Author: US National Archives

"The Fifteenth Amendment" print by Thomas Kelly commemorating its passage in 1870. (Library of Congress) Amendment Fifteen to the Constitution - the last of the Reconstruction Amendments - was ratified on February 3, 1870. It grants the right to vote for all male citizens regardless of their ethnicity or prior slave status. The official text … Continue reading “Constitutional Amendments” Series – Amendment XV – “The Right to Vote”

E.W. Kemble political cartoon satirizing Congress being inactive in enforcing Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment, c. 1902. (Library of Congress) Amendment Fourteen to the Constitution - the second of the three Reconstruction Amendments - was ratified on July 9, 1868. It grants citizenship to all people born in the United States, provides them equal … Continue reading “Constitutional Amendments” Series – Amendment XIV – “Citizenship, Equal Protection, Apportionment, and War Debts”

Illustration celebrating the emancipation of African Americans with the Thirteenth Amendment, c. 1865 (Library of Congress) Amendment Thirteen to the Constitution - the first of the three Reconstruction Amendments - was ratified on December 6, 1865. It forbids chattel slavery across the United States and in every territory under its control, except as a criminal … Continue reading “Constitutional Amendments” Series – Amendment XIII – “The Abolition of Slavery”

Pro-Thomas Jefferson political advertisement from the 1804 presidential election, the first to be conducted under the rules of the Twelfth Amendment. (Thomas Jefferson Foundation) Amendment Twelve to the Constitution was ratified on June 15, 1804. It revises and outlines the procedure of how Presidents and Vice Presidents are elected, specifically so that they are elected … Continue reading “Constitutional Amendments” Series – Amendment XII – “Electing the President and Vice President”

Original copy of the Eleventh Amendment as signed by Congress (National Archives and Records Administration) Amendment Eleven to the Constitution was ratified on February 7, 1795. It renders the states immune from lawsuits from out-of-state citizens and foreign individuals. The states also do not have to hear lawsuits filed against them when the charges are … Continue reading “Constitutional Amendments” Series – Amendment XI – “Lawsuits Against the States”

Portrait of Roger Sherman, Founding Father and Connecticut Representative who drafted the Tenth Amendment. (Yale University Art Gallery) Amendment Ten to the Constitution was ratified on December 15, 1791. It makes clear that any powers that are not specifically given to the federal government, nor withheld from the states, are reserved to those respective states, … Continue reading “Constitutional Amendments” Series – Amendment X – “Rights to the States or to the People”

Steel engraving of the "Old City Hall" in New York City, where the Bill of Rights was proposed before the 1st United States Congress, 1855. (New York Public Library) Amendment Nine to the Constitution was ratified on December 15, 1791. It clarifies that the document is not a comprehensive list of every right of the … Continue reading “Constitutional Amendments” Series – Amendment IX – “Enumerated Rights of the People”

18th century illustration of Antoine François Desrues facing torture before his execution in 1777. (National Library of France) Amendment Eight to the Constitution was ratified on December 15, 1791. It forbids the use of excessive bails or fines in criminal trials, as well as punishments considered to be “cruel and unusual.” The original text is … Continue reading “Constitutional Amendments” Series – Amendment VIII – “Freedom from excessive bail, fines, and cruel punishments.”

Portrait of Joseph Story, the first Supreme Court Justice to write an opinion on the Seventh Amendment. Painted by George Peter Alexander Healy. (Cornell Law School - Legal Information Institute) Amendment Seven to the Constitution was ratified on December 15, 1791. It protects the right for citizens to have a jury trial in federal courts … Continue reading “Constitutional Amendments” Series – Amendment VII – “The Right to Jury Trial in Civil Affairs”