Transcript civics_07_01

Our Enduring Constitution
Section 1: Changing the Law of the Land
Color Transparency: Number of Black Elected Officials in the South
Section Reading Support Transparency
Section Outline
I. Abolishing Slavery
II. African Americans and the Right to Vote
III. Women and the Right to Vote
IV. Youth and the Right to Vote
V. The Voice of the People
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Our Enduring Constitution
Section 1: Changing the Law of the Land
Main Idea
Key Terms
Citizenship and voting rights have undergone
•Suffrage
dramatic change in our country’s history. The
•Poll tax
amendment process enables our Constitution to
adapt to a constantly changing society.
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Our Enduring Constitution: Section 1
Amendments 11-27
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Our Enduring Constitution
Section 1: Changing the Law of the Land
Abolishing Slavery
•The Southern States
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Feared collapse of their economy if slave labor was outlawed
•Tensions
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Missouri Compromise, 1820: Divided new lands into “Free” and “Slave” territories
•Dred Scott Court Decision
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The Supreme Court ruled that slaves were property and not citizens.
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Our Enduring Constitution
Section 1: Changing the Law of the Land
Abolishing Slavery (continued)
•The Civil War
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War fought between the Northern States (the Union) and the Southern States
(the Confederate States of America)
The Southern States wanted to be a separate country with their own weak
federal government.
600,000 lives were lost during this conflict.
•The Thirteenth Amendment, 1865
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Abolished slavery
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Our Enduring Constitution
Section 1: Changing the Law of the Land
African Americans and the Right to Vote
Go Online: Voting in the United States
•The Fourteenth Amendment, 1868
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Established that all persons born or naturalized in the United States qualified for
citizenship
This included African Americans and former slaves.
No state may “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process
of law” or “deny to any person…the equal protection of the laws.”
•The Fifteenth Amendment, 1870
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Guarantees suffrage or the right to vote for all [male] citizens
No state may deny the vote to any person on the basis of “race, color, or previous
condition of servitude.”
•The Twenty-Fourth Amendment, 1964
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Outlawed poll taxes or fees for voting
Some states used poll taxes to keep minorities from voting.
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Our Enduring Constitution
Section 1: Changing the Law of the Land
Women and the Right to Vote
•Left Out
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For the most part, women had been excluded from full citizenship and subsequent
rights.
•Women’s Suffrage Movement, 1848–1920
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Seneca Falls convention: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men
and women are created equal.”
•The Nineteenth Amendment, 1920
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Guaranteed suffrage for women
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Our Enduring Constitution
Section 1: Changing the Law of the Land
Youth and the Right to Vote
•The Twenty-Sixth Amendment, 1971
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Lowered the voting age to 18
The voting age had previously been 21.
However, thousands of citizens between the ages of 18-20 had fought in foreign
wars to preserve the American way of life, and it seemed unfair that they could not
vote.
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Our Enduring Constitution
Section 1: Changing the Law of the Land
The Voice of the People
•Amendments
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The ‘Framers’ of our Constitution were wise to include in it a process for changing
it, should the need arise.
However, a strong majority of representatives must agree on the proposed
changes.
There have been a total of 27 Amendments to the Constitution.
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Our Enduring Constitution: Section 1
Color Transparency
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Our Enduring Constitution: Section 1
Color Transparency
1. Which state had the highest number of black elected officials
in 1970? In 1999?
Alabama; Mississippi
2. Which state gained the largest number of black officials during
the period shown?
Mississippi gained the largest number of black officials.
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Our Enduring Constitution: Section 1
Section Reading Support Transparency
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