Semester 2 Week 12

 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 XV

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged (restricted) by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

This was required in the Constitution because there was wide discrimination among the states against various classes of voters because of race, religion, foreign extraction, or economic status.  Even after this provision, there were various devices employed to discriminate against qualified voters for over another century.

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

Amendment XVI

The Congress shall have 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.   This gave the United States government the right to collect taxes on income in spite of Article 1, section 2, clause 3.  Many believe this form of direct taxation has created a deeper crisis in the American culture than any other form of taxes yet devised.

Amendment XVII

1:  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. This gave the people of each state the right to elect their United States Senators instead of having them appointed by their state legislatures.  (The Founders had assigned the Senate the responsibility of representing the states as sovereign entities, which is why they were appointed by the state legislature rather than being elected directly by the people of the state.)

2:  When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State (the governor) 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 gave each state the right to have any vacancy in the Senate filled by elections or by an appointment by the governor.

3:  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.   

Amendment [XVIII]

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 territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.  This gave the federal government and the states the right to enforce the prohibition of alcoholic liquors for beverage purposes.

2:  The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent (happening together) power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

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.   (This must be ratified in seven years to be valid.)

Credit: Tatiana

America has elected a president who has designs at becoming the Emperor of America. He knows that part of what has kept America free is the first amendment. You are a member of the president’s tzar board and he has gathered you together to determine which of the five freedoms listed in the 1st Amendment will cripple freedom most. He plans to issue an executive order to strike it down and call out the military to enforce it. 

The five freedoms are 

Religion

Press

Assembly

Speech

Petition

Once you pick your freedom you wish to destroy you must come up with five specific reasons as to why you think that this freedom will make the people slaves the most.