What are the first 15 amendments called?
Asked by: Toni Bartell Jr. | Last update: February 2, 2026Score: 4.9/5 (50 votes)
The first ten amendments are collectively called the Bill of Rights, guaranteeing fundamental individual freedoms, while the 11th through 15th amendments expanded rights and addressed Reconstruction, with the 13th, 14th, and 15th often grouped as the Reconstruction Amendments, dealing with slavery and equal protection.
What are the first 10 amendments called?
The first ten amendments to the Constitution are called the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights talks about individual rights.
What is the 15th Amendment called?
The Fifteenth Amendment (Amendment XV) to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal government or any state from denying or abridging a citizen's right to vote "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." It was ratified on February 3, 1870, as the third and last of the Reconstruction ...
What do the 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, and 14th amendments do?
The 4th Amendment protects against unreasonable searches; the 5th guarantees due process, no self-incrimination (pleading the fifth), and prevents double jeopardy; the 6th ensures rights in criminal trials like counsel and speedy trial; the 8th forbids excessive bail/fines and cruel/unusual punishment; and the 14th, via the Due Process Clause, applies these federal protections (including 4, 5, 6, 8) to the states, ensuring equal protection and citizenship rights.
What is the nickname for the 13 14 15 amendments?
Lesson Summary. The Reconstruction Amendments are the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution. They were passed after the end of the Civil War. The period between 1865 and 1877 in US history is called Reconstruction.
Sound Smart: The 15th Amendment | History
What was the 19 Amendment called?
The women's suffrage amendment – now known as the Nineteenth Amendment – was ratified on August 18, 1920, after which it was certified eight days later by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby. The instant that the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified, over twenty-six million American women were made eligible to vote.
What is the 12th Amendment called?
Constitutional Amendments – Amendment 12 – “Electing the President and Vice President”
Who wrote the Bill of Rights?
Writing the Bill of Rights
The amendments James Madison proposed were designed to win support in both houses of Congress and the states. He focused on rights-related amendments, ignoring suggestions that would have structurally changed the government.
What happens if the 5th is violated?
Violating the Fifth Amendment, especially the right against self-incrimination (pleading the Fifth), means any forced confessions or coerced statements must be excluded as evidence in court, leading to suppressed confessions or dismissed charges; however, the right doesn't apply to non-testimonial evidence (like DNA) and has consequences in civil cases where juries can infer guilt from silence, highlighting that police must stop questioning if a suspect invokes these rights.
What is the loophole in the 15th Amendment?
The main loophole in the 15th Amendment was that while it prohibited denying the right to vote based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude," it didn't explicitly ban other discriminatory criteria, allowing states to impose literacy tests, poll taxes, and grandfather clauses, which effectively disenfranchised Black voters. Southern states exploited these loopholes, creating barriers that disproportionately affected African Americans, until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 provided stronger federal protection for voting rights.
How many times has the Constitution been amended until 2025?
As of July 2025, there have been 106 amendments of the Constitution of India since it was first enacted in 1950. The Indian Constitution is the most amended national constitution in the world.
Can a president and vice president be from the same state?
The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, ...
Did the founding fathers put God in the Constitution?
No, the U.S. Constitution does not explicitly mention God or a supreme being in its main text, a deliberate choice by the Founding Fathers to establish a secular government and protect religious freedom, though it does contain a date reference ("Year of our Lord") and the First Amendment prevents religious tests for office, reflecting a consensus on separation of church and state despite their personal faith.
What are the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 amendments?
Amendments to the Constitution
- First Amendment Fundamental Freedoms.
- Second Amendment Right to Bear Arms.
- Third Amendment Quartering Soldiers.
- Fourth Amendment Searches and Seizures.
- Fifth Amendment Rights of Persons.
- Sixth Amendment Rights in Criminal Prosecutions.
- Seventh Amendment Civil Trial Rights.
What is the easiest way to remember the first 10 amendments?
To remember the first 10 amendments (the Bill of Rights), use memorable acronyms like GRASP (Religion, Assembly, Speech, Press, Petition) for the 1st and simple associations like "Two Arms" (2nd Amendment) or "Plead the Fifth" (5th Amendment). Visual methods, such as finger gestures (one finger for speech, two for arms) or creating vivid stories with rhyming objects (a bun for #1, a shoe for #2, a door for #4), also help connect numbers to their concepts.
What is the easiest amendment to understand?
The First Amendment provides for the freedoms of expression including religion and speech. The government cannot establish a national religion or prevent individuals from practicing their chosen religion. People, including the press, have the freedom to express their opinions through speech.
What are the 5 main points to the US Constitution?
The five core principles, or main "parts," of the U.S. Constitution are Popular Sovereignty, Limited Government, Separation of Powers, Checks and Balances, and Federalism, along with foundational elements like the Preamble, the Seven Articles (structuring the branches), and the Bill of Rights (first 10 Amendments). These concepts establish a government by the people, with divided powers, protected rights, and shared authority between federal and state levels.
What is amendment 27 in kid words?
The 27th Amendment says that if Congress votes to give itself a raise, the raise won't take effect until after the next election.
Did James Madison believe in Jesus?
Sheldon, in an essay on Madison in an edited work titled “Religion and the American Presidency” (Columbia University Press, 2009), maintains that Madison's intellectual life and long public service to his nation were directed by his “firm Christian faith and principles.” These included belief in God's sovereignty, ...
What are the four unalienable Rights?
The four unalienable rights, as famously stated in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness, with the addition of the right to alter or abolish government when it becomes destructive of these ends, and are often linked to philosopher John Locke's concept of natural rights, including life, liberty, and property, as inherent and God-given.
Who wrote the preamble?
It is generally acknowledged that the Preamble's author was Gouverneur Morris, as the language from the federal preamble echoes that of Morris's home state's Constitution.
Can there be a President and vice president from different parties?
Vice-presidential election
Unlike in the House, senators cast votes individually. In a contingent election, the Senate votes separately from the House, so the president chosen by the House and the vice president chosen by the Senate could be from different parties.
Is the 13th Amendment still relevant?
Despite its significance in American history, the Thirteenth Amendment is not one of the more frequently invoked parts of our Constitution today. Now that slavery is a part of our past, the Amendment's current relevance is subject to debate.
What is the Article 11 of the Constitution?
[ARTICLE XI.] The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.