Amendment XIX

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. (Ratified August 18, 1920)

Women finally had their right to vote guaranteed. I got a good chuckle at the attempts by the hosts of “The Man Show” to get women to sign petitions eliminating “women’s suffrage”. ("Women are suffraging every day. Please help us put a stop to it.") (Heh.)

Amendment XX

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.

Section 5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October following the ratification of this article.

Section 6. 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.  (Ratified January 23, 1933)

This was one of those “procedural” Amendments. It changed the procedures for electing the President and Vice President, and changed the Inauguration date from march 3rd to January 20th. It also included a “sunset clause”, where it dies out if it isn’t ratified within a specific time frame (seven years). Nothing about personal freedoms here…

Amendment XXI

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 hereof to the States by the Congress. (Ratified December 5, 1933)

This Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment, and put a stop to the US Government’s attempts to legislate morality. (Constitutionally, anyway.) It turned the decision over to the various States, which is how it was originally intended.

Amendment XXII

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. (Ratified February 27, 1951)

Most Presidents had followed George Washington’s tradition of limiting themselves to two terms (even when the terms are not consecutive - see Grover Cleveland). That tradition lasted right up until Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was elected in 1932 and 1936, and broke the century-and-a-half old pattern by running again in 1940. He won, managed to lead us successfully through most of WW2, and was re-elected again in 1944 for an unprecedented fourth term. He died in office on April 12, 1945, leaving the office to Harry Truman. Truman helped to push this Amendment through to make sure that no one would be able to repeat FDR’s feat.

Amendment XXIII

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.  (Ratified March 29, 1961)

This one gave the right to vote for President to the residents of the District of Columbia. Every single election since 1964 (their first), it has been a guaranteed 3 Electoral votes for the Democrats. Even in Reagan’s massive landslide of 1984, Mondale managed 13 Electoral votes - 10 from his home state, and the three from DC.

Amendment XXIV

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. (Ratified January 23, 1964)

This one started as Kennedy’s attempt at giving full citizenship rights to those Blacks (and other ethnicities) who had been denied the right to vote for failing to pay some imaginary “poll tax”, or failing a reading test, or other such nonsense.

Amendment XXV

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. (Ratified February 10, 1967)

This was an attempt to provide a continuous chain-of-succession in the event of the death or disability of the President or Vice-President. It has only been invoked twice, the first time when Spiro Agnew resigned as Nixon’s VPOTUS over some tax problems, and Gerald Ford was nominated as his replacement (and confirmed by Congress), and the second time a few years later, when Nixon resigned, putting Gerald Ford into the top office, making him the only man to ever hold that office without ever winning a national election.

Amendment XXVI

Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are 18 years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of age.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. (Ratified June 30, 1971)

This one was the fastest Amendment to make it all the way through the ratification process, with only 99 days from introduction to ratification (March 23 - June 30, 1971). It guaranteed that those men who were being drafted to fight in Vietnam also had the authority to vote for their national representatives, including the President. (Rightly so, IMNSHO.)

Amendment XXVII

No law varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives shall take effect until an election of Representatives shall have intervened. (Ratified May 7, 1992)

This one is the one that took the longest, running from September 25, 1789 to May 7, 1992 - almost 203 years. It was finally ratified after some people got fed up with Congress voting themselves payraise after payraise and one wag noticed that there was still a pending Amendment that could put a stop to it.

Good for him. And for us, too…

Anyhow, that’s pretty much it, so I’m gonna wrap up for tonight. I have a slice of Nana’s cake waiting for me.