Don't Know Much About History, Anniversary Edition: Everything You Need to Know About American History but Never Learned (Don't Know Much About®) (100 page)

The amendment prohibits anyone from suing a state in federal court without the state’s consent. It amended Section 2 of Article II, which seemed to provide that a state could be sued in federal court by citizens of its own state or citizens of a different state. The amendment applies only to suits brought by individuals. It does not affect the right of the federal government to sue a state or one state to sue another. The immunity from suit in federal court also does not apply to subdivisions of the state, so a citizen may sue a city, county, school board, or other municipal entity.

Amendment Twelve

Sets the manner of choosing the president and vice president.

[Proposed in 1803; ratified in 1804.]

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;—The president of the Senate shall, in presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;—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 vote 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 chose 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.] 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. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice President of the United States. [Bracketed portion was superseded by Section 3 of Amendment Twenty in 1933.]

In American presidential elections, a voter does not actually vote for the candidate, but casts his ballot for a group of presidential electors, known as a “slate,” selected by the various political parties in the state, who are pledged to that party’s candidate. (For more, see Appendix 2, “Is the Electoral College a Party School?”) The number of electors in each state is equal to the combined total of senators and representatives in the House from that state. In the winner-take-all system of American presidential elections, the state’s electors go to the winner of the popular vote in the state, no matter how close the vote. This is what makes it possible, as in the 2000 election of George Bush, for the president to be elected by a minority of the popular vote. This has happened twice before in American history. The first time, in 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes won over Samuel J. Tilden with a minority vote (see p. 661). And in 1888, William Harrison beat Grover Cleveland with a minority of the popular vote.

(
Amendments Thirteen, Fourteen, and Fifteen are known as the Reconstruction Amendments. See p. 246, “What was Reconstruction?”)

Amendment Thirteen

Abolishes slavery.

[Proposed by Congress in January 1865; ratified in December 1865.]

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

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

This amendment outlawed slavery in America. In recent times, the amendment has been raised in other contexts, such as “peonage,” in which a debtor is held to work off a debt. However, the military draft is not considered involuntary servitude, nor is requiring welfare recipients to work. Some students who object to compulsory community service have raised this amendment as an argument, but all courts have so far rejected that claim.

Amendment Fourteen

Extends citizenship to former slaves.

[Proposed by Congress in June 1866; ratified in July 1868.]

Section 1

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.

2. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States;

3. nor shall any States deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;

4. nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protections of the laws.

[Sections 2, 3, and 4 of this amendment, which dealt with issues relating to the Civil War, are now obsolete.]

Section 5

The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

First, and most important, this amendment declared that Negroes were citizens and created national citizenship independent of state citizenship. This was a repudiation of the famed
Dred Scott
decision of 1857 (see p. 210). All children born in the United States are citizens except those of enemy aliens in wartime and children of foreign diplomats. (Children born to American citizens abroad are also American citizens by birth, under a law passed in 1934.)

Clause 2, the “privileges and immunities” clause, means that rights that come with U.S. citizenship may not be abridged by the states.

Clause 3, the “due process” clause, means that the law must not be arbitrary and must be conducted with fairness. It has been the subject of more Supreme Court cases than any other.

Clause 4 is mostly concerned with discriminatory laws of a state against any group and was originally designed to eliminate discrimination because of race or color. This clause was the basis for much of the decision in
Brown v. Board of Education
(1954), which ruled that segregation deprives people of equal opportunities (see p. 424).

Section 5 provided the constitutional authority under which the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s were passed. These laws outlawed racial discrimination in a wide variety of areas including employment, schools, public facilities, housing, and real estate.

Amendment Fifteen

Gives black males the vote.

[Proposed by Congress in February 1869; ratified in February 1870.]

Section 1

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

Section 2

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

Often called the most important right of all, the right to vote is the citizen’s voice in electing people who will ensure his other rights. This amendment outlawed the denial of the right to vote based on race or color. The right applied to all state, local, and party primary elections. (Of course, sex was another question that would not be solved until the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920.)

Amendment Sixteen

Authorizes income taxes.

[Proposed by Congress in July 1909; ratified in February 1913.]

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.

It is safe to say that this is everybody’s least favorite amendment, but it made one of life’s two proverbial certainties—the other being death, of course—fully constitutional. The first income tax was imposed during the Civil War. In 1895, the Supreme Court ruled that income taxes were unconstitutional. This amendment was adopted to overcome that ruling and permits Congress to place direct taxes on income from all sources.

Amendment Seventeen

Provides for direct election of senators.

[Proposed by Congress in May 1912; ratified in April 1913.]

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.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State 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 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.

Prior to ratification of this amendment, U.S. senators were chosen by state legislatures under Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution. The amendment also provides for appointments by the governor of a state in which a vacancy occurs because of death or resignation.

Amendment Eighteen

Prohibits liquor.

[Proposed by Congress in December 1917; ratified in January 1919.]

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.

2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent 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 to the States by the Congress.

The historic ban on liquor that began the period in American history known as Prohibition was overwhelmingly approved in the state legislatures. It was adopted by all the states except Connecticut and Rhode Island.

The Eighteenth Amendment and Prohibition were then repealed by ratification of Amendment Twenty-one in 1933.

Amendment Nineteen

Establishes nationwide vote for women.

[Proposed by Congress in June 1919; ratified in August 1920.]

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 sex.

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

Although ratified, this amendment was rejected by the following states: Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Virginia. While it guaranteed the vote to women, states could enact their own voting requirements. The amendment also did not require states to allow women to serve on juries or be eligible for public office. All states have since permitted women to serve on juries and serve in public office.

Amendment Twenty

Establishes terms of assuming office for president, vice president, and Congress.

[Proposed by Congress in March 1932; ratified in January 1933.]

1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.

2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.