1. Amendments 12, 13, 14, & 15 are often referred to as a major turning point in US government policy. Explain the importance of these amendments.
2. Why do you suppose these amendments were passed when they were given how popular white supremacy has been in the US?
3. Describe the amendment from the rest of the list (16-27) that you find most significant and make an argument for why we should consider it especially important.
1 & 2. The 12th amendment is important because it gives us he people the right to choose a president and a vice president. and by choose i mean take part in electing representatives that vote for us in electing a president and vice president. It states the criteria and states in writing the non changing criteria to be president and how one will become or vote for president. The 13th, 14th amendments deal with slavery. the 13th amendment was VERY important because it abolished slavery. At the time of the Civil war slavery was a huge part of why the North and the South had clashed. The passing of the 13th amendment freed all of the slaves and was the result of the North winning the Civil War. Many slaves were freed from their obligation to work but they were still exempt from certain rights in society. The 14th amendment talks about citizenship and states what requirements a person must meet to be a citizen of the United States. It talks about how a person who meets the requirements of being a citizen is given equal rights or as the constitution states "nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." This was very helpful at the time because it should have guaranteed freed slaves equal rights. It was written in the Constitution to show as proof that times were supposed t change and these re the NEW written rules. i guess it was a way of letting everyone know that Lincoln was serious about abolishing slavery and making these amendments to help protect slavery ( arguably) but mostly help protect the US economy. And the 15th amendment guarantees anyone the right to vote regardless of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." One thing that I find contradicting about this amendment is that it talks about race, and color and servitude meaning that slaves can vote but nowhere does it talk about gender. The amendments of the Constitution are supposed to support and protect those of America but here is i excluding rights to women.
3. The amendment that I found very important after the previous mentioned is the 19th amendment. It states that " 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." This amendment gives women the right to vote, and its about time since the 15th amendment had been passed already. This is particularly important to me because the time woman were having a very hard time being respected and being a part of society. they were stripped of respect and of rights because they were women. they were only subject to stereotypical things like cooking and cleaning and the thought of a women voting was crazy to men. Women were thought of as dumb and good for taking care of a home along with making babies. the passing of this amendment gave women the power to be apart of society and vote for something that is considered an American right.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
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