Constitutional US Law

US Constitutional Law

  • Due Process

    Due Process Introduction The Meaning of Due Process The Constitution contains two due process clauses. The 5th Amendment declares that the Federal Government cannot deprive any person of “life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” The 14th Amendment places that same restriction on the States, and, very importantly, on their local governments, as…

  • Philadelphia Convention

    The Philadelphia Convention The Constitutional Convention began in the early summer of 1787. The doors to Philadelphia’s State House, where the Constitutional Convention was held, were always guarded. Only the official delegates to the Convention were allowed inside. Each delegate at the Convention had agreed ahead of time not to discuss Convention business with outsiders.…

  • Amendments

    Amendments When the Constitution became effective in 1789, the United States was a small agricultural nation of fewer than four million people. That population was scattered for some 1,300 miles along the eastern edge of the continent. Travel and communications among the 13 States were limited to horseback and sailing ships. The new States struggled…

  • Amendment 1

    The First Amendment: Freedom of Expression Some people say the rights protected by the First Amendment are the most important in the entire Bill of Rights, because they are listed before the other nine amendments. However, in the original version of the Bill of Rights, what is now the First Amendment came third-after proposed amendments…

  • Article III

    Article III: The Judicial Branch Article III is the shortest, and least specific, of the constitutional provisions establishing the three branches of government. The framers of the Constitution spent far less time-and debate-on the judiciary than Congress or the president. Yet the power of unelected judges to overturn laws in a democracy has become one…

  • Amendment 13

    The Thirteenth Amendment: Abolishing Slavery From the beginning of the American republic, slaves argued that they, too, were included in the Declaration of Independence’s self-evident truth that “all men are created equal.” Sectional division over the “peculiar institution” of American slavery would plague the nation until at last it culminated in a civil war that…

  • Article V

    Article V (Five): Amending the Constitution Article V was added so that changes could be made when necessary. Amendments are proposed in order to make corrections or to add something new. Changes to the Constitution are not made easily. First, an amendment is voted on by Congress. It must be approved by a two-thirds (2/3)…

  • Amendment 6

    The Sixth Amendment: The Right to a Fair Trial Colonial Americans had frequently experienced the disadvantages faced by those accused of crimes under English law. Therefore, as early as the Massachusetts Body of Liberties in 1641, they protected the right to a speedy trial, by a jury, and with counsel. After independence, many states also…

  • Amendment 2

    The Second Amendment: The Right to Bear Arms During the Revolutionary War, the British tried to take weapons away from the colonists. This made the colonists feel helpless. They needed the guns to serve in their state militias. The Second Amendment gives people the right to bear arms (weapons) and the right to use them…

  • Amendment 15

    The Fifteenth Amendment: Suffrage for Black Men The Fourteenth Amendment did not explicitly grant the vote to African American men, although it decreased congressional representation for states that denied men the vote. Congress debated proposals for an amendment forbidding discrimination in voting based on race, and some Americans argued that women’s suffrage should also be…

  • Amendment 25

    The Twenty-fifth Amendment: Presidential Succession and Disability The assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 brought to the forefront many long-standing questions about presidential succession. When the president died, did the vice president automatically become president, or only serve as acting president? What happened when the vice presidency was vacant? Who determined when the…

  • Double Jeopardy

    Double Jeopardy Introduction to Double Jeopardy According to the Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, double jeopardy is the most ancient procedural guarantee provided by the American bill of rights. Rooted in Greek, Roman, and canon law, the right not to be put twice in jeopardy may be regarded as essential to a right to trial…

  • Amendment 14

    The Fourteenth Amendment: Equal Protection of the Laws Although the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery, it did not resolve the legal status of former slaves under federal and state law. After the Civil War, many southern states passed “Black Codes” designed to severely restrict the lives of newly freed slaves and keep them in virtual slavery.…

  • Amendment 21

    The Twenty-First Amendment All but one of the amendments have been approved by state legislatures. The one exception was the Twenty-First Amendment. This amendment ended Prohibition, the law that banned the manufacture, use, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. In this case, Congress called for state conventions to approve the amendment. To vote on this amendment,…

  • Amendment 8

    The Eighth Amendment: Cruel and Unusual Punishment The Eighth Amendment protects the rights of prisoners before they are tried and after they are convicted. It prohibits excessive bail, money or property posted as security to obtain release from jail pending trial. The amendment also bars excessive fines and “cruel and unusual” punishments if the accused…

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