Essay On 21st Amendment

Recently a decision was made that will change America forever. On August 18th Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th amendment, therefore granting women the right to vote in all states. This decision with certainly be met with both support and opposition from many. Women’s rights activists are overjoyed with the passing of the amendment, as they have been actively fighting for this right for over a hundred years. Much to their delight, just weeks from now, many women are expected to exercise their right to vote for the first time in the upcoming election.

Reasonably, the Founding Fathers desired a republican form of government, where the citizens of the United States were able to vote for the people who they wished to be represented by. And while Thomas Jefferson wrote “all men are created equal” in the Declaration of Independence, it excluded several citizens who were entitled to a vote. Originally, only Caucasian men were allowed to vote, this changed in 1870 when all men who were citizens, regardless of race, were allowed to vote, as stated in the 15th Amendment. It was not until 1920 when all citizens, despite their sex, were allowed to vote because of the 19th Amendment. In 1971, the voting age was changed from 21 to 18 and this was made into the 26th Amendment. However, 19 states allow citizens of the age of 17 to vote as long as they will be 18 by Election Day. It is shameful to think that some of the authors of the Constitution believed blacks to be second class citizens and women to be frail and ignorant citizens. It is even more shameful to think that some citizens still think that. Nevertheless, America, as a whole, has advanced and left those archaic beliefs and gender roles behind. Now, all citizens who are old enough to vote are able to elect who represents them. The Constitution states that each state

Voting is considered like paying taxes nowadays, even though it is a responsibility and a duty for them to do towards their country, some people support it and others don’t. The advocates of the compulsory voting argue that

The 26th amendment does not limit younger people's freedom whoever it does hold them from expressing who they think should be president. If the age was lowered to vote, i think many kids would take advantage of their

Far too long in this great country of ours have the big corporations taken advantage of the people at the bottom. Unfortunately, because of our laissez-faire oriented feelings this leaves millions of Americans who need to rely on government programs in order to survive. With this in mind the 28th Amendment will tackle the problem of big corporations head on with as little government intervention as possible.

The amendments were put into place to protect the rights and civil liberties of all American citizens from the federal government. However, prior to the fourteenth amendment, there was no certainty with the constitution. The constitution did not state in a clear enough way who was protected under it and exactly what rights you had as an American Citizen. The 14th amendment was in response to the just passed thirteenth amendment, which ended slavery in all of the southern states. This document drastically changed the perception of the citizens, showing that it protected the civil rights of whites and blacks. While the fourteenth amendment was instated to expand citizenship, it has caused controversy

Poll taxes were a capital tax that applied equally to adults. They were a decent form of revenue for some governments until the mid-1800s. Poll taxes are often closely associated with voting rights in the United States. Poll Taxes claimed to target the lower class who were unable to afford the taxes. The taxes that established between 1889 and 1910 had a strong effect on African-Americans and poor whites. This was a way for the government to cut out any black connection to power or political movement and enabled poor civilians to have a say in this movement or any chance to fight for their rights. Before the 24th amendment how

Everyone has the right to vote, but many don’t take that opportunity. In the article “Should Voting Be Mandatory?” Eric Liu tells us that “mandatory voting would prompt more Americans to pay attention to the choices;” people usually never pay attention to their choices, and then complain about it later when everything has already happened. (Par 5). Mandatory voting means that every citizen of the age of 18 and above that has a right to vote must vote. The thing that confuses me the most is that the people from The Civil Rights Movement fought so hard for equal voting rights, but the modern American citizens’ still don’t try to vote even though now all the citizens’ can vote. If we are given a right that people died for, then we should take a stand and vote, so that elections can be fair. Americans’ should vote to voice their opinion on important matter to move the country forward. Voting have to be mandatory for all citizen.

1. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the chairmen of SCLC since he was one of the founders. He was also the face of the Civil Rights Movement and SNCC did not appreciate the way which SCLC used MLK’s image as a base for their income. They also had different approaches to the way which they wanted to tackle the issues. Most of the members of SNCC were students which gave them a different perspective than the members of SCLC.

The Electoral College is established in Article Two of the U.S. Constitution, it states that “Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for two persons. The person having the highest number of votes shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole numbers of electors appointed”(Hardaway 79). The twelfth amendment modifies this procedure to require balloting for president and vice president be done separately. Although there were sixty-nine electors who participated in the first election, we now have a total of five hundred and thirty-eight. To win the presidency, a candidate must receive two hundred and seventy votes. California has the highest number of electors, with fifty-five. Tied for last are

Voting is an important activity which is helpful in expressing the insights, ideologies and motivations of a mass for political parties. Voter eligibility in both national and state election has boundaries and limitations. In some states, only adult white male property owners having certain religious believes had the privilege to vote. As a result, only five percent were eligible to vote in 1790. There were other obstructions such as white only primaries, literacy tests, race, gender and age. After the fifteenth Amendment was passed, a number of states adopted grandfather clause which allowed only adult males to vote whose grandfather is eligible to vote. African American women also struggled from exercising the franchise to voting. Because of poll tax, less wealthy citizens were discouraged from registering.

In 1787, years after the founding of the United States, the Constitutional Convention met to decide how the new nation would govern itself. The delegates understood that the need for a leader was necessary but still bitterly remembered how Britain abused of its power. The delegates agreed that the President and Vice President should be chosen informally and not based on the direct popular vote, thus gave birth to the Electoral College. The Electoral College is defined as “a body of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president.” Since 1787 the Electoral College has been the system for voting in the United States, but with our nation ever more changing and growing it

What would result from the repeal of the 22nd amendment? Would we be forced to submit to a dictatorship? Or would we be blessed with an illustrious leader? Would we be willing to take that risk? The 22nd amendment states that, “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice...” Recent discussions and proposals have been put forth to repeal or modify the amendment. No person should have that opportunity to surrender to the charms of power. Two four year terms should be more than enough time to make a positive change for the nation.

The quote from James Madison consists of two parts. First is his statement that “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” This is an affirmation of John Locke’s social contract theory which seemed to be widely accepted at the time. That is to say, without laws the state of human nature is chaos, but by agreeing to a social contract in the form of laws and government, order and harmony emerge. If men were angels, their nature would not be towards chaos, and thusly no social contract would be necessary. Since men are not angels, government is needed to maintain order.

Before the United States Constitution was changed, the thirteen states went by the Articles of the Confederation. The Articles of Confederation was considered weak because it had too many flaws. There was no power of a nation over taxation, as well as no power over the trading of goods. Under the Article of Confederation each state had the power to make their own money, collect their own tax as well as make its own militia. A Philadelphia Convention wanted to correct the weaknesses of the Article but many of its delegates wanted to create a whole new government instead of fixing the old one. Some of the Founding Fathers suggested that there be a Bill of Rights to protect the people. The Bill of Rights were first seen as a delayed tactic because