The Short Constitution Part 8

Article XI (_Amendment XIII, Sec. 1._)

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Article XII (_Amendment XIV, Sec. 1._)

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.

Article XIII (_Amendment XV, Sec. 1._)

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.

Article XIV (_Art. I, Sec. 9, Cl. 2._)

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion, the public Safety may require it.

Article XV (_Art. I, Sec. 9, Cl. 3._)

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto law shall be pa.s.sed.

Article XVI (_Art. I, Sec. 9, Cl. 8._)

No t.i.tle of n.o.bility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office or t.i.tle of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

Article XVII (_Art. III, Sec. 2, Cl. 3._)

The trial of all Crimes except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury, and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.

Article XVIII (_Art. III, Sec. 3, Cl. 1._)

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two witnesses to the same overt Act or on Confession in open Court.

The Congress shall have power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.

Article XIX (_Art. IV, Sec. 2, Cl. 1._)

The Citizens of each State shall be ent.i.tled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.

Article XX (_Art. VI, Cl. 3._)

No religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

Now that is not long, is it? Yet in this brief part of the Const.i.tution are contained provisions the most important for the common people ever written by the hand of man in all the history of the world. In some countries of the world people have some of the rights and privileges guaranteed by our Const.i.tution, but in no other country in the world do the people have a written guaranty of all the rights, privileges, and liberties set forth in these short extracts from the Const.i.tution of the United States.

I want you all to get fixed in your minds the date of the adoption of the original Const.i.tution by the convention-1787.(39) That was more than a century and a quarter ago.

I want every child to understand just why the Const.i.tution was made, how it was made, something of the men that made it, and how the people of the States approved of the Const.i.tution before it became binding.

I also want you to understand something of the changes and additions made by the people since the Const.i.tution was first adopted. I want you to understand that it is the Const.i.tution of the people, the whole people, and I want you to know that the people can change the Const.i.tution or make additions to it whenever they want to.(40)

So at our next meeting I am going to tell you something of the making of the Const.i.tution.

ELEMENTARY QUESTIONS

1. Compare "The Short Const.i.tution" on pages 56-60 with the complete Const.i.tution found at the back of the book.

2. Why were these parts selected from the entire Const.i.tution? Is there any similarity in the various parts selected?

3. What are the most important provisions of the Const.i.tution of the United States?

4. Do the guaranties of the Const.i.tution protect the rights of all people living in America, or do they apply only to a few favored cla.s.ses?

5. What was the date of the adoption of the original Const.i.tution?

ADVANCED QUESTIONS

A. Why are we interested in our rights?

B. What are the dangers of talking too much about our rights?

C. Make a list of a duty to correspond with each right selected.

D. Write a paper on the following:

The Officials Provided by the Const.i.tution

The American Bill of Rights

VIII. MAKING THE CONSt.i.tUTION

How The Convention Of 1787 Drafted The Const.i.tution Of The United States

You will remember from your study of American history that when the early colonists came to this country they settled along the Atlantic coast in many separate and distinct groups. Not all had come from the same country.

Most of them were English, but there were also smaller settlements of Dutch, French, Germans, and Swedes. It was not many years until the English had taken control of all the land from Maine to Georgia, but even then not all the English were alike. There were Puritans and Cavaliers, Scotch and Irish, Scotch-Irish and Quakers. They differed in their ideas of government, religion, and education.

These colonists had come for many purposes. Some had come to make their fortune. Others because of trouble at home. Most had come to be free, to wors.h.i.+p G.o.d in the way they chose, to form their own government, to make their own laws, to govern themselves; and in the early days, they had met with success.

But as time went on, as more people came, as s.h.i.+ps were built, and trade and commerce increased, the government of England became more and more tyrannical. The English people may not have favored this, but they did not direct the acts of their king and his officers. Taxes were placed on the colonists without their consent. They were forced to accept laws not of their own choosing. The king refused them the right to select their own judges. They could not trade where they pleased. If you will read the Declaration of Independence you will see how their liberties were restricted.(41)

All this time the various colonies were as separate as so many distinct countries. They did not know each other. There was little travel from one to another. They were quite different. But they were alike in the fact that each wanted liberty, and that each was subject to oppression from the English king.

So from time to time we find them sending delegates to some common meeting place to discuss a plan of action. In 1754 a group met at Albany to suggest a plan of union. In 1765 England pa.s.sed the Stamp Act which put a tax upon certain articles such as books, newspapers, and playing cards. A person could not sell one of these articles without pasting upon it one of these stamps, the money from which went to England as a tax. It was much like our war tax upon tooth paste, shaving soap, and playing cards. The difference was this. The colonists had never given the right to make this tax. It had been imposed upon them by England; and further, if a person were accused of selling a book or newspaper without this stamp, he could be severely punished.(42) This enraged the colonists, and in New York in the following year, there met a group of delegates from nearly all the colonies to discuss ways and means of meeting this.