electoral college.
7. Today, states may require the payment of a poll tax as a qualification for voting in national elections.
B . W o r d s to K n o w
In the space at the left, write the letter of the term that best fits the definition.
1. prohibited slavery
a. suffrage
2. a tax which had to be paid before an individual
was permitted to vote
b. poll tax
3. the income tax amendment
c. repealed
4. the right to vote
d. Thirteenth Amendment
5. revoked
e. Sixteenth Amendment
C.
F a c t s to R e m e m b e r
Fill in the blanks with the word or phrase that best completes
the
sentence.
1. The Fifteenth Amendment said that individuals could not be denied the right to vote simply because
of their
.
2. The Twenty-fourth Amendment made
3. Senators are now elected directly by the
4. A man may be elected to
illegal.
.
terms as President.
5. If the Vice-President succeeds to the Presidency, he must nominate a new
6. The Nineteenth Amendment gave
the right to vote.
D. T h i n g s to D o
1. Prepare a debate on the following topic: Resolved,
repealed.
the Twenty-second Amendment should be
2. Consult a history text or encyclopedia. Then write a paragraph discussing the significance of the
election of 1800 to the adoption of the Twelfth Amendment.