Later Amendments to the Constitution
Extending rights to all citizens of the United States
Read EVERYTHING and follow the directions carefully to both complete your assignment and ESCAPE the website!
Why not all the amendments?
There are a total of 27 amendments to the Constitution. While all of them play a part in our country's history and development, in civics we are going to specifically look at ones that helped extend rights to more people. Imagine if we played a board game in class, but I only allowed 5 people to play. Would the rest of you be participating? Would you be paying attention to what was happening in the game?
In the beginning of our country, not all people could participate in government. You had to be a white male, wealthy enough to own property, and at least 21 years old . Over the course of the following amendments, more and more people got to participate in government.
The Civil War Amendments
Amendment 13-- An end to Slavery
Towards the end of the civil war, the United States ratified the 13th amendment to the Constitution, which ended most slavery in the United States. It reads:
"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..."
This means that no slavery can exist in the United States unless it is punishment for a criminal.
With the passage of the 13th amendment, some celebrated, while others tried to figure out a way to still keep former slaves and African Americans out of government. Many African Americans were denied the basic rights of citizenship, despite being free from slavery. This prompted Congress to propose more amendments to further protect the rights of citizens.
Amendment 14-- Defining Citizenship and Extending Protections
We have already spent time working with the 14th amendment, remember? Let's look at what it says:
"Section 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. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
Remember this? We used it to define citizenship in the beginning of the year. It says that you are a United states citizen if you were born or naturalized in the United States. It also says that as a citizen, no state can pass laws that take away your rights, take your rights without due process, or fail to equally protect all citizens.
What does citizenship have to do with extending rights?
By ratifying the 14th amendment, the Unites States gave instant citizenship to all former slaves AND legally required states to treat them the same way they would treat any other citizen in their state by providing equal protection and due process.
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15th Amendment-- African American Men's Right to Vote
Despite the 14th amendment extending many rights to those who previously did not have them, the right to vote was still only held by white men. Even though after the 14th amendment, black Americans were considered citizens, many states still denied them the right to vote. So, Congress proposes the 15th amendment, which reads:
"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 race, color, or previous condition of servitude. "
This means that no state can tell someone that they can't vote because they are a certain race, a certain color, or because they used to be a slave. This grants African American men the right to vote.
OKAY TIME TO WRITE!
Fill in the description of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments on your graphic organizer. Then, click on the right that is guaranteed by the 5th amendment and extended by the 14th amendment to escape to the next page!