Hunter Meadows

Unit 2 Summative Project

To formally amend the constitution you must first propose the amendment. Then you
must get the amendment ratified. Congress must pass or revise legislation, and they don't
actually amend it, they just change how we interpret it. The supreme court has changed the
meaning of the constitution in the case election of Bush V. Bore, instead of using the peoples
vote, the supreme court had a 5 to 4 vote which declared Bush president. The english bill of
rights is similar to the American bill of rights, because they both address the fact of cruel and
unusual punishment, the ability to form a peaceful petition, and the right to bear arms.
Changes were made to the Constitution with the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. They
are part of the reconstruction era that addressed the equality that america should have. The 13th
abolished slavery, the 14th gave african americans citizenship, and the 15th gave them the right
to vote. These extended civil rights to all minorities including african americans. The 14th
amendment says that no state should deny any person within its jurisdiction their equal
protection of laws.
The 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th amendments are all part of the reconstruction era also. The
goal was to eliminate the corruption in the government. It also established further means of direct
democracy. The argument for electing senators directly is more democratic by letting the people
decide. The argument against would be the people electing senators would be more educated of
knowing what to look for in a senator. The people in the time of the progressive era wanted to
improve america in a democratic sense.
The 15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th amendments are all about the right to vote. The 15th gives
african americans the right to vote, the 19th gives women the right to vote, the 24th eliminated

the poll tax, and the 26th lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 because of the war. Suffrage was
extended to african americans and women because they wanted to be seen as equal to everyone
else. It was extended to 18 year olds because they thought if they could fight for our country then
they should have the right to vote.
The 12th, 20th, 22nd, 23rd, and 25th amendments all deal with presidential elections,
terms, and succession to address changing historical circumstances. The 12th states that the
electoral college elects the president and vice-president together. The 20th changed the
inauguration date of congress and president to january. The 22nd limits the terms per president to
two terms. The 23rd allows for DC to vote for the president. The 25th extends the line of
presidential succession. Previously, the top two presidential candidates would become the
president and the vice president. That no longer works because of the rise of political factions.
Now the president and vice president are both part of the same political party.
The lame duck amendment says that whenever a new president is elected, the congress of
that successor must meet, but before the successor's term begins. It is needed to shorten the
period of time in election. The desire to limit the terms of the president came from president
Washington and thats how presidents thought it should be because there would be little to no
change in government as a whole. The two term limit sets a time limit on the president to get
what they need done. DC previously did not have the right to vote but the 23rd amendment gave
them rights as if they were a state. The first time the 25th amendment was used was in 1973,
when Nixon nominated Ford to fill vacancy left by vice president Agnew.
The 11th, 21st, and 27th amendments address all unique historical circumstances. The
11th says that a state can sue another state with the permission of that state's judicial system. The
21st repealed the prohibition act of the 18th amendment. The 27th amendment says that if

congress approves of pay raise then it will not take effect until the next term. Citizens are limited
to filing lawsuits for their state of residents because different states have different laws within
them. The 18th amendment was supposed to take away alcohol which they thought would
decrease crime. Instead it increased crime and the way of illegally made alcohol. The 21st
amendment removed the 18th amendment because they were better off with alcohol being legal.
Postponing congressional pay raises is beneficial because they can't give themselves a raise
whenever they want. This allows people to prove they deserve the raise.
The 1st amendment gives people the freedom of religion, speech, press, the right to
assemble, and to petition. Individual freedoms to americans takes away the power of the
government to arrest someone for doing something they feel is right. The government helps us
protect our civil liberties by keeping us safe which is also maintaining order so we don't collapse
from within.
The 2nd amendment says that we have the right to bear arms. The argument for strict
gun control is that it is not necessary for someone to have guns because they can kill anyone at
any time. The argument against strict gun control laws is people need to protect themselves if
needed. The 3rd says that the government cannot force military people to live in a citizens home
during time of peace.

The 4th amendment says that everyone's home is secure from unreasonable search and
seizure from government. That means that police would need a warrant to search your house.
Probable cause is when there is enough evidence and reasonable suspicion is where there is
evidence that they can make a conclusion that a crime is being committed. There are a couple of
exceptions of the warrant requirement of the 4th amendment. If someone is already arrested, the
police have the right to search around them or if police can visually see the evidence, they can

take the evidence without a warrant. Also, a person could give their consent to search. If
evidence is obtained illegally, it cannot be used because in the trial. The 4th amendment
protections are different for students and schools. The president or head of the school can search
you because its within their property, but the police cannot search you until someone has found
something wrong first.
The 5th amendment guarantees the right to a grand jury, forbids double jeopardy and
protects against self incrimination. The 5th amendment protects people from arbitrary
government actions by saying there is no double jeopardy. The 6th amendment guarantees the
rights of criminal defendants including the right to a trial, to a lawyer, to an impartial jury, and to
know who your accusers are. The 6th amendment gives them a right to a public trial so the
government can't hold anything secretly against them. Also, it gives them a lawyer so they don't
have to defend themselves. A public trial is fair because it can be seen by anyone. This keeps the
court from doing anything against its own rules.
The 7th amendment says that a person must be tried under a jury and not just the judge.
The 8th amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. The 8th amendment makes sure the
government cant torture someone or fine someone more than they deserve.The 9th amendment
says the enumeration in the constitution of certain rights should not be construed to deny or
disparage others retained by the people. The 10th amendment is about federalism which says the
federal government possesses only those powers delegated by it by the states or the people.
For the 4th amendment, the police must have a warrant to search you, and any evidence
found illegally without a warrant cannot be used in the courts. The 5th amendment makes it so
that the police cannot make you self-incriminate yourself or make you admit to doing something,
and it applies to the court because they cannot call double jeopardy. The 6th amendment makes

sure that the police must tell you who is accusing you, and it makes the court have to have a
public trial. The 8th amendment makes it so the police cannot put cruel or unusual punishments
on you, and the courts cannot put excessive fines on you.
Majority rules is a decision rule that selects alternatives which have a majority, that is,
more than half the votes. Minority rights are the normal individual rights as applied to members
of racial, ethnic, class, religious, linguistic or sexual minorities