Amendment 27

No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.

This amendment is to ensure that congress can not give itself a raise.


This is a political cartoon of what could happen if the 27th amendment was not adopted in 1994. The amendment ensures that aside from the political implications of changing your pay, especially in a troubled economy, the pay raise that is voted in will not even take effect until after the next election. This discourages any frivolous pay raise bills that could be brought up in congress.


This is a graph of the annual salary for US congressman from 1860 to 2000. The annual salary was increased slightly to match inflation from 1860 to around 1960, but after that the increase in salary was much more agressive.

Amendment 26

Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.


Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

This amendment made the voting age no more than 18 for all states and federal elections. It was adopted in 1971 after veterans where returning from the vietnam war, but where unable to vote.
 

This is a graph of voter turnout since 1972, when 18 year olds where first allowed to vote in the presidential election. Voter turnout for younger groups was very low for the first part of the decade, however it rose significantly in the last election.
 

 
This is a mayor that is talking about the importance of the right to vote for the younger generation. He is opening up for a video that is about to be played in an attempt to "get out the vote". Many 18 year olds take the right ot vote for grantedm but it is important to remember that the right did not always exist, and as citizens it is not only a right but a duty to engage in our political system and voice our opinions.

Amendment 25

Section 1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.


Section 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

Section 3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
Section 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office

This amendment describes the order of succession of the presidency should anything happen to the president and he or she is unable to continue thier duties.

Opinion: Byrd Was Third in Line for the Presidency?
Updated: 162 days 8 hours ago

Special to AOL News (July 1) -- The death of Sen. Robert Byrd at 92 highlights a strange and unsettling fact about the American political system. At the time of his death, the senator -- who had to be gently removed from his perch as Appropriations Committee chairman in 2008 because of his inability to do that job -- stood third in line for the presidency. A decapitating strike at the nation's government that killed or incapacitated the president, vice president and speaker of the House would have put Byrd in the White House.

It is clearly way past time to revisit the line of succession for the nation's leadership.

Having a senator who is barely able to function placed at the front of the line to take over as president in an emergency is not an idea entrenched in the Constitution. Byrd was in the position because he was elected by the Senate to serve as Senate president pro tempore.

The president pro tempore position is the only Senate position mentioned in the Constitution and is viewed as being the highest ranking job in the Senate, though in reality it is ceremonial and given automatically to the longest serving member of the majority party. However, thanks to the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, the president pro tempore follows the vice president and speaker of the House in the line of succession for the presidency.
In the line of presidential succession after President Barack Obama: Vice President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii.The line of presidential succession has been a potential source of concern for years. Most notably, Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., who in 1999 proved unable to serve as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee because of his frailty, held down the job of president pro tempore until the Republicans lost their majority by defection in 2001.

This could just seem like a basic harmless joke, but in the age of high-stakes international terrorism, it is irresponsible to have senators who are clearly not even up to the job of serving as committee chairmen being placed in the position of being president. As we have seen, it is certainly within the realm of possibility that a decapitating terrorist strike could take place and wipe out numerous members of the nation's leadership at once.

It almost happened in the past. On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth and his confederates nearly succeeded in wiping out a good portion of the nation's leadership in one fell swoop, killing President Abraham Lincoln and stabbing and seriously wounding Secretary of State William Seward. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was supposed to be killed with Lincoln, but he changed his plans and did not attend the play. Vice President Andrew Johnson's assassin lost his nerve and spent the night drinking in a hotel lobby.

The presidential succession has been changed several times in the past.

•In the original law, in place from 1792 to 1886, the president pro tempore was second in line, before the speaker, for the presidency.

•In 1886, Congress decided to change the law after events over the course of two decades that included two assassinated presidents, two vice presidents who died of natural causes, and the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson, who would have been replaced by President Pro Tempore Ben Wade, who was also sitting in judgment of Johnson. The new succession law placed the Cabinet members, starting with the secretary of state, first in line for succession.

•The law was changed back in 1947, though with the switch of putting the speaker of the House before the Senate president pro tempore.

These changes had their positives and negatives. Some people, including the Continuity of Government Commission, feel that the Cabinet members should be first in line, as it would ensure that the president's party does not lose power in case of a major tragedy and it would ward off possible questions of who is in charge. Others believe that the congressional leaders should be at the top of the list, because they are elected -- a view held by Harry Truman.

There are valid arguments both ways, but the most important point should be that the person who takes control be fully functional and able to step up to the leadership in a time of great crisis. Whatever his considerable skills earlier in life, by the end Robert Byrd, like Strom Thurmond before, would not have been able to meet that challenge.

There are some easy solutions to the problem. We can change the succession back to the old system of Cabinet members first. Alternatively, Congress can copy what a number of states do and couple the Senate president pro tempore with the Senate majority leader position, ensuring that the true head of the Senate, a presumably fully capable person that the senators selected to lead them, would be the person in line for the job.

What's clear is that action is needed to make sure that in a time of crisis, the president is someone who is fully alert and able to take control.

No reason to rush, though. Sen. Byrd has been succeeded by the spry Democratic senator from Hawaii, Daniel Inouye. He's only 86
This article describes some possible drawbacks of the current order of presidential succession. While the event of the president, vice president, and speaker of the House being killed at one time is a very, very unlikely scenario, this author seems to think that if it where to happen it would leave the presidency to some not so qualified people.
 

 
This is a picture of the current presidential succession.
 

Amendment 24

Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

This amendment bans congress from requiring any sort of poll tax in order for a citizen to vote. Before this amendment poll taxes where a way to marginalize and exclude groups of people without violating any other part of the constitution.



This cartoon illustrates how poll taxes were used to exclude certain groups and influence elections.


Some controversy that occurs over this amendment is whether or not having to show a drivers license at the polls counts as a poll tax since you have to pay the state for it, and it technically belongs to the state. While the price is not much, forcing someone to present something that they paid the state for in order to vote could fall under a definition of a poll tax as described in this amendment.

Amendment 23

Section 1. The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct:


A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least populous State; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the States, but they shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors appointed by a State; and they shall meet in the District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article using appropriate legislation.

This amendment gave the District of Columbia the same amount of electors as the next smallest state in the Union, which is currently 3 electoral votes. The district still does not have any actual congressman in the House or Senate.



The fact that they can't vote for congressman has prompted the phrase "taxation without representation" to appear on license plates in DC.



The idea of taxation without representation was even worse before this amendment, which at least allows the district to count towards the electoral college.

Amendment 22

Section 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.


Section 2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress.

This amendment put term limits on the office of President. Before this amendment most presidents did not run for a third term, with the exception of FDR who was elected for four terms. After FDR, a democrat, and Truman was elected, the republican congress at that time wanted to be sure that Truman could be elected for that many terms. The amendment was confirmed in 1951. The next president, Eisenhower, was a republican, and many of the same congressman wanted to repeal this amendment.




This is a Calvin and Hobbes version of what many feared could happen in a world without term limits. They wanted to be sure that a president, even if popular enough to be elected for multiple terms, could not be in a position of such power for so long. This was a step that many forefathers, including Thomas Jefferson, felt was necessary to prevent the tyranny that they where ruled by in England.



The link is not working for some reason... Here is another one: http://video.foxnews.com/v/4418657/new-lawmakers-serious-about-term-limits/?playlist_id=87937
This video is a discussion with one of the newly elected congressman discussing the idea of placing term limits on members of the House and Senate. He believes that just as term limits are a check on an individuals power in the office of president, that the same type of limits are necessary for US congressman.

Amendment 21

Section 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.


Section 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission here of to the States by the Congress.

This amendment repealed prohibition.
 

 
This picture was an ad in the 1930's that dipicts a mother trying to protect her child from the organized crime that was rampent during prohibition.
 

 
This political cartoon depicts one of the main reasons prohibition failed, lack of enforcement. Because of this it was still fairly easy to make and sell alcohol, which fueled huge amounts of organized crime until the 21st amendment.