While the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, it did nothing regarding the legal status of the former slaves. The 14th Amendment gave them citizenship and did much more.

Aug 10, 2009 - David J. Shestokas

The Fifth Amendment covers subjects in addition to the well known right to remain silent. There are five distinct constitutional rights.

Sep 15, 2010 - David J. Shestokas

The amendment was supposed to remove anomalies from the constitution and eliminate controversies. It has generated more instead.

Apr 20, 2010 - Syed Javed Hussain

The 6th Amendment contains rights beyond the well known right to an attorney in criminal matters. There are six constitutional rights in the 6th Amendment.

Sep 16, 2010 - David J. Shestokas

In the conflict between picketers and funeral attendees, we need to determine which right is more inalienable: freedom of speech or peaceful assembly?

Apr 2, 2011 - Mary Purpari

The Civil War had been won by the North, but there was still much to do, as both legal and extra-legal means were used to prevent freed slaves from voting.

Aug 12, 2009 - David J. Shestokas

James Madison wrote the ninth amendment to secure individual liberties. American people have many more rights than those listed in the Constitution.

Jul 15, 2010 - Donna Pravel

The Supreme Court interprets the Constitution. If the Court makes an unpopular decision, the recourse is an amendment. This happened with the Eleventh Amendment.

Jul 29, 2009 - David J. Shestokas

The Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. It grants certain rights in the context of criminal prosecutions.

Jun 20, 2009 - David J. Shestokas

In 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment assured freed slaves the right to vote. At that time a woman's right to vote was still not universal.

Oct 25, 2009 - David J. Shestokas

Only a Constitutional Amendment would guarantee an end to slavery in every state for all time despite earlier legislative acts and presidential proclamations.

May 7, 2009 - Michael Streich

When the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed in 1920, American women won the right to vote. This was a hard-won victory.

Apr 9, 2009 - Ashley Waggoner

The Civil War was fought between Slave and Free states. In 1851 Maine started another divide between states known as Wet and Dry, when it banned alcoholic beverages.

Aug 25, 2009 - David J. Shestokas

From 1787 to 1913 the power to choose United States Senators was vested by the Constitution in the State legislatures. The Seventeenth Amendment changed this.

Aug 19, 2009 - David J. Shestokas

It all began in upstate New York in 1848 when five women organized the first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls.

Jan 15, 2009 - Kim Kenney

Even though the polls were split days before the election, Amendment 26, which would have outlawed abortion and some forms of birth control, did not pass.

Nov 9, 2011 - Christina Smith

August 26th celebrates a woman's right to vote. Learn more about this holiday which celebrates women's rights.

Aug 22, 2010 - Janis Masyk-Jackson

Obscenity may seem too extreme for legal protection under freedom of speech, but it occupies a space in the marketplace of ideas.

Feb 10, 2010 - Rebekah Richards

To understand why the U.S. Guantanamo Naval Base ("Gitmo") is in Cuba, look back at the Spanish American War, the Platt Amendment, and American Imperialism in the 1890s.

Dec 3, 2009 - Melanie Zoltan

The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 remains one of the most significant pieces of social legislation in British history.

Dec 7, 2010 - Alice Ladkin