Adding to the Bill of Rights Protecting Our Rights Adding to the Bill of Rights Unit 2 Lesson 2

Bill of Rights Adding New Amendments Over time new amendments were added to the Constitution These additions were needed due to circumstances that were happening at the time Each new addition was created to help insure the safety of our rights as American citizens or to help make sure that the running of the government goes smoothly

Bill of Rights Adding New Amendments The next 2 amendments were added to insure that the government ran smoothly 11th Amendment: States cannot be sued by the federal government, other states, or foreign countries this was created to keep other governments out of the business of the states and allow them to run their government and not have their power taken from them 12th Amendment: Election of the president and the vice- president created the system that we use today to vote for our president

Bill of Rights Adding New Amendments The next 3 amendments were added as a response to the end of the Civil War and to deal with a whole new population of American citizens 13th Amendment: Ends slavery in every state makes all kinds of slavery illegal, frees all the slaves in America 14th Amendment: Citizenship granted to African Americans all former slaves are now seen as American citizens 15th Amendment: Voting rights for African American males all African American males of the proper age could now vote in elections

Bill of Rights Adding New Amendments Amendments 16 thru 27 are a mixture of protecting our rights and helping to establish ways to keep our government running 16th Amendment: Allows Congress the power to pass income tax laws and to collect taxes creates the Federal Income tax 17th Amendment: Allows direct election of Senators by the people of that state protects the peoples’ right to have a choice in who represents them 18th Amendment: Bans making, selling, using or having alcohol; also known as Prohibition was created to help protect America’s moral character

Bill of Rights Adding New Amendments 19th Amendment: Gives women the right to vote 20th Amendment: Sets official dates for Congress to begin, sets official date for the next president to take office (Jan. 20th) creates a clear definition of when the office will be taken over by the newest president 21st Amendment: Repealed the 18th and made having, selling, making and using liquor legal again 22nd Amendment: Limits the president’s term in office to 2 keeps anyone from being in power too long and creating a potential monarchy situation 23rd Amendment: Allows citizens in Washington, DC to vote in national elections

Bill of Rights Adding New Amendments 24th Amendment: Ends poll taxes in federal elections making it illegal for states to make people pay to vote and in the end denying them the right to vote because they couldn’t pay 25th Amendment: Identifies who would fill the position of president and vice-president if both leave the office or become disabled 26th Amendment: Sets the voting age at 18 in all states before this amendment, states set the age so there was not enough consistency 27th Amendment: Says that any pay raise Congress votes on for itself will not take place until the next Congressional election

Analyzing Political Cartoons