Congress of the United States begun and held at the City of New-York, on Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine. THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.
RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all, or any of which Articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution; viz.
Article the first After the first enumeration required by the first article of the Constitution, there shall be one Representative for every thirty thousand, until the number shall amount to one hundred, after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall be not less than one hundred Representatives, nor less than one Representative for every forty thousand persons, until the number of Representatives shall amount to two hundred; after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall not be less than two hundred Representatives, nor more than one Representative for every fifty thousand persons.
Article the second No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.
Article the third Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Article the fourth A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Article the fifth No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Madison also wanted the original Bill of Rights inserted into the original articles in the Constitution at appropriate points. Congress decided to add them all, at the end of the document, as a list of amendments. Toggle navigation. Another item that Madison proposed was making sure at least three of the liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights applied to all states. Madison also wanted to clearly spell out that each branch of government had clear, distinct roles.
Neither of these items made it through the congressional review process. But Madison felt strongly enough about the separation of powers clause that he wanted it as the new Article VII in the Constitution. This rationale was backed by the decision of the case Coleman v. Miller which decided that unless a proposed amendment specified a ratification deadline, it would be open inevitably. Thus, Amendment Twenty-Seven, clarifying that Congressional salaries would not go into effect until the beginning of the next set of terms, was enacted years after it was first proposed.
This group of Amendments are referred to as the " Reconstruction Amendments ," as they were adopted in the aftermath of the United States Civil War. These amendments were monumental, because where the Bill of Rights protected the people from the federal government, Amendments 13, 14, and 15 protected them from the government of their states. The Thirteenth Amendment to the U. Constitution ended slavery in the United States. Although President Abraham Lincoln 's executive order, the Emancipation Proclamation , freed slaves in the Confederate States during the war, it did not go as far as to outlaw slavery and involuntary servitude entirely.
Until the amendment was enacted, they weren't yet free men and women. When Amendment Thirteen was adopted, making slavery illegal in the United States, it became the first new Amendment to be adopted in 60 years. However, it didn't end the issues in the states, a series of " Black Codes" were introduced, mainly in the South, forcing Congress to add two more amendments.
Even though the Emancipation Proclamation had freed the slaves, and the Thirteenth Amendment had secured their freedom, many individuals and organizations throughout the United States continued to treat Black Americans as if they didn't belong, like the color of their skin continued to make them inferior regardless of their new Constitutional liberties. This is because they were emancipated, but not yet full citizens.
The Fourteenth Amendment was enacted as a direct response to the serious issues free black men and women were facing under the "Black Codes. Sandford stated that slaves were neither protected by the Constitution, nor were they U. As it turned out, this historic case went down in history as the worst Supreme Court decision ever made, and the Citizenship Clause reversed the Dred Scott Decision declaring that all persons born or naturalized in the United States, regardless of race or ethnicity, would be citizens.
The Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause were in the same vein, protecting the rights of life, liberty, and property of all United States citizens. Under the Black Codes, newly free men and women had no guarantee that their property wouldn't be seized or that they would not be arrested on arbitrary grounds.
The Due Process Clause gave them the confidence that they too were protected by the Constitution, and the Equal Protection Clause ensured equal protection under the laws of the state. The last of the Reconstruction Amendments, The Fifteenth Amendment Proposed February 26, ; Adopted February 3, gave all male citizens of the United States, regardless of "race, color, or previous condition" of servitude the right to vote.
Constitution gave Congress the right to collect income tax without basing it on population. This Amendment has been the target of a great deal of criticism over the last years, but these objections haven't stood up in court.
So, the Sixteenth Amendment will most likely be around for many years to come. The Eighteenth Amendment Proposed December 18, ; Adopted January 16, effectively outlawed the alcohol industry. Once the amendment was adopted, nobody could buy, sell, or manufacture alcoholic drinks; but that didn't mean they couldn't drink it.
It was called Prohibition , one of the most peculiar times in American history. These groups managed to convince the federal government of the "corruption" of the sale of alcohol, explaining it as a cause of the rise of domestic violence and saloon inspired political corruption. Support for Prohibition was strongest in the South, where conservative Christianity played a large role.
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