What is an amendment?
In
government, an amendment is a change you make to
something such as a law,contract, or constitution to improve it or
make it better. |
Constitutional Amendments
The
Constitution and the Bill of Rights
were both well thought out and well written. But, as
the country began to grow, some new issues needed to be addressed by
our government. They did so by making them as amendments to the Bill
of Rights (the original 10 amendments). Since 1795, 17 more
amendments have been passed.
Some of these include:
Amendment XIII, ratified on December 6, 1865, which abolished slavery.
Amendment XV, ratified on February 3, 1870, which states that "the
right of the citizens…to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the
United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous
condition of servitude." (Although the Fifteenth Amendment gave all
men the right to vote, regardless of race, it would be 50 more years
before women could vote.)
Amendment XIX, ratified on August 8, 1920, which states that “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,” thus
giving women the right to vote.
Only one amendment, Amendment XVIII, ratified on January 6, 1919,
prohibiting "the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating
liquors" was ever repealed; this was during a period of our nation’s
history known as Prohibition when drinking alcohol became illegal.
Amendment XXI, ratified on December 5, 1933, was the amendment that
repealed Amendment XVIII.
Ways to Amend the Constitution
Under Article V of the Constitution, there are two ways to
propose and ratify amendments to the Constitution.
First, an amendment must be proposed.
To propose amendments, two-thirds of both houses of Congress can vote
to propose an amendment, or two-thirds of the state legislatures
can
ask Congress to call a national convention to propose amendments.
Next, an amendment must be ratified.
To ratify amendments, three-fourths of the state legislatures must
approve them, or ratifying conventions in three-fourths of the states
must approve them.
The Supreme Court has said that ratification must be within "some
reasonable time after the proposal." This can be around 7 years.
What We Learned in This Lesson:
* The Bill of Rights has had 17 more Amendments added to it since
1795.
*
Amendment 18 was the only amendment to be repealed by Amendment 21.
*
There are two ways to amend the Constitution.
* Amendments must be ratified by 3/4 of the state legislatures or
state conventions.
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Vocabulary
Amend
- to add on to or modify
Repeal
- to reverse or cancel.
Propose
- put forward an idea for others to discuss and decide upon.
Legislature
- a group of people (usually elected), who have the power to
make, change, or repeal the laws of a country or state.
Convention
- a meeting or formal assembly, as of representatives or
delegates, for discussion of and action on particular matters of
common concern.
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