The Twenty-seventh Amendment

"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 made it so Senators could not give themselves a raise during their current term. This was an Amendment that was needed from the beginning, but it took awhile to get it put in to the Constitution. I have a feeling if the people knew that the Senators could have given themselves raises and probably did that would not have settled well.

This cartoon shows the corruption that not having this Amendment could produce. Especially right now while we are in the middle of a long recession the people of the United States wouldn't be very happy if their Congressmen decided they needed a raise using their tax money. They spend enough of our tax money as it is...

The Twenty-sixth Amendment

"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."


The Twenty-Sixth Amendment  lowered the voting eligibility age to 18 years old. People were being sent overseas to fight for their country (Draft eligibility 18 years), but couldn't vote for their President or have a say in their government. This was an important Amendment to me just 3 years ago when I got to vote for the President for the first time (I was 19).

This is a button that was used by the citizens of the United States in their protests to lower the voting age to 18. Like I talked about above, people were being sent over seas to fight in a war, but couldn't vote for their President. I wouldn't be happy with that either.

This is a video of President Richard Nixon announcing the 26th Amendment. I wonder if he got a lot of voters under 21 to vote for him after this Amendment passed.

The Twenty-fifth Amendment

"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."


The Twenty-fifth Amendment set up the succession plans for the Presidency and established procedures for filling a vacancy and dealing with a President that was un-able to lead. It was very important to include this Amendment in the Constitution for the safety of the Executive branch. If the President and Vice-President happened to get killed at the same time we would need to know right away who the new acting President would be. There most likely wouldn't be time to set up the procedures to pick a new President after something like that had happened.

This is just a funny tweet from somebody making fun of Joe Biden the Vice-President for saying he was 2nd in the line of succession to the Presidency instead of the 1st. It doesn't help much to have the procedures set up if the people who are supposed to use them don't know them. He probably just mixed his words up, but it is funny just the same.

The Twenty-fourth Amendment

"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."


The Twenty-fourth Amendment made poll taxes illegal. Poll taxes (paying to vote) appeared in the southern states to keep newly freed African Americans from voting. It is extremely sad to me that people would stoop to this level to keep someone from exercising their right to vote. This Amendment was a great response to the issue, but that doesn't fix the people that created poll taxes in the first place.

This is a picture of African American voters in 1945 which is what the poll taxes were created to stop. Imagine being 25 and able to vote, but you couldn't afford to. Taxation for representation.

This is a video of reporter Rachel Maddow calling long lines a kind of poll tax. In the world that we live in today time is our most precious resource. Having to sit in line for hours on end to vote costs money and could cost people time at their jobs earning money.

The Twenty-third Amendment

"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 by appropriate legislation."


The Twenty-third Amendment gives people in the District of Columbia the right to vote for electors for the President. Before this Amendment was created people in the District of Columbia were the only people in the United States that could not vote for an elector for the President (without which makes the vote useless). They are still the only people in the United States that don't have representation in Congress. I am guessing that problem will find its way into an Amendment at some point as well.

This is a picture of a license plate that brings up the issue of taxation without representation. Even with the 23rd Amendment people who live in D.C. don't have representation in Congress. At least after the Amendment they can be represented in part of the Government by the President.

The Twenty-second Amendment

"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."


The Twenty-second Amendment sets up the two-term rule for the President. It had always been an un-written rule to only stay in office for two-terms ever since George Washington said it was as long as any President needed. Not until FDR did a President stay in the office for more than two-terms. This Amendment was a reaction by the Republican party to keep a Democrat from ever serving more than two-terms again.

This is a campaign button that to me is slightly laughing at the fact that FDR won the Presidential race four times. I actually think that having a steady Presidency through WWII contributed a lot to Americas success in that war and afterwards. I wonder how many people would want the 22nd Amendment repealed if we were in a time of war and were happy with the Presidency.

This is a picture of a newspaper article that I am glad did not come true. Im guessing that he was trying to do this before the Watergate scandal, because it certainly wasn't afterwards.

The Twenty-first Amendment

"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."


The Twenty-first Amendment repealed the Eighteenth Amendment which was a ban on pretty much anything related to Alcohol. All the 18th Amendment did was put hard working people in the alcohol industry out of work and increased crime rates. This made it legal for bars and breweries to open up again and took the money out of the hands of criminals.

This is a picture of men marching holding a funny sign protesting prohibition. I know so many people who enjoy drinking I couldn't imagine what it would be like if they had that right taken away. I also work in the Power and Light District which pays its rent in Alcohol sales, so I and a lot of my friends wouldn't have jobs right now without the 21st Amendment.

This is a poster somebody made to tell Congress that prohibition failed and caused crime rates to go up instead of down. The people who were trying to get prohibition passed made a lot of promises about life getting better without alcohol and none of them turned out to be true. Nothing good came out of prohibition unless you were a mobster.