Alice Paul and other suffragettes sewing stars onto the flag of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage, c. 1920. (Library of Congress) Amendment 19 to the Constitution was ratified on August 18, 1920. It prohibits all levels of government in the United States from restricting the right to vote based on sex, which in so … Continue reading “Constitutional Amendments” Series – Amendment XIX – “Votes for Men and Women”
Archived copy of "The New York Times" reporting on the states voting for the Nineteenth Amendment, prompting its formal ratification, 1919. (Public Domain) Amendment Eighteen to the Constitution was ratified on January 16, 1919. Its legal provisions brought about the Prohibition Era of the United States. The official text is written as such: After one … Continue reading “Constitutional Amendments” Series – Amendment XVIII – “The Beginning of Prohibition”
Detail of "Puck" cartoon satirizing wealthy figures using their money and influence to take Senatorial positions in Congress, 1890. (Public Domain) Amendment Seventeen to the Constitution was ratified on April 8, 1913. It overrides the previous Constitution’s provisions on the election of senators, changing it so that they are elected directly by the voting public … Continue reading “Constitutional Amendments” Series – Amendment XVII – “Direct Election of Senators”
"Puck" political cartoon satirizing Theodore Roosevelt passing his presidential policies to William Howard Taft. As the next president, Taft would continue to advance Roosevelt's progressive angle to political decision making, including income taxes and the future Sixteenth Amendment, 1909. (Public Domain) Amendment Sixteen to the Constitution was ratified on February 3, 1913. It grants Congress … Continue reading “Constitutional Amendments” Series – Amendment XVI – “Income Taxes”
"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”
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