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Amendments 11 - 27

Civics Class Notes

11th Amendment (1795)

• The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.

• A state cannot be sued by individuals from another state or country.

• This is known as “sovereign immunity.”

12th Amendment (1804) • Allows for separate Electoral College votes for

President and Vice President. • Allows parties to nominate a team for

President and Vice President. • Strongly suggests that the President and Vice

President not be from the same state, as electors from that state cannot vote for both offices.

• If the Electoral College fails to elect a President, the HOR will select the new President from the top three candidates (Vote by state not # of reps).

• Extends all eligibility requirements for the president to the Vice President.

Think about it!

• Can you name all of the eligibility requirements for President of the United States?


• Section 1: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

• Section 2: Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.


• The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 freed all slaves held within the Southern states there were in rebellion against the United States.

• Following the end of the war, Congress passed this amendment to end slavery throughout the United States.

• 13th amendment forbids “peonage,” the practice of forcing people to work to pay off their debts against their will (i.e. debtors prison).

This about it!

• Are mandatory community service, taxation, and/or the military draft considered involuntary servitude? – Why or why not?

14th Amendment (1868) • Section 1: Everyone born in the United States,

including a former slave, is a citizen. • Section 2: Eliminates the 3/5 clause of the

original Constitution (all people counted except “Indians not taxed.”)

• Section 3: Former Confederate officials and military personnel must make an oath of loyalty to the US before serving in any office.

• Section 4: Confederate states prohibited from repaying Confederate debts or compensating former slave owners for their property lost.

• Section 5: Congress has the power to enforce all the provisions within the whole amendment.

14th Amendment (1868) • Three limitations on state power: – States shall not violate citizen’s privileges

or immunities. – States must not deprive anyone of life,

liberty, or property without due process of law.

– States must guarantee all persons equal protection by the law.

Section 5 in Action

• Civil Rights Act of 1964 • Voting Rights Act of 1965 • Americans with Disabilities Act


• Section 1: The right of the United States 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.

• Section 2: The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.


• Section 1: The use of race in determining who can vote is prohibited. – This amendment wanted to advance the civil

rights and liberties of the freed slaves and other African Americans.

• Section 2: Congress has the power enforce this amendment by passing federal legislation that ensures racial equality in voting.

De Facto Laws

• Soon after the 15th Amendment was ratified, States imposed: – Poll taxes – Literacy tests – Other tactics to keep African Americans

from voting. • For almost 100 years, many African

Americans were disenfranchised.

Is something missing?

• Why weren’t women included in the 15th Amendment?

• Why did we have to wait another 50 years for full citizenship?


• The Congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.


• Congress has the power to impose a direct income tax (a tax on each individual citizen, rather than on each state based on the population).

• This amendment greatly expanded the scope of federal taxing and spending and has been the basis for all subsequent federal income tax legislation.

Hey, did you know?

• Who was president in 1913?

17th Amendment (1913) • The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two

Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

• When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

• This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.


• Direct election of senators.

18th Amendment (1919) • Section 1. After one year from the ratification of this

article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all the territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.

• Section 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

• Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.


• Result of the temperance movement • PROHIBITION


• 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.

• Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.


• WOMEN GET THE RIGHT TO VOTE!

20th Amendment (1933) • Section 1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at

noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.�

• Section 2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.�

• Section 3. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.

20th Amendment (1933) • Section 4. The Congress may by law provide for the case

of the death of any of the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.�

• Section 5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October following the ratification of this article.�

• Section 6. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission.

20th Amendment (1933) • Prior to the 20th Amendment,

Presidents were inaugurated on March 4 (about 4 months after being elected).

• After this amendment, presidents are inaugurated on January 20 (about 2 months after being elected).

• Presidents and Congress members take office in odd years and are elected in even years, unless by special circumstance.

21st Amendment (1933) • Section 1. The eighteenth article of

amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

• Section 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

• Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

21st Amendment (1933)

• REPEAL of PROHIBITION

22nd Amendment (1951)

• Presidents can only serve two, four year terms.

• Terms do not have to be consecutive. – So far, the only president to serve two,

nonconsecutive terms was Grover Cleveland (22nd president 1885 – 1889 AND 24th president 1893 - 1897).

– Benjamin Harrison came in the middle of his terms.

23rd Amendment (1961) • Section 1. The District constituting the seat of

Government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct: – A number of electors of President and Vice President

equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least populous State; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the States, but they shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors appointed by a State; and they shall meet in the District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment.

• Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

24th Amendment (1964) • Section 1. The right of citizens of the

United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.



• Section 1: In case of removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become president.

• Section 2: Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.


• See textbook for full amendment text.


• The 25th Amendment allows the President to appoint a VP during vacancies in the office.

• It also clarifies what happens upon the death, resignation, or temporary incapacity of the President.

Why the 25th?

• Following the assassination of President JFK in November 1963, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson became President, and the office of Vice President sat vacant for more than year until the next election.

• The 25th Amendment was then passed to allow the President to appoint a V.P. if that office becomes vacant, subject to approval by the House and Senate.

Hey, did you know? • The 25th Amendment was first applied in 1973

upon the resignation of V.P. Spiro Agnew, who was facing charges of bribery and corruption.

• President Nixon appointed House Republican minority leader Gerald R. Ford as the new V.P.

• When Nixon resigned (the one and only president to do so!), Ford became President and appointed NY governor Nelson Rockefeller as V.P.

• Ford and Rockefeller became the first (and only) unelected team of President and Vice President.

Hey, did you know?

• The “acting President” provision of the 25th was first invoked on July 13, 1985 when President Ronald Reagan underwent cancer surgery.

• He signed a letter transferring power to V.P. George H.W. Bush.

• In 2002, President George W. Bush transferred power temporarily to V.P. Dick Cheney while Bush underwent a medical procedure.


• Section 1. 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.


• The voting age is lowered from 21 to 18.

Why the 26th?

• The unpopularity of the military draft during the Vietnam War raised questions about why young men between eighteen and twenty-one should be qualified to fight for their country but not to vote for the leader who made decisions about war and peace.

27th Amendment (1992) • No law varying the compensation for the

services of the Senators and Representatives shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.

• Congressional pay raises can’t go into effect until after voters have been able to cast ballots in the next election, registering their approval or disapproval. – They can’t vote in a raise for themselves!

• E.g. If they vote in a raise in 2011, it won’t go into effect until 2012.

Why the 27th?

• Ikea posted an advertisement on a bus, demonstrating the frustration of the American people over Congressional pay raises: – “Ikea, because not everyone can give

themselves a raise.” • Public unhappiness with the pay raise

during an economic recession led to passage of the 27th Amendment.

Hey, did you know?

• James Madison proposed this amendment as part of the original Bill of Rights in 1789.

• The amendment lay dormant until 1982 (almost 200 years!)

• In 1789, the annual salary was $1,500. • Today, most members of Congress make

$174,000 per year. – Senate & House majority/minority leaders:

$193,400 – Speaker of the House: $223,500

Hey, did you know?

• In 1871, Congress increased their pay from $5,000 to $7,500 (that’s a 50% increase!) This became known as the Salary Grab. It was so unpopular that Congress reduced their salary back to $5,000 in 1874.

• As an economic move during the Great Depression, salaries were once again cut from $10,000 to $9,000.

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