Amendment III

Amendment III

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Text (in plain English)

Soldiers cannot lodge in any house without the Owner's permission. This includes wartime, unless the Soldier has an order explicitly stated by the law.

Historical Background
During the rein of King George III, many people in the colonies were unhappy with the king as he forced them to house armed troops. The Framers of the Constitution hoped that this Amendment would contribute to better privacy of the American people. The goal with the Third Amendment was to prevent the government from invading the personal lives and homes of citizens, as this unreasonable intrusion could lead to tyranny. Seeing that having to house soldiers affected and angered many colonial Americans, during the Delegates convention there were more states that proposed the idea of making the quartering soldiers unacceptable than states that proposed freedom of speech. The Third Amendment was submitted to the state on September 25, 1789 and ratified on December 15, 1791.



Effect of Amendment III on the United States
After the ratification of the Third Amendment the privacy of the American people became much more secure. Today, as the government pushes more and more to gain as much domestic surveillance through the Patriot Act, this Amendment works to protect the people's private homes from the government using military as a spying tool. Many people do not see as much controversy involving the Third Amendment as they do with other Amendments like the Second or the First; therefore, it could be arguable that the Third Amendment is the most effective amendment of the Bill of Rights, although, many people may strongly disagree. Some see the police and S.W.A.T abruptly invading homes and believe this is the federal government pushing this Amendment to its boundaries. Because the Amendment only addresses "Soldiers," in the case of the Mitchell family in Henderson Nevada in July of 2011, the police, who battered down their door in order to gain better surveillance of a domestic violence report next door to the Mitchell home, cannot be held accountable for violation of the Third Amendment. Many borderline violations of this Amendment are indeed over looked because of the key word "Soldiers." Many citizens are beginning to wonder if this Amendment should extend to more local and federal patrol officers as well.

For more information on the Mitchell family case:         http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/07/08/family-booted-from-home-for-police-detail-suing-with-rare-use-third-amendment/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/07/07/third-amendment-henderson-nevada-police-column/2496689/

Effect of Amendment III on Me
Compared to other Amendments like the 14th and the 26th that affect me directly as an 18 year old woman who just received her first voters registration card, the 3rd Amendment does not seem to change my life day to day. But, I am not saying that the 3rd Amendment is irrelevant in my life. I would certainly be upset if the government forced me to share the couch and remote with a soldier. As the controversy of international and domestic surveillance and the Patriot Act become more prevalent each day, I do think that the 3rd Amendment will receive a bigger spotlight in the near future.

Amendment XXIV

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

English: Poll taxes are not allowed. One shall not be denied the right to vote because one cannot pay a tax. Congress has the power to implement the legislation on the states.

History: Under the 15th Amendment, Blacks were now allowed to vote. However, those people then had to face the racists that opposed their right to vote. Jim Crow laws, implemented in the previous Confederate states after reconstruction, used violence, literacy tests, and poll taxes to disenfranchise blacks. These poll taxes that were implemented not only hurt Blacks, but also hurt poorer White folk. Even worse was that there was no federal bureau to regulate the taxes because they were considered state taxes. These Jim Crow laws stayed in effect until JFK came into presidency and changed the racial scenery of the country through Civil Rights.  So on January 23, 1964, the states ratified the 24th Amendment to rid poll taxes that hampered many citizens’ rights to vote.

Effect on US: Presently, if you watch the news you would know there has been a lot of fuss over whether or not voter ID is legal or not. Well, that falls under the 24th amendment because not having ID stops people from voting, much in the same way poll taxes and literacy tests stopped blacks from voting, which was the cause of this amendment. The strange part of the voter ID hoopla is that it affects blacks the most, once again, weird? But nonetheless, this amendment doesn’t/didn’t have much effect because poll taxes stopped once the law was set into place so yes, it does play affect at all times because it stops taxing or abridging of the right to vote to anyone, but no ones would dare try to do something like this because chaos would ensue.

Effect on us: This law doesn’t really affect me personally because I think I’m a little more educated than most people in the country, there are a lot of base people in the country so literacy test is not a problem. Most people are forced to have some form of ID be it school or drivers licence, of which both I have. So the only annoying thing that would stop me from voting is paying a poll, so that wouldn’t be good. I enjoy saving my bucks where I can.

Amendment XV

English: One will not be denied the right to vote based on race, ethnicity, or whether they were formerly a slave (which does not apply anymore. i.e.: 13th Amendment). Congress has the power to implement the legislation on the states.

History: On February 26, 1869, Congress passed the Amendment with much debate and hoopla. The amendment would give recently freed Black slaves the right to vote. Most northern Republican states ratified the amendment because they knew blacks would vote for Republicans. Meanwhile, only four Democratic states did not support the amendment. In the end Congress twisted the arms of the southern states that had not rejoined the union after the civil war by forcing them to the ratify the 14th and 15th amendments or they could not rejoin the union. As we know, the southern states ratified the amendment, rejoined the union, and became states again. On March 30, 1870 the amendment was added to the Constitution. However, this turned out to only be a slight win for Blacks during reconstruction because White supremacists, such as the KKK, used terror and violence to stop Blacks from voting.

Effect on US: This amendment affects every person of color in the country, giving them the exact same rights as a white person(which race should not be relevant) if your black, asian, native, latino, or anything between proved to be very significant to the country. First, I would like to point out that this more than likely spurred the desire to allow women to vote later in history, which i know many ladies out there appreciate. Next, I want to have a shout out to the fact that it also was a barrier breaker to race, eventually, stating that colored folk can have equal freedoms as whites, meaning every is equal under the law. Once people were legally forced to be equal it also began to wash into the beliefs of people slowly over time. This effect of the law is very meaningful to me because like many people, hopefully, I despise racism and any steps to minimizing it is nice. And as a side note whites will eventually become the minority in the country and I know they wouldn’t want  to have their rights revoked either, so this law will protect them. I bet our founding fathers didn’t see this coming.

Effect on us: I admit that without this amendment the 24th wouldn’t have even been thought of and I wouldn’t be sitting here writing on this blog at all, so thank you 15th.  Being that I am both black and asian this amendment affects me in a very significant stating that my right to vote can’t be affected no matter what my race or color is. Not only voting, but any other right in the country cannot be changed due to my race allowing me to have the same  freedoms as a white person,even though this holds little importance to me and my minority peers. (100% sarcasm btw) But basically, this affects me just as personally as any other american. I could say more but throwing more thoughts out before some commenting seems a little odd presently. So please comment and further conversation!

Amendment VII

English: If one is being sued for more than twenty dollars ($20), one has the right to a jury instead of only a judge. In the future, the case cannot be examined in a court not recognized by the government.

History: Delegates of the Constitutional Convention felt that basic rights(first ten amendments) were needed alongside the Constitution in order to limit the powers of the government over the citizens. However, many delegates, such as the federalists, felt that the Bill of Rights would be useless because the Constitution did not directly give government power over human rights, and because government could only do what the Constitution says they can; why add the Bill at all? Nonetheless, the issue of adding the Bill of Rights was decided or else the Convention that met to develop a new country and define citizens’ freedoms would be rendered useless. Also, twenty dollars back then was considered a lot of money. Therefore, today, lawsuits under seventy five thousand dollars are not handled by federal court.

Effect on US: Judges, in the English court system, were seen as ruthless and unsentimental towards whomever they sentenced. The seventh amendment ensures that a group of citizens will be present for certain cases in order to divert impartial decisions. It also allows the common man to be part the judicial system by making decisions in courts.
Effect on us: When called for jury duty, we will be able to help guide decisions in the court and be able to offer impartial decisions being peers.

Introduction!

The Amendments affect our lives daily.  What are they about?  How do they affect us?  Why were they created and ratified and do some do more harm than good?  Follow our blog to LEARN about the Amendments, to HEAR what we think, to EXPERIENCE the world through our eyes: the young adults about to take on the world.