1. Amending the Constitution/The Amendments

2. 1-Why did the Framers provide for amending the Constitution?
To adapt to an unknown future
2-What are two methods for proposing an amendment to the
Constitution?
1-2/3 vote in the House and Senate [the only method successfully used to date.]
2-2/3 of the states ask Congress to call a convention. [tried twice]

3. 3-What are the two methods for ratifying an amendment?
1-Legislatures in ¾ of the states can ratify.
2-States hold a special convention and have ¾ ratify it [used once: repeal of the 18th [21st] ]Amendment
4-How long does a proposed amendment have to be ratified?
An amendment has up to seven years to be ratified and then it is dead.

4. 1st Amendment: Guarantees the right to the freedoms of speech, press, assembly and religion and the right to petition the government.
2nd Amendment: Guarantees the people’s right to own and bear arms for their defense.
3rd Amendment: Citizens cannot be forced to quarter soldiers during times of peace.
4th Amendment: Citizens cannot be forced to subject themselves to seizure and search without a warrant.

5. 5th Amendment:
Right not to be deprived of “life, liberty and property” without due process of law.
Protection from self-incrimination and double jeopardy.
Protection from seizure of property without just compensation.
[Eminent Domain]
6th Amendment:
Guarantees fair and speedy trial by an impartial jury and the right to a lawyer.

6. 7th Amendment: The right to a jury trial in non-criminal cases .
8th Amendment: Protects against excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishment.
9th Amendment: Peoples’ rights not restricted to those listed in Amendments 1-8.
10th Amendment: Reserves powers that are not given to the national government under the Constitution, nor prohibited to a State of the U.S., to the people and the States. [Federalism]

7. 13th Amendment: Abolition of slavery.
14th Amendment: States cannot deny any person “life, liberty or property” without due process of the law. Equal protection of the law.
15th Amendment: Extends the vote to African American males.

8. 18th Amendment: Denies the sale and consumption of alcohol.
19th Amendment: Grants women the right to vote.
21st Amendment: Repeals the Eighteenth Amendment. Alcohol is legal again..
26th Amendment: Reserves the right for citizens 18 and older to vote.