XVII Amendment

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.

The seventeenth amendment gave the each State, its own preference in election rather than having the state legislatures elect Senators. This was also a response to the scandals in elections and ties, which caused delay in the Senators taking seat.

This illustration displays the cycle of how state legislatures were to represent the People and elect the corresponding Senators, pre-seventeenth amendment.

This commentator informs people of some history involved with the seventeenth amendment as well as his position on its content.

XVI Amendment

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.


The sixteenth amendment provided Congress the power to impose an income tax to the States.




This comic hit the nail on the head with the IRS going to extremes to get our money!

 

 This is a clever depiction of what is likely for my generation in terms of where our social security tax is going.

XV Amendment

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 State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Section 2.

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

By the fifteenth amendment, no citizen of the U.S. can be denied their right to vote because of their color. This was a big step in the right direction for our country, although many more steps were required to gain equality.

Here a black man is given the liberty to vote, under the fifteenth amendment.

I think this is a witty depiction of blacks overcoming obstacles to vote.

XIV Amendment

Section 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. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2.

Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. 

Section 3.

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.   

Section 4.

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5.   

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

Making blacks citizens was a big point in the fourteenth amendment. It did away with the Three-Fifths Compromise in 1787, under Article 1 of the Constitution. This amendment enabled states to deny those convicted of a felony their right to vote. It also said that anyone from the South, involved in the Civil War, could not serve for his country.

 

This scale is symbolic of how blacks were not considered "whole" persons before the fourteenth amendment.

Here is an nice play on a felon's ability to vote.

XIII Amendment

Section 1.

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

Section 2.

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

The thirteenth amendment emancipated the slaves and abolished slavery, except as consequence for a crime.





Not very realistic, but in it's humor the actors do draw some parallels to the abolition of slavery.

I thought this was an interesting thought-that President Lincoln possibly freed the slaves with the thirteenth amendment, to fight for him in the Civil War.

XII Amendment

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 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 the 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 votes 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 choose 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.^[1]

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.

The twelfth amendment ensures that the Vice President has the same qualifications as the President in order to be elected. It was instituted to avoid future ties in the number of electoral votes as was the case in the election of 1800.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z1O4CPZouQ (the embed was disabled for this video)


I thought this was a funny debate between "Thomas Jefferson" and "Aaron Burr".


 


This video explains how the election of 1800 was handled after the tie between Jefferson and Burr.

XI Amendment

The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State. 

The eleventh amendment gives each state the authority to avoid being sued in federal court by citizens, while also maintaining the ability to waive this right if they choose.






In Tennessee v Lane, the disabled plaintiffs were pressing for public access to the courthouse, given their circumstances. I think this cartoon depicts and interesting take on what was going on in Tennessee.







Here is another comical reference to the Tennessee v Lane case. Although, the court did end up giving the disabled the right to go against the state of Tennessee.