Important Constitutional Amendments

Emancipation Proclamation

During the Civil War, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. This freed the slaves in the Confederate States that were not under Union control. Although it did not immediately free all the slaves. It set the groundwork for the Thirteenth Amendment.

14th Amendment

The 14th amendment is a very important amendment that defines what it means to be a US citizen and protects certain rights of the people. There are three important "clauses" in the 14th amendment, each of which are still important today. A clause is a sentence in any part of our constitution.

15th Amendment

The 15th amendment protects the rights of Americans to vote in elections to elect their leaders. Specifically, it confirms the right to vote and lists conditions that are illegal to deny another person the right to vote. Any American cannot be denied the right to vote, based on race, color or being a former slave.

19th Amendment

The 19th amendment is a very important amendment to the constitution as it gave women the right to vote in 1920. You may remember that the 15th amendment made it illegal for the federal or state government to deny any US citizen the right to vote. For some reason, this did not apply to women. The 19th amendment changed this by making it illegal for any citizen, regardless of gender, to be denied the right to vote.

13th Amendment

The Thirteenth Amendment made slavery illegal in the United States. It was adopted as part of the Constitution on December 6, 1865.

Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment

This part of the fourteenth amendment states that there may be no discrimination against them by the law. The federal government enforces this protection on the states, ensuring that they do not. Remember that the Bill of Rights protects some rights for Americans. The equal protection clause extended this protection to the state governments. This clause of the 14th amendment would later be used to end discrimination and segregation in the South.

Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment

the citizenship clause gives individual born in the United States, but especially at that time, African Americans the right to citizenship. Before the 14th amendment, African Americans could not become citizens and this limited the rights of those that were able to escape slavery and become free. Once you have American citizenship, it cannot be taken from you by Congress or other authorities, unless you lie to government during the process to get US citizenship. Otherwise, everyone that becomes an American citizen stays an American citizen, unless they give it up themselves.

Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment

the due process clause protects the 1st amendment rights of the people and prevents those rights from being taken away by any government without "due process." Due process is a trial by jury for all people accused of wrongdoing. Although you may think the 1st amendment already protects these rights, the 14th amendment specially enforces the Bill of Rights on the states, to make sure that they can never limit the rights of Americans without fairness.