Amendments

Everyone knows the first ten amendments, starting with the basic freedoms, but what about the rest? There are 27 amendments in all, 17 have been added since the first 10.

The following amendments are 17-27:

11th - Makes states immune from suits from out-of-state citizens and foreigners not living within the state borders; lays the foundation for sovereign immunity.

12th - Revises presidential election procedures.

13th - Abolishes slavery, and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.

14th - Defines citizenship, contains the Privileges or Immunities Clause, the Due Process Clause, the Equal Protection Clause, and deals with post-Civil War issues.

15th - Prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

16th - Allows the federal government to collect income tax.

17th - Establishes the direct election of United States Senators by popular vote.

18th - Prohibited the manufacturing or sale of alcohol within the United States.

19th - Prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on sex.

20th - Changes the date on which the terms of the President and Vice President (January 20) and Senators and Representatives (January 3) end and begin.

21st - Repeals the 18th Amendment and prohibits the transportation or importation into the United States of alcohol for delivery or use in violation of applicable laws.

22nd - Limits the number of times that a person can be elected president: a person cannot be elected president more than twice, and a person who has served more than two years of a term to which someone else was elected cannot be elected more than once.

23rd - Grants the District of Columbia electors (the number of electors being equal to the least populous state) in the Electoral College.

24th - Prohibits the revocation of voting rights due to the non-payment of a poll tax.

25th - Addresses succession to the Presidency and establishes procedures both for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, as well as responding to Presidential disabilities.

26th - Prohibits the denial of the right of US citizens, eighteen years of age or older, to vote on account of age.

27th - Delays laws affecting Congressional salary from taking effect until after the next election of representatives.

Bill of Rights.

Karime Balderas - Ortega

January 24th, 2014

Core 4

Bill Of Rights.

1. What is your impression about the way that the Bill of Rights looks?

The bill of rights seems very faded. The writing looks old and as if needs to be renewed. Other than the title, the only words that really stand out are “The”, “Resolved”, and “Articles”

 

2. How was George Mason a rebel?`

George Mason was a rebel because wanted the constitution to have a bill of rights. He wrote his own bill of rights and named them “Virginia Declaration  of independence.”

 

3. When did they finally vote on the Bill of Rights.

They finally decided on the bill of rights on December 15th,  1791.

 

4. What would you do? Would you have voted in favor or against the Bill of Rights? Why?

I would’ve voted in favor of the Bill of Rights. The people needed to know their rights, what they could and couldn’t do. The Bill of Rights are very important and George Mason knew it from the start.

Chapter Nine Essay

Karime Balderas-Ortega

January 9th, 2013

Core Four

Many things don’t work out the way they’re supposed to. Sometimes they actually do. It may take time for things to work right and an example of this is a science experiment. The scientist has to do many trials and the trials take time, and at the end he may get the result he wanted. Another example is The Constitution. Its the oldest living constitution and its inspired people all over. It was first ratified in September 1787. First published in the Pennsylvania Packet in September 19th, 1787.  

The constitution is the most important document in the history of The United States. What it does is to keep everyone in line and let everyone know their limits. The constitution contains the government and its three branches. The three branches are the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, and The Judicial Branch. Each branch has a specific job. The Legislative branch is the law making part. It contains two houses the Senate, upper house, and the house of Representatives, the lower house. There are many responsibilities that come with this part of the branch and it often is in the Capitol. The next part of the government is the Executive Branch. This branch is where the President, Vice President, and The Cabinet are. This is the branch that has all the pressure, the President decides what to do with the state the future of it. The last part of the government is the Judicial Branch. It Interprets the laws and mainly consists of the supreme court. It basically has 9 members at the time and their terms are till death. This branch only takes 100 cases out of the thousands of cases asked to be reviewed.

Another thing that the constitution consists of are the checks and balances. This concept is basically a system that allows each branch of government to limit the power of the other branches. It helps with the constitution because it doesn’t let just some people have all the power and be the boss. It shows that the United States isn’t dictated by the president. Congress can override vetoes and the President can veto bills.

A famous quote by Thomas Jefferson says the constitution “belongs to the living not the dead.” This means that the constitution may be changed but it is very very hard. The changes are called amendments and only 27 have been approved so far. First its proposed by ⅔ of either Congress or the state legislatures. From there it has to be approved or ratified by ¾ of the state legislatures or the state conventions. Most amendments don’t get approved though.

One of the last parts of the constitution is federalism. Federalism is the constitutional system that shares power between the national and state governments. One example of this is when there are presidential elections. Each state collects all the data and sends it to the national government. The thing is that the national government has way more important problems than a person committing a DUI, so it lets the states handle.

The constitution works because it states that not only one person is in charge of the future of the United States. The President isn’t a dictator, Congress aren’t a bunch of people together thinking that they can rule the world, and the supreme court knows that they have branch but they aren't rulers. The Constitution works because it has changes made to it often and it gives the people the power.