Monologue

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.