The Constitution, one of America’s
most important documents ever written. It establishes and defines the powers
that each part of the government has and splits up the powers into the House of
Representatives and the Senate. This document also creates a president to keep
an eye on our vast country. Along with the President it also gave us a court
system to keep everyone in line. The writers of this knew that the times would
change and that there would be need to amend the Constitution so they made sure
to put that in the document.
Each amendment controls its own
freedom, restriction, or law. The first makes sure that everyone has freedom of
religion, speech, press, assembly, and to petition the government.
The second amendment makes sure
that you will be able to protect yourself by granting you the right to bear
arms.
Third you cannot be forced to have
any soldiers live in your home when our country is at peace.
You cannot be searched or have any
of your belongings searched or seized without probable cause.
The fifth amendment does a few
things for you like, protecting you from being tried for the same thing more
than once, you cannot be forced to incriminate yourself, and your private
property cannot be taken unless you are compensated properly.
You can have a speedy and public
trial by a jury thanks to the sixth amendment.
Jury trial is a right in civil
suits from the seventh amendment.
The eighth amendment keeps bail
from being excessive and protects you from cruel and unusual punishments.
The ninth amendment lets you know that
you hold other rights that are not specifically listed.
The rights that are not given to
the government and are not prohibited from the states are given to the states
and people as is said in the tenth amendment.
The eleventh amendment helps to
clarify the judicial powers.
The electoral college was revised by
the twelfth amendment.
The thirteenth amendment abolished
slavery.
The fourteenth amendment, one of
the civil war amendments, was quite important as it makes anyone born or naturalized
in the US a US citizen (mostly to make former slaves citizens), gave all males
over 21 the right to vote (though it was not enacted in the South until 1965),
and it also said that no person can be denied equal protection in the US.
The fifteenth amendment gave all
citizens the right to vote, regardless of age, race, or whether or not you were
a slave.
The national government was given
the right to create an income tax by the sixteenth amendment.
The seventeenth amendment changed
the way that senators are elected so that the public can more directly elect.
Prohibition of sale and
distribution of alcohol was the eighteenth amendment.
Women were finally allowed to vote
when the nineteenth amendment was passed.
The twentieth amendment changed
which days the president and congress terms begin after reelection.
Prohibition didn’t work out very
well so they abolished the eighteenth amendment with the twenty- first.
Roosevelt got elected a few times
too many for a few peoples liking so a limit, two terms, was put on the
presidency in the twenty-second amendment.
The twenty-third amendment gave
three votes to Washington, D.C.
Poll taxes are not allowed after
the twenty-fourth amendment.
Presidential succession, who became
president if the president died, was changed in the twenty-fifth amendment.
Everyone over eighteen can now vote
thanks to the twenty-sixth amendment.
Last, but not least, the
twenty-seventh amendment makes sure that senators will not vote for their own
pay raises.
