Semester 2 Week 11

 Credit: Kami Harris

Black is the actual Constitution (Red is taken from Making of America by Cleon Skousen to help you understand what the Constitution means.)

Amendment XI

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.  This gives each state the right not be sued by citizens of other states without its consent.  

Amendment XII

The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate; Electors voting for the President and the Vice President shall meet in their respective states and shall vote on one ballot for President, and on a separate ballot for Vice President; they shall then send a signed, certified list of the outcome of the balloting to the president of the Senate.  This provision gave electors the right to vote for the President and Vice President separately.  The Twelfth Amendment was designed to correct the deficiencies in the Electoral College system.  Article II, section 1 provided that the electors were invited to vote for “two persons,” without separately designating either of them for President or Vice President.  The idea was that the one who received the most votes would automatically become the President and the second in line would be assigned the office of Vice President.  --The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted; This gives the president of the Senate the right to count the ballots, and it gies the Congress the right to observe the opening of the ballots and the counting of the votes for each candidate.  --The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President.  But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice.  And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President.  This gives the House of Representatives the right to select the President of the United States in case none of the candidates has accumulated a majority of the electoral votes.  As long as there are only two political parties, one of the candidates will receive a majority of the electoral votes.  However, if there were several parties, the House of Representatives might select the President most of the time. --The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice.  This gives the Senate the right to select the Vice President when none of the candidates has a majority of the electoral votes. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.  This gives the American people the right to have a replacement for the President, in case of his loss or removal, who meets all of the constitutional requirements for the office of President.

Amendment XIII

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 This gives every human being living in the United States and its territories the right to be free.  The only exception to this is in the case of a convicted criminal who shall be sentenced to involuntary servitude as part of his punishment.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.  This provision gave the Congress the right to pass whatever legislation was necessary to carry out the provisions of this amendment.

Amendment XIV

1:  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.  This gives every human being born or naturalized in the United States the right to citizenship in both the United States and the state where that person resides.  The only exceptions are children born to foreign diplomats and children born to enemies during wartime occupation. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; This guaranteed every American the right to enjoy all the privileges and prerogatives of all other citizens of the United States.  nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; This guarantees the right of every person (not just citizens) living in the United States and her territories to the protection of life, liberty, and property, none of which can be taken away without due process of law. nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.  This provision guarantees the right to every person (not just citizens) living within a state to the equal protection of laws.

2:  Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, This gives each state the right to have a full count of all persons living within its borders when taking a census of its population.  excluding Indians not taxed.  This provision gave the Indians the right to remain members of their various tribes and nations and not be counted as voting citizens unless they were paying taxes and wished to participate in the voting process.  But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age,  and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.   Females and those eighteen and older may now vote.  This gives each state the right to have all qualified voters in the other states granted the privilege of expressing their choices at the polls.  Should any state violate this provision, it will be penalized by reducing the basis for its representation in Congress.

3:  No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.  But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.  This gives each state and the Union the right to exclude any person from being elected or appointed to public office who had been an official and taken the oath to uphold the Constitution, but had thereafter participated in the rebellion against the Union.  It also gave the Congress the right to remove this disability by a vote of two-thirds.

4:  The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.  This gave any person with claims against the United States as a result of the Civil war the right to payment without question.  But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, This provision gave any person with an obligation incurred by the Confederacy during the rebellion the right to refuse payment on the ground that the claim was unlawful and void. or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.  This gave the United States and the individual states the right to reject any claims by slave owners that they had been deprived of their slaves without “due process,” or without compensation for the same.

5:  The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.   This emphasized the right and responsibility of the Congress to pass whatever laws might be necessary to see that the provisions of this amendment were enforced.  

Note:  Because the fourteenth amendment was poorly written, it has required more legislation and judicial proceedings than any other provision in the Constitution.