The Twentieth Amendment

Section 1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.

Section 2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.

Section 3. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.

Section 4. The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.

And here we see that the government itself is become more efficient in the way that it works.  With the advent of various forms of mass and powered transit and the expansion of the United States from coast to coast we see the need for Congressional sessions and the term of the President to start at a much earlier time.  Aside from setting the time that the government actually starts to operate we see for the first time an actual spelling out of the succession to office of the President with the Vice-President following into the vacant office until Congress can choose a president.

Poltical Cartoon of previous Congressional Sessions

 This political cartoon depicts the fact that the congress would be in session until the arrival of the new legislature.  During this period the members of congress waiting to leave lent themselves to basically inaction and bickering so as there was a time in which the government wasnt working while waiting for the government to show up to work.  Good thing we passed this amendment holding people accountable to the jobs for which they were elected.

Another Poli Sci Student?? - Disregard the Succession Act

 

Although the Presidential Succession act was much later, the White Board that this guy is holding is part of the Succession Act of 1947.   The main body of the amendment is the fact that Congress and the President have a particular day in which they have to show up which shortens the time between election and the actual start of their term.  The board which he is holding has been modified with the addition of the Department of Homeland Security but otherwise is accurate.  Looks like this video was done in a similar fashion to these blogs.

The Nineteenth Amendment - Suffrage

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Suffrage for Women, how ignorant could we be as a nation denying to the women who not only supported the country through the Revolutionary War, but several others even through the recent Great War!!  It took both violence and non violent protests to bring the country around to realize that women are people, nay citizens as well!

School House Rock Video - Cartooned History

 

Where are the educational cartoons of yeasteryear??  Here we have the acclaimed educational series School House Rock speaking about the Womens Suffrage movement.  We can see how this was not a house divided amongst only women and men, but also a country divided between the West and the East!  How is it that a particular state can give the right to vote to women, but another state deny that same right already afforded to them??  This was one of the large reasons that Womens Suffrage was a "progressive movement" as the expansion out west was progressive in its own right. 

A Little more of a Concise Historical Recollection

 

Here we have a little more of a historical retrospect of Womens Suffrage.  Also we have mention of that lady on the quarters which are the same size as the dollar, Susan B. Anthony.  Not only do we see that giving the women the right to vote as helping to populate states in the West, we also see that after the Great War we see states that are granting only partial voting rights to women as an act of measure in faith or what not.  Did this help or hinder the cause?  We see that there was a particular woman who took to militant tactics and left the Susan B Anthony organization.  Should women have had the right to vote to begin with, yes.  Are there people in history with crazy ideas, yes!!  Did America finally come to her senses and allow women the right to vote, even on the men they gave birth to, eventually.

The Eighteenth Amendment - Prohibition <---BAH!!

After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.

Well lets see, prohibition of alcohol in the United States...Good idea or Bad idea.  This is one of those things that the Animaniacs from Warner Brothers got right in their little skits.  The prohibition of alcohol in the United States did increase the morality of the general public and throw it into church more than alcohol did in the first place.  But wait isnt this when we have a huge surge of "gangsters" and the rum runners and moonshiners pop up? It is, this is also the time when the drinking of alcohol was secluded to "speakeasies and other establishments" for the recreational drinker.  Prohibition might have made the country more moral in some regard but the nation would never stop drinking!!

Historical Video from Brittanica

 

 

A historical video from the Encyclopedia Brittanica.  Here we have vintage footage of the "drying out" of the country with hundreds of thousands of gallons of alcohol broken in the streets and disposed of to prevent the public from partaking in the ill effects of the beverage.  Then we see the sanity of the nation come along with FDR and the end to prohibition which we will examine later. Who would have thought that trying to ban a substance that was so prolific in the public would actually help, I guess the general public.  But when the alcohol finally won its battle the public voted again!!

A More Recent Look at History

 

Here we have the perfect example on how America can no reflect on its history.  We see here that the cable channel HBO created a series called Boardwalk Empire entirely about prohibition, the 18th amendment, and the crime that it created, all in the sublime city of Atlantic City, NJ.  The entire series wraps itself around the exploits of the politicians of the city, the governments attempts to eradicate liquor, and the crime syndicates created to bring the liquor to market. So did we really help each other in declaring prohibition or did we create another chapter in history in which government intervention will be needed, crime.

The Seventeenth Amendment

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.

Essentially what we are looking at here is the creation of the actual election and appointments of the Senators that represent each state.  We can see that the term limits for the Senators is defined as well as what will happen in the event a seat is vacant.  Each state of course is represented by two Senators so as to have a total of 100 Senators in the Senate.  This is also the introduction of a clause in the amendment which affects the already elected members of the Senate.  Late in amendments we will see something similar about when the amendment takes effect etc.

Here we see a cartoon about the 17th amendment and the affects that it will have on the current congress in session.  Essentially a majority of the populace thought that the encumbrance of the current Senators in the Senate would be long lived in that they didn't need to get "elected out" of office.  They would stay until the seat was vacated was the general thought.  Although this didn't happen across the board there were several Senators who took advantage of this.

 

 

As we can see from this brief explanation by this video we see that the election of Senators was now by a popular vote.  We know that the popular vote can be directed to certain persons, or certain activities and bills, so why not direct it towards getting a certain person elected.  The previous clause in the Constitution appointed Senators by the State Legislatures since they had the interest of the state at heart.  So now we have Senators elected by popular vote who have guided interests at heart instead of the state as a whole.  Voting "changes this" but as we can see voting in some cases has no point in changing some things.

The Sixteenth Amendment - TAXES!!!

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

Ah yes, your friend and mine, income tax!  Although the necessity of income tax, and taxes in general are spelled out in the various programs and other services the government provides.  How could we pay for that trip to your house when its on fire by the fire department if it were not for taxes.  What about the public education system, taxes!  Although a burden to your check now, the fact that income taxes are a necessity far out weigh the burden.

World War II Cartoon on Taxes 

 

 You cant beat Disney for its ability to just plain simplify the world around you into the basics.  Here we have Donald Duck and several other duck characters telling the American public the importance of the income tax!  Not only were tax dollars important for a variety of services provided for by the government, but the fact that the United States was involved in World War II also prompted the need to raise and dutifley collect income taxes from the public.  This cartoon seems to make it a point to show that the payment of taxes was on the part of the citizen as opposed to being taken out of the check like we do now!

A Hilarious Big Brother Style Tax Collection Commercial

 

Talk about the state wanting their money from you for your taxes.  This commercial seems like a little bit of a harsh example of the state needing your money but at the same time there are services and employees of the state that depend on those tax dollars to work and earn their pay.  How would you feel if you worked for the state government, went to cash your check and were told, sorry the person who pays your salary didnt pay their taxes so we cant pay you...pretty poop huh.  This is what we pay taxes for and although most people dont agree with taxes but they dont complain about the services that are provided.

The Fifteenth Amendment

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

And the final amendment of the block of amendments which went into effect following the end of the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation and the end of slavery in the United States.  This amendment to the constitution further spelled out the fact that all citizens of the United States were allowed to vote regardless of any means such as race, color or condition of previous servitude.  This however still did not give women the right to vote that we will explore later.  The freed slaves were now able to vote as were the free men who were not slaves.  Although the southern states imposed a variety of means to prevent the voting of the newly freed citizens their right to vote in upcoming elections was well established.

The Symbolic Nature of the Black Vote

As we can see by this grave marker the symbolic nature of being the first person to vote under the fifteenth amendment in New Jersey is preserved in stone at a New Jersey cemetery.  This grave marker and the accompanied history show that although African Americans were looked upon as being incapable of civic duty and voting this man was a custodian of the school which was named after him, an avid Republican and also the first black man to serve on a jury in the city.  Quite a lot for a person to do in the month and change following final ratification on February 3, 1870!

The levels of Black Voting??

In this picture we can see that there are essential three different levels of black men allowed to vote via the 15th amendment.  The first to put their vote in the ballot jar is that of the farm hand or average black man.  You can tell by his tattered clothing and whatnot that he is a working man probably in the south.  The second is more than likely a free man from the north as his clothing is very different and distinguished amonst the other two.  The third person to vote, and more than likely the one who earned the right more than any of the other three is the soldier in the rear.  Out of these three men the entire embodiment of the black man is portrayed as being able to and about to cast their vote in the current election.

The Fourteenth Amendment

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

In a nutshell here we have the fact that all persons belonging to our country whether born here or naturalized through the immigration process are considered to be citizens of the United States and that no governmental agency can take that away.  This however made citizens those of the country and not of the states in which they resided.  This was a crucial amendment after the Civil War as this was the amendment which had to be incorporated into the Southern states to allow for readmission into the Union.  This however in short speak is looked upon as giving the freed slaves the status of citizens of the United States, and the rights there unto reposed.

Citizenship - Then / Now 

When we originally look at the intent of the 14th amendment we can see that it was designed to protect the interest of all Americans, including those of the newly freed slaves.  Today we can see how it is that this amendment provides the same protection of the laws and rights of this country to those of any sexuality.  Personally a persons sexual choice is their own and regardless of such they are a citizen of this country, just as how the color of ones skin does not discount citizenship in our country.  This cartoon illustrates how although over 140 years old this amendment is viewed as being part of the gay rights agenda where as it is clearly just another form of hatred to people which the country was formed to avoid.

Should We Have to Serve the Government to be Citizens? 

 

Ah, the movie Starship Troopers, based on the book by the same name, part of the Commandant of the Marine Corps reading list.  This book gives way not only to the battle in space itself between humanity and the "bugs", but also leads us into the realm of future political science.  We see that the civilian in the book and movie exercises very little authority in society, being merely a pawn if you will, where as the citizen has the authority to vote, and has governmental affluence.  Some may call this similar to communism, but it is not, it is a method of creating a more loyal governmental body not only in the political sector, but in the civilian as well as those who are able to vote choose to go through the process which allows them to.  The question is should we as a country, move to some sort of system such as this, allowing only those who put forth an effort to forward the country the right to vote on the future of the country?  Personally I believe that this should be a resounding yes.  Military service right now allows persons who are not citizens to become one, so why should it not also be a concluding factor on the ability to vote as well.  I am not saying that it should be the sole factor but one to take into consideration.