US History
Fort Burrows
8.3 -- Changing the Constitution
READ pgs 258 - 261
Main Idea:
The formal amendment process has allowed changes to be made in the Constitution.
Vocabulary:
First Amendment – amendment that safeguards basic individual liberties
including freedom of religion, speech, and the press
Second Amendment – amendment that relates to the right to bear arms
incriminate – to give evidence against
civil – lawsuit involving the private rights of individuals, as opposed to criminal
Civil War Amendments – 13th, 14th, & 15th Amendments abolishing slavery,
guaranteed citizenship to former slaves, and gave
African American men the right to vote
Nineteenth Amendment – guarantee to US women, in 1920, the right to vote
Twenty-sixth Amendment – amendment that lowered the minimum voting age
from 21 to 18
Setting the Scene:
“My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total.” The speaker
was Barbara Jordan, the 1st African American elected to Congress from Texas. In her
rich voice, Jordan reminded her listeners of the words of the Constitution:
“When that document was completed, on the seventeenth of September
in 1787, I was not included in that We, the people… But through the
process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision I have finally
been included in We, the people…”
Barbara Jordan
Jordan lived in a different world from that of the framers of the Constitution.
They did not know how the nation would change. But they knew it would change and
that the Constitution would have to change with it. They created a formal amendment
process to allow the nation to deal with issues they could not have foreseen.
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html
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US History
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The Amendment Process
 framers did NOT want to make it easy to change the Constitution
 complex amendment process which may take months/years to complete
 Article V outlines two ways to propose an amendment:
1. By 2/3 of both House and Senate
2. By a national convention called by Congress at the request of 2/3 of state
legislatures (never been used)
 amendment may be ratified in one of two ways:
1. approved by legislatures in 3/4 of states (every Amendment except 21st)
2. approved by special conventions in 3/4 of states
¿¿ Explain the process for changing the Constitution…
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The Bill of Rights
 Congress drafted a series of amendments in 1789 and sent to states for approval
 The first 10 amendments, known as the Bill of Rights in 1791:
Protecting
Individual
Liberties
First Amendment –
Protects individual liberties - religion, speech, press, assemble
peacefully, petition gov’t to change policies
Protecting
Against
Abuse of
Power
Second Amendment –
Keep and bear arms; maintain a militia
Protecting
Rights of the
Accused
Fifth Amendment –
Cannot force people to incriminate themselves
Third Amendment –
Citizens do not have to house troops
Fourth Amendment –
No unlawful searches of home or property
Sixth Amendment –
Right to speedy and public trial
Seventh Amendment –
Provides for juries for civil trials
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Eighth Amendment –
Forbids judges from ordering excessive bail or fines or cruel
punishments
General
Rights
Ninth Amendment –
Citizens rights are not limited to those in Constitution
Tenth Amendment –
All powers not given to the national gov’t or denied to states are
reserved for the states or the people
¿¿ What rights are guaranteed in the Bill of Rights ?
1. ____________________________________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________________________________
3. ____________________________________________________________________
4. ____________________________________________________________________
5. ____________________________________________________________________
6. ____________________________________________________________________
7. ____________________________________________________________________
8. ____________________________________________________________________
9. ____________________________________________________________________
10. ___________________________________________________________________
Later Amendments
 Constitution has only been amended 17 times since the Bill of Rights (1791)
 Civil War Amendments
- 13th abolished slavery
- 14th guaranteed citizenship to former slaves
- 15th cannot deny vote to any citizen based on race, color or previous servitude
condition – guaranteed African Americans the right to vote
 Nineteenth Amendment – gave women the right to vote in 1920
 Twenty-sixth Amendment – lowered voting age from 21 to 18 in 1971
"Old enough to fight, old enough to vote" was the rallying cry for lowering the voting
age to eighteen. First proposed in 1942, the change took effect during the Vietnam
War era, with the Voting Rights Act of 1970 and the Twenty-sixth Amendment
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1. How can the Constitution be amended ?
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2. How did later amendments expand democratic rights ?
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3. Which of the grievances against England listed in the Declaration of Independence
was later addressed in the Bill of Rights ?
A.
B.
C.
D.
“… depriving us, in many cases, of the benefit of trial by jury”
“… imposing taxes on us without our consent”
“… cutting off our trade with all parts of the world”
“… suspending our own legislature”
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