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Civil War Amendments
CHART
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
enth Amendment (1795)
Places limits on lawsuits against states
fth Amendment (1804)
Revises procedure for electing the president a
teenth Amendment (1865)
Abolishes slavery
teenth Amendment (1868)
Defines U.S. citizenship; guarantees all citizen
enth Amendment (1870)
Prohibits restrictions on the right to vote base
eenth Amendment (1913)
Gives Congress the power to levy an income t
nteenth Amendment (1913)
Enables voters to elect senators directly
teenth Amendment (1917)
Prohibits making, transporting, selling, impo
teenth Amendment (1920)
Gives women the right to vote
ntieth Amendment (1933)
Changes the dates of congressional and presi
nty-first Amendment (1933)
Repeals Prohibition (Eighteenth Amendment
nty-second Amendment (1951)
Limits presidents to two terms in office
nty-third Amendment (1961)
Gives residents of the District of Columbia the
nty-fourth Amendment (1964)
Abolishes poll taxes
nty-fifth Amendment (1967)
Establishes procedures for succession to the p
nty sixth Amendment (1971)
Sets voting age at 18 years
Constitutional Amendments
GAME
Lesson 3
Furthering Civil Liberties
ESSENTIAL QUESTION How do societies balance individual and community rights?
It Matters Because
Voting is the way the people in a democracy make their wishes known.
PHOTOS: (tl) North Wind Picture Archives—All rights reserved.; (tr) Paul Thompson/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
NGSSS covered in
“Civil War Amendments”
SS.7.C.3.6 Evaluate Constitutional rights and
their impact on individuals and society.
SS.7.C.3.7 Analyze the impact of the 13th,
14th, 15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th
amendments on participation of minority
groups in the American political process.
LA.7.1.6.1 The student will use new
vocabulary that is introduced and taught
directly.
LA.7.1.6.2 The student will listen to, read,
and discuss familiar and conceptually
challenging text.
LA.7.1.7.3 The student will determine the
main idea or essential message in
grade-level or higher texts through
inferring, paraphrasing, summarizing, and
identifying relevant details.
Reading HELP DESK
Taking Notes: Summarizing
As you read, complete a diagram
to summarize each of the Civil War
amendments. SS.7.C.3.7
Civil War Amendments
GUIDING QUESTION How were civil rights extended following the Civil War?
The 10 amendments that make up the Bill of Rights are not the
only changes that have been made to the Constitution. Seventeen
other amendments have been added over the years. Three from the
mid-1800s aimed mainly to give more rights to African Americans.
Before 1865, many African Americans were enslaved.
Enslaved people had almost no rights. Slavery divided the
Northern states, which did not have it, and the Southern states,
which did. It grew to be a serious national problem.
Then, in 1860 and 1861, 11 Southern states tried to leave the
Union and form a new country. From 1861 to 1865, the North
and South fought a war—called the Civil War—over whether
the states could do this. When it ended, the South had lost and
slavery had been eliminated, or taken away.
Three amendments were passed after the Civil War. All of
them tried in some way to help African Americans. However,
unfair treatment of this group did not end. States kept African
Americans separated from whites. New laws denied them basic
rights. Not until the 1900s were African Americans able to enjoy
the rights guaranteed by the Civil War amendments.
Civil War Amendments
Content Vocabulary
Academic Vocabulary
• black codes
• suffrage
• poll tax
eliminate to take
away or to end
Lesson 3 185
The Thirteenth Amendment
The Thirteenth Amendment was the first of the Civil
War amendments. Approved after the war in 1865, it
outlawed slavery. In effect, it freed hundreds of
thousands of enslaved African Americans.
The Thirteenth Amendment also banned forced
labor, which means forcing someone to work. The
only legal forced labor was as a punishment for
committing a crime. Because of this exception,
prisoners can be made to work in prison workshops.
This wording also makes it possible for judges to
order some people who break the law to do
community service.
PHOTO: North Wind Picture Archives—All rights reserved.
For years after the Civil War, Union
soldiers protected the rights of African
Americans in the South. When the
troops left, new laws took away many
of these rights. Above, an African
American election official supervises
the first black voters in Washington,
D.C., in 1867.
▲
CRITICAL THINKING
Determining Cause and Effect Why
was the Fourteenth Amendment needed
to make sure African Americans had full
voting rights? SS.7.C.3.7
Florida
CONNECTION
Florida in the Civil War
Florida was the third state that
seceded from the Union to found
the Confederacy. One of its
major roles in the Civil War was
supplying Confederate troops. In
May 1865, the Union took
control of Florida and freed its
slaves. It rejoined the Union in
July 1868.
Reading HELP DESK
The Fourteenth Amendment
The Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery. However,
it did not guarantee full rights for African Americans. Many
Southern states soon passed laws known as black codes. These
laws kept African Americans from holding certain jobs, gave
them few property rights, and limited their rights in other ways.
The Fourteenth Amendment was approved in 1868 to try to
protect African Americans from these laws. First, it defined an
American citizen as anyone “born or naturalized in the United
States.” This definition included most African Americans.
Second, the amendment said that every state must give all
citizens “equal protection of the laws.” The purpose was to force
states to end unfair laws that hurt African Americans. That goal
was not achieved until the late 1900s. In those years, this clause
was also used to help other unequally treated groups. Those
groups included women and people with disabilities.
Third, the amendment forbade state governments from
unreasonable action or interference with U.S. citizens. Finally,
the amendment said that states cannot take a person’s “life,
liberty, or property” unless they follow due process. As you
learned earlier, due process means fair procedures set by law.
The “due process” clause proved very important.
Over time, the courts have used the “due process” wording
to redefine the reach of the Bill of Rights. When it was first
approved, the Bill of Rights was thought to apply only to the
federal government. That changed in 1925, when the Supreme
Court decided the case Gitlow v. New York. The Court ruled that
black codes laws from after the Civil War that kept
African Americans from holding certain jobs, gave them few
property rights, and limited their rights in other ways
186 The Bill of Rights
suffrage the right to vote
TitleAMENDMENTS
CONSTITUTIONAL
AMENDMENTS
CONSTITUTIONAL
Eleventh Amendment (1795)
Places limits on lawsuits against states
Twelfth Amendment (1804)
Revises procedure for electing the president and vice president
Thirteenth Amendment (1865)
Abolishes slavery
Fourteenth Amendment (1868)
Defines U.S. citizenship; guarantees all citizens “equal protection of the laws”
Fifteenth Amendment (1870)
Prohibits restrictions on the right to vote based on race and color
Sixteenth Amendment (1913)
Gives Congress the power to levy an income tax
Seventeenth Amendment (1913)
Enables voters to elect senators directly
Eighteenth Amendment (1917)
Prohibits making, transporting, selling, importing, and exporting alcoholic beverages
Nineteenth Amendment (1920)
Gives women the right to vote
Twentieth Amendment (1933)
Changes the dates of congressional and presidential terms
Twenty-first Amendment (1933)
Repeals Prohibition (Eighteenth Amendment)
Twenty-second Amendment (1951)
Limits presidents to two terms in office
Twenty-third Amendment (1961)
Gives residents of the District of Columbia the right to vote
Twenty-fourth Amendment (1964)
Abolishes poll taxes
Twenty-fifth Amendment (1967)
Establishes procedures for succession to the presidency
Twenty-sixth Amendment (1971)
Sets voting age at 18 years
Twenty-seventh Amendment (1992)
Delays congressional pay raises until
the term following their passage
the due process clause protected free speech and a free press
from state law. The Court said that the due process clause
requires states to respect these First Amendment rights.
Since the Gitlow case, the Supreme Court has used the
Fourteenth Amendment to apply other rights in the Bill of
Rights to the states. This legal interpretation means that citizens
in every part of the country have the same basic rights.
The Fifteenth Amendment
The Fifteenth Amendment, ratified in 1870, was the last of the
Civil War amendments. It says that no state may deny a person
the right to vote because of race. The amendment was meant to
guarantee suffrage—the right to vote—for African Americans.
Still, many states found other ways to keep African Americans
from voting.
The Fifteenth Amendment was aimed only at African
American men. The various states had the power to decide
whether women could vote. Most did not give women that right
for many decades.
CHART SKILLS
Since the addition of the Bill
of Rights, only 17 more
amendments have been added
to the Constitution.
1 Identifying What
amendments affected the
office of the president?
In what ways?
2 CRITICAL THINKING
Speculating Why do you
think women were given
the right to vote before
18-year-olds? LA.7.1.7.3
PROGRESS CHECK
Explaining What was the purpose of the Civil War amendments?
Lesson 3 187
Electoral Process and
Voting Rights
GUIDING QUESTION In what ways have twentieth-century
amendments affected voting rights and changed elections?
During the 1900s, new amendments made
important changes in voting and elections.
Some made clear who had the right to vote in
every state. Others changed the way elections
were conducted, or carried out. Together,
these new amendments put more power in
the hands of the people.
The Seventeenth Amendment
▲
CRITICAL THINKING
Theorizing Why do you think a parade
would help the cause of giving women
voting rights? LA.7.1.7.3
NGSSS covered in
“Electoral Process and Voting Rights”
SS.7.C.3.7 Analyze the impact of the 13th,
14th, 15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th
amendments on participation of minority
groups in the American political process.
LA.7.1.6.1 The student will use new
vocabulary that is introduced and taught
directly.
LA.7.1.7.1 The student will use background
knowledge of subject and related content
areas, prereading strategies, graphic
representations, and knowledge of text
structure to make and confirm complex
predictions of content, purpose, and
organization of a reading selection.
Reading HELP DESK
The Nineteenth Amendment
The Constitution did not guarantee women the right to vote.
However, it did not clearly deny the vote to them. Using the
powers set aside for them under the Tenth Amendment, states
could make their own laws on woman suffrage. As early as the
1840s, leaders Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
campaigned for woman suffrage. Many Americans did not
think women should have the same rights as men, however.
That began to change in the late 1800s. The territory of
Wyoming gave women the vote in 1869. Several other territories
and states also did so in the years that followed. In 1920, the
Nineteenth Amendment was approved. That finally protected
the right of women to vote in all national and state elections.
The Twenty-third Amendment
Another group that was denied full voting rights was citizens
living in our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. For many years,
they could not vote for president or vice president. “D.C.” stands
for the District of Columbia, an area between Maryland and
Reading Strategy: Making Connections LA.7.1.7.1
Academic Vocabulary
As you read, think about historical events that happened before the ratification of
the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. Why might the nation have been more
ready to extend the right to vote to women after World War I?
conduct to carry out
188 The Bill of Rights
poll tax a sum of
money required of voters
before they are permitted
to cast a ballot
PHOTO: Paul Thompson /Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
Members of the National American
Woman Suffrage Association march in
support of giving women the right to
vote at the New York Suffrage Parade
in 1913. Women worked to get the
vote for about 80 years.
Article I of the Constitution says that members
of the House of Representatives shall be
elected by the people. However, it calls for members of the
Senate to be chosen by the state legislatures. The Seventeenth
Amendment, ratified in 1913, changed that. It allowed voters to
elect their senators directly. This change gave Americans a
greater voice in their government.
Virginia. Since the District is not a state, people there could not
vote in national elections. The Twenty-third Amendment changed
that situation in 1961. It said that people in the District may vote
for president and vice president. It gave the District the same
number of electoral votes as the smallest state. District residents
still do not have a voting representative in Congress, however.
The Twenty-fourth Amendment
The Fifteenth Amendment gave African American men the right
to vote. However, Southern states found ways to block African
Americans from voting. Many Southern states required a poll
tax. This was a fee people had to pay to vote. Because the fee
had to be paid not only for the current year but for previous
unpaid years as well, it was a great financial burden. Many
African Americans could not afford to pay the tax. Therefore,
they could not vote. Poor whites, too, could not afford the tax
and could not vote.
The Twenty-fourth Amendment, passed in 1964, made poll
taxes illegal in national elections. Two years later, the Supreme
Court banned poll taxes in state elections too. As a result, many
African Americans were able to vote for the first time.
The Twenty-sixth Amendment
Throughout our nation’s history, many teens have bravely
fought for our country. By law, however, they were not old
enough to vote for the leaders who sent them into battle. Most
states set the minimum age for voting at 21.
That changed in 1971, at a time when many young Americans
were fighting in the Vietnam War. The Twenty-sixth Amendment
guaranteed the right to vote to citizens 18 years of age and older.
As a result, you can register, or sign up, to vote once you turn 18.
PROGRESS CHECK
Analyzing How did eliminating the poll tax affect voting rights?
LESSON 3 REVIEW
Review Vocabulary
1. What were black codes? LA.7.1.6.1
2. What amendment extended suffrage to nearly half
of all American citizens? Why did it affect so many?
SS.7.C.3.7, LA.7.1.6.1
Answer the Guiding Questions
4. Identifying What election laws were affected by
the Seventeenth, Nineteenth, Twenty-third,
Twenty-fourth, and Twenty-sixth Amendments?
SS.7.C.3.7
5. EXPOSITORY WRITING What led the Supreme
Court to rule that the Bill of Rights applied to the
states? LA.7.1.7.3
3. Explaining How did the Thirteenth, Fourteenth,
and Fifteenth Amendments extend African
Americans’ rights? SS.7.C.3.7
Lesson 3 189