Other Important Amendments

1. Other Important Amendments Take notes on Page 80 of your IN. You will be responsible for this information on the test.

2. Amendments to the Constitution • The Bill of Rights includes the first ten Amendments to the Constitution • Today the Constitution has 27 amendments – the last was passed in 1992 • Let’s take a look at some other crucial amendments…..take notes

3. 13th Amendment • Supported by President Lincoln after the Emancipation Proclamation failed to completely put an end to slavery • Congress passed this amendment in 1865 • At the end of the Civil War • The 13th Amendment banned slavery forever in all states

4. 14th & 15th Amendments • The 13th amendment put an end to slavery for good and the 14th Amendment granted African Americans US citizenship • BUT, they still lacked one important right of citizens…the right to vote • Passed in 1870, the 15h Amendment stated that “rights of citizens in the US to vote shall not be denied…on account of race”

5. 18th Amendment & 21st Amendment 18th 21st Repeal of the 18th 1933 • Ban on alcohol • Prohibition • 1919

6. 19th Amendment • Many people campaigned for the 15th Amendment – including women – even though they still did not have the right to vote • During the mid-1800’s women started to push for women’s suffrage – the right to vote • Women were half of the population and wanted the same rights as men • Passed in 1920, the 19th Amendment finally gave women the right to vote

7. 26th Amendment • By the mid-1900’s it seemed as though all US citizens finally had the right to vote • The voting age for all citizens was 21 • However, in the 1960’s when the US began drafting men as young as 18 to fight in the Vietnam War, Americans began to question the voting age • How could we ask someone to fight in a war when they are not even old enough to vote? • In 1971 (just a three years before was Ms. Butson were born) the 26th Amendment was passed changing the voting age from 21 to 18