Transcript Amendments

Amendments of
Freedom and Justice
The Reconstruction Amendments
(13, 14, 15)
Reconstruction Amendments (13, 14, 15)
are the three Amendments that were added
to the Constitution after the Civil War.
Republicans pushed these Amendments
through Congress. Their party was
formed specifically to end slavery.
The 13th Amendment
abolished slavery, except as
punishment for a crime
abolish: to put an end to
14th Amendment
State and federal citizenship for all who are
born or naturalized in the United States
No state can take away the "privileges and
immunities" of citizens.
No person will be deprived of life, liberty,
or property without "due process of law."
No person can be denied "equal protection
of the laws.”
The most used clause of the 14th Amendment
is the “Equal Protection Clause”
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and
subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United
States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall
make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges
or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any
State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without
due process of law; nor deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Define:
jurisdiction
reside
abridge
privileges
immunities
due process
Rewrite the equal protection
clause in your own words.
Democrats were very unhappy
with the 14th Amendment. They
were forced to accept it in order to
regain representation in Congress.
The Republican Party had been started
with the specific purpose of ending
slavery. Their side won the Civil War.
The Equal Protection clause was originally intended to protect freed
slaves, but it can and has been used to defend others as well.
Gaining equal pay for women (Equal Pay Act)
Ending segregation (Brown v. Board of Education)
Disabled persons (American’s With Disabilities Act)
Allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry (Obergefel v. Hodges)
Legal representation (lawyers) a right for all (Gideon v. Wainright)
What About Religion?
The equal protection clause can be
used to defend one’s right to practice
their religion, but usually that right is
defended by the 1st Amendment
1st Amendment, Free Exercise Clause
Congress shall make no law …
prohibiting the free exercise (of
religion)”
1st Amendment, Establishment Clause
Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof...
15th Amendment
Guarantees the right to vote
regardless of race, color, or
previous condition of servitude.
19th Amendment
Women’s Suffrage
In 1875, the Supreme Court ruled that the 14th
Amendment did not give women the right to vote.
Even though Amendment 14 states that “the
privileges or immunities of citizens” shall not be
taken from them, the court said that the rights
of citizenship did not include the right to vote.
Between that decision and through
the early 1900s, women and their
allies continued to fight for
women’s suffrage.
Suffrage= the right to vote
The movement was hindered by
disagreements, but in the end women in
the movement concluded that only a
Constitutional amendment would give
them what they wanted.
Many women were jailed or
harassed for participating in
the movement.
?
Why do you think that these women felt
that a Constitutional Amendment was
the best solution and necessary?
Finally, the 19th Amendment
was ratified in 1920. The
Amendment had first been
introduced to Congress in 1878!
The Amendment applied to both
the states and the Federal level.
Text:
The right of citizens of the United
States to vote shall not be denied
or abridged by the United States or
by any State on account of sex.
Many feel that it was at this point that the United
States had reached a point of universal suffrage.
Universal Suffrage: A
condition where all citizens
have the right to vote.
Age is the exception. Every
nation that has reached
universal suffrage has
some age requirement.
Still, the point will come in our nation’s
history where the voting age will have to be
reconsidered about 50 years later...
Amendment 26
Lowering the Voting Age
Between 1969 and 1973 men as
young as 18 were drafted into
the Vietnam War.
25% of U.S. forces in Vietnam were
draftees. Draftees represented
30.4% of combat deaths.
Simple fact: Draftees were more likely to die in
combat than professional soldiers.
61% of those killed in Vietnam
were younger than the age of 21.
Simple fact: Most Vietnam deaths were people not old enough to vote.
The Lottery (draft) only
made the war less
popular at home.
The increasing death toll also
added to the unfavorable public
opinion of the war. About 60,000
Americans would die in Vietnam.
Student activism was
especially high during
this time period.
Young adults, often college
students, would speak out
against the war and attend
mass gatherings and protests.
Many Americans saw the hypocrisy of
drafting 18 year olds and other young
people when they were too young to vote.
In 1970, the Supreme Court ruled that
Congress could change the voting age
for Federal elections, but did not have
the power to do so at the state level.
So, if the voting age was to be
lowered to 18 at all levels, a
constitutional amendment
would be necessary.
The 26th Amendment was ratified faster than any other
amendment. It became part of the Constitution in 1971.
Text:
The right of citizens of the United States, who
are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall
not be denied or abridged by the United
States or by any State on account of age.
An important note:
Although Women’s Suffrage and changing the
voting age occurred at different times and for
different reasons, one Core Democratic Value
links them:
Justice
Civil Disobedience
Before Women’s Suffrage was won, and during the
Vietnam War, many protesters and activists
participated in civil disobedience.
Civil: To remain peaceful
Disobedience: To act
against authority or the law
Civil Disobedience: An act resulting from a
conflict between society and conscience
Examples:
• Occupying a building and refusing to leave
• Not paying taxes to support a war
• Peacefully breaking a law you see as unjust
Civil Disobedience assumes the participant is
willing to accept legal or other consequences.
They are willing to be fined, jailed,
imprisoned, or sometimes beaten
or physically hurt in other ways.
Civil Disobedience Project
1. Define Civil Disobedience in your own words.
2. Find an historical example of civil disobedience by a group or
individual our country or another. Write a paragraph to explain
the example you found. Include important details. At lest 8
sentences. Do not plagiarize.
3. What other alternatives are there to civil disobedience when you
are unhappy with something going on in your country or
community. (What are some other options)
4. Explain the circumstances under which you feel that civil
disobedience might be necessary. Start your answer out with“I feel that civil disobedience is necessary when…”