Eleanor Finch
The United States Constitution has been amended 27 times since it was drafted in 1787, including the first 10 amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, which were ratified in 1791. The process of amending the Constitution is outlined in Article V of the Constitution and requires a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Amendments are proposed to address major issues affecting all Americans or to secure the rights of citizens. The amendments to the Constitution have transformed the country in critical ways, such as granting voting rights to Black men and women, enacting and repealing Prohibition, abolishing poll taxes, and lowering the minimum voting age.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of amendments since 1787 | 27 |
| First 10 amendments | Adopted in 1791 as the Bill of Rights |
| Amendments passed this century | Gave women the right to vote; enacted and repealed Prohibition; abolished poll taxes; lowered the minimum voting age from 21 to 18 |
| Recent amendment proposals | Outlaw flag burning; voluntary school prayer; make English the official language; abolish the Electoral College |
| Amendments that failed | Congressional term limits and a balanced budget amendment |
| Amendments with significant impact | 15th Amendment (1870) ensured voting rights to Black men; 19th Amendment (1920) gave voting rights to women; 16th Amendment (1913) enabled federal income tax; 18th Amendment (1919) prohibited the making, transporting, and selling of alcoholic beverages nationwide; 27th Amendment (1992) prevents members of Congress from granting themselves pay raises during the current session |
| Ratification process | Proposed by Congress with a two-thirds majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the state legislatures; becomes part of the Constitution when ratified by three-fourths of the states (38 of 50 states) |
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What You'll Learn
To secure the rights of citizens
The Constitution of the United States has been amended only 27 times since it was drafted in 1787. The amendments have been made to secure the rights of citizens, among other reasons. The process of amending the Constitution is very difficult and time-consuming. A proposed amendment must be passed by two-thirds of both houses of Congress and then ratified by three-fourths of the states (38 out of 50 states).
One of the most significant amendments to secure the rights of citizens was the Bill of Rights, which included the first ten amendments adopted in 1791. These amendments guaranteed basic freedoms and rights for citizens, such as freedom of speech, religion, and the press, the right to bear arms, and protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Another important amendment that secured the rights of citizens was the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. This amendment was the result of a long and hard-fought struggle by women's suffrage movements and finally ensured that women had an equal voice in the political process.
Other amendments that have secured the rights of citizens include the abolition of poll taxes, which ensured that all citizens, regardless of economic status, could exercise their right to vote without facing financial barriers. The minimum voting age was also lowered from 21 to 18, empowering young people to participate in the democratic process and have their voices heard.
In addition, amendments have been proposed and adopted to address specific issues and secure the rights of citizens in various aspects of life. For example, one amendment outlawed poll taxes, while another repealed Prohibition, demonstrating the flexibility and adaptability of the Constitution to meet the changing needs and values of the American people. Overall, the amendments to the Constitution have played a crucial role in shaping the rights and freedoms enjoyed by citizens in the United States today.
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To reflect changing power dynamics between states and the federal government
The US Constitution has been amended 27 times since it was drafted in 1787. The amendments reflect the changing dynamics between states and the federal government. At the time the Constitution was written, individual state governments were more powerful than the central government. Over time, the federal government expanded and took on a more dominant role, and the balance of power shifted.
The 16th Amendment, passed in 1913, is an example of the changing power dynamics. It removed existing Constitutional constraints that limited Congress's power to lay and collect taxes on income. This amendment overturned an 1895 Supreme Court decision that declared an unapportioned federal income tax on rents, dividends, and interest unconstitutional. The federal government's power to collect income tax was a significant shift in the balance of power between the states and the federal government.
The 18th Amendment, passed in 1919, is another example of the federal government's expanding power. It prohibited the making, transporting, and selling of alcoholic beverages nationwide. This amendment was adopted at the urging of a national temperance movement, which believed that the use of alcohol was reckless and destructive. The federal government's power to regulate alcohol sales was a significant departure from the original Constitution, which gave more power to individual states.
The passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, known as the Reconstruction Amendments, also reflected the changing power dynamics between states and the federal government. These amendments were passed in the wake of the Civil War, which marked the beginning of a new expansion of federal power. The 15th Amendment ensured voting rights for Black men, although Southern states found ways to restrict those rights. While the Reconstruction Amendments expanded the power of the federal government, they also highlighted the ongoing tension between state and federal power in the United States.
The amendments to the Constitution have played a crucial role in shaping the country's governance and reflecting the evolving dynamics between states and the federal government. The balance of power has shifted over time, with the federal government assuming a more dominant role while still navigating the complexities of state rights and representation.
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To address taxation
The 16th Amendment, passed by Congress in 1909 and ratified in 1913, established Congress's right to impose a federal income tax. Before an income tax was established, most federal revenue came from tariffs on domestic and international goods.
The Revenue Act of 1861 introduced the first federal income tax, but it was repealed in 1872. In 1894, Congress enacted a 2% tax on income over $4,000, but this was struck down by the Supreme Court. In 1895, the Supreme Court's Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. decision ruled that Congress could not impose a duty or tax upon personal property or income arising from rents, stocks, investments, etc. without apportioning the sum to be raised among the states according to population.
In the years following the Pollock decision, Congress did not implement another federal income tax, partly due to fears that any tax would be struck down by the Supreme Court. However, the financial requirements of the Civil War prompted the first American income tax in 1861, with Congress placing a flat 3% tax on all incomes over $800. This was later modified to include a graduated tax. After the Civil War, farmers in the south and west suffered from low prices for their products and high prices for manufactured goods, leading to the formation of political organizations like the Grange and the People's (Populist) Party.
By the early 20th century, various groups, including the Populist Party, favoured a progressive income tax at the federal level. Levying a federal income tax became a key goal for progressive groups, who argued that it was fairer for the wealthy to pay for taxes and tariffs rather than the middle class and the poor. Several key Republicans, including former President Theodore Roosevelt, also began to support an income tax as a way to help finance the country's increasing political and military power.
In 1909, progressives in Congress attached a provision for an income tax to a tariff bill. Conservatives proposed a constitutional amendment, believing that an amendment would fail, but this backfired when the amendment was ratified by one state legislature after another. On February 3, 1913, the 16th Amendment was formally accepted into the Constitution, with Secretary of State Philander C. Knox certifying that it had been ratified by the requisite number of states. The Revenue Act of 1913, which lowered tariffs and implemented a federal income tax, was enacted shortly after.
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To grant voting rights
The original U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1787, did not define who was eligible to vote. Instead, it left the issue largely to the states. For much of American history, the right to vote was granted to some but denied to others. However, through a series of amendments, the right to vote has been expanded over time.
The Fifteenth Amendment (1870) was the first amendment to the Constitution that expanded voting rights. It prohibited the federal government and each state from denying or abridging a citizen's right to vote "on account of race, colour, or previous condition of servitude". This amendment was proposed after the election of Ulysses S. Grant to the presidency in 1868, which convinced a majority of Republicans that protecting the franchise of black male voters was important for the party's future. The amendment was ratified on February 3, 1870, as the third and last of the Reconstruction Amendments. It granted the right to vote to all male citizens regardless of their ethnicity or prior slave status.
Despite the significance of the Fifteenth Amendment, it did not grant the right to vote to African Americans but rather prohibited its restriction. In the late 19th and mid-20th centuries, the Supreme Court interpreted the amendment narrowly, and discriminatory practices and laws such as poll taxes, literacy tests, and the activities of the Ku Klux Klan prevented many African Americans in the Southern states from exercising their right to vote.
The Nineteenth Amendment (1920) further expanded voting rights by prohibiting the states from denying the vote on the basis of sex. This amendment culminated a long battle over women's suffrage.
The Twenty-fourth Amendment (1964) sought to remove barriers to voting by prohibiting poll taxes, which had been used in some states to prevent African Americans from voting in federal elections.
The Twenty-sixth Amendment (1971) lowered the voting age for all elections to 18.
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To ensure the document's longevity
The United States Constitution is the world's longest-surviving written constitution, and its authors intended for it to "endure for ages to come". To ensure its longevity, the framers made it a challenging process to amend the document, requiring a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The Constitution has been amended 27 times since it was drafted in 1787, including the first ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, which were ratified in 1791. The process of amending the Constitution is detailed in Article V of the Constitution and requires proposals to be properly ratified before becoming operative. This two-step process was designed to balance the need for change with the need for stability.
The amendments to the Constitution have transformed the document in critical ways, ensuring its relevance and longevity. For example, the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, known as the Reconstruction Amendments, were adopted following the Civil War to address issues related to slavery and voting rights for Black men. The 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, granted voting rights to women, and the 27th Amendment, ratified in 1992, addressed congressional pay raises.
In addition to formal amendments, the Constitution has also been interpreted and applied differently over time through legal rulings. For instance, the balance of power between state and federal governments has shifted, with the federal government expanding its authority through Supreme Court decisions like McCulloch v. Maryland (1823). The passage of the 16th Amendment in 1913 also expanded federal power by granting the government the power to collect income tax.
The longevity of the Constitution can be attributed to its flexibility and adaptability to the changing needs and circumstances of the country. The Founding Fathers recognised the need for this flexibility, as expressed by Virginia delegate Edmund Randolph, who wanted to "insert essential principles only, lest the operations of government should be clogged by rendering those provisions permanent and unalterable, which ought to be accommodated to times and events".
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Frequently asked questions
There have been 27 amendments to the US Constitution since it was first drafted in 1787.
It is very difficult to amend the US Constitution. The Founding Fathers intended the document to be flexible to fit the changing needs of the country, but the process of amendment was designed to be challenging. An amendment must be proposed and then ratified by three-fourths of the states.
The 15th Amendment ensured voting rights for Black men, and the 19th Amendment gave all American women the right to vote. The 18th Amendment prohibited the sale, making, and transportation of alcohol, and the 21st Amendment repealed this. The 16th Amendment gave the government the power to collect income tax.
The US Constitution has been amended to secure the rights of citizens, such as in the case of the voting rights amendments. Amendments have also been made to address issues of taxation, such as the 16th Amendment, and to limit the power of Congress, such as the 27th Amendment, which prevents members of Congress from granting themselves pay raises during the current session.
