Twelfth Amendment

The Twelfth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads:

"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, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate.

The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted.

The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President.

The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States."

What the 12th Amendment means to me is that the president and vice president were now elected separately. It did change the presidential election process. Originally the Vice President was simply the person who received the second highest vote total. The election of 1800 ended in a tie between Andrew Burr and Thomas Jefferson.




People vote all around the world and this picture is representing the 12th amendment. Electors meet in the their respective states, and vote by ballot for president and vice president.



The 12th amendment is important because it basically changed each electoral college members votes from two votes for president where the highest vote would become president and the next highest would be vice president to a distinct vote for president and a distinct vote for vice president.


*It was created to see who was going to be president and who was going to be vice president of the United States of America.

Amendment Eleven

"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 Statesby Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subject of any Foreign State."

The eleventh amendment means to me that states can not be sued in court by citizens. The government cannot take away life, liberty, or property without "due process of law". A case involved with the eleventh amendment was chisum v. Georgia (1793). The Supreme Court said states could be sued by people, this protects states rights, and states can wave this right if they wanted to.

This video really explains the eleventh amendment because the lady was trying to sue the other lady for store damage in her store and she took her to federal court.  When they went to court the guy said that you can't sue her because of the eleventh amendment and if she sends someone to federal court without going through any state system, it is a law so she can't sue her to the federal court. Therefore, the case was dismissed.




This picture relates to the amendment because of what it exactly says, "the balance of power between state and federal government shifts according to circumstances." 

Tenth Amendment

"The powersnot delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

What I think the 10th Amendmetn means is that if the main government didn't make a law for or against something, then the states can make a law about it. If something is not actually written into the constitution, then the states, have the right to make laws about it. Of course, there are ways around this, which this is why the federal government is involved in everything.

 This picture really relates to the tenth amendment because the tenth amendment affirms the power to the states. The articles give powers to the federal government and amendments 1-9 give powers to the people.

"The Constitution designed the federal government to be a government of limited and enumerated, or listed, powers. This means that the federal government only has powers over the things that are specifically given to it in the Constitution. All other powers are reserved to the States."

Ninth Amendment

"The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

The ninth amendments rights were not written into the text of the Constitution but instead informed from the language history, and structure of the constitution. The ninth amendment means exactly what it says. "The 9th Amendment is simply a statement that other rights aside from those listed may exist, and just because they are not listed doesn't mean they can be violated."







"Ninth Amendment was added to ensure that each item of the Constitution was given equal weight. The Ninth Amendment prevents anyone from using his constitutional rights to take away the constitutional rights of anyone else." It protects the rights of equality in the eyes of the law.

I really like this video becasue it really explains the 9th amendment and how it works.  It kind of gives you a history lesson and explains the 9th amendment and how it became the 9th amendment. I especially liked it becasue the 9th amendment can be confusing and this made me better understand the amendment.

Eighth Amendment

"Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."

What I think the 8th Amendment means to me is that if a person is charged with an offense that permits that he or she can be released while awaiting trial, the amount of bail required should be reasonable as opposed. This only happens if the amount should be enough to make it likely that the person will appear in court at the appointed time rather than lose it, but should not be so high that paying it is impossible. Another thing the eighth amendment talks about is unusual punishment and that referes to punishment without president and one that has never been imposed by anybody. Unusual punishment is permitted if it is not cruel.

If you murder someone intentionally, I don't think it is cruel or unusual to send that person to the death penalty.  I think if someone takes someone else's life then they should have to have their life taken from them as well.  Now if it was an accident I think it should be a different story but I know sometimes it could be hard to tell if it was on purpose or if it was an accident.  This video show's pictures of cruel and unusual punishement that lead to people dying. I also picked this video because there really weren't any good one's and it had pretty good pictures.

I picked this picture because it really explains the 8th amendment. I think that this kind of punishment is cruel and it should never be prohibited.  I only believe in the death penalty when the criminals get  put to death by the electric chair when the criminal committed a crime on purpose not on accident.

Amendment Seven

"In Suits at common law, where the value in conroversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law."

What the seventh amendment means to me is it has the right to a trial by jury. A group of your peers will be used to determine your guilt in a particular case of either guilty or not-guilty. "The 7th Amendment was added to the Constitution because citizens were concerned about the right for a trial by jury." The 7th Amendment guaranteed the right for civil law trials by jury. It also guaranteed the right to an appeal to federal courts.

 

                 

This picture represents the seventh amendment because if you steal or do something that is more than twenty dollars, then you have the right to have a jury to try you, instead of a judge.

This video really shows how important the seventh amendment is because in the video it showed how the innocent lady got accused for something she really did not do and as you can see this could happen to anyone and innocent people get accused of things they really did not do.  It's important to have someone to affend yourself then to just have one person to decide your guilt.

Amendment Six

"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence."

To me I think that overall the amendment means that only people commit crimes get punished for crimes, and that innocent people don't get punished. It is to make sure that the wealthy will actually be punished if they commit crimes, rather than buying their way out of prison. The accused shall have the right to a speedy trial which means speedy sets no specific date.

This picture relates to the sixth amendment because the accused has the right to a quick trial. This does not mean that their trial must be over in one week. This means that the state can not make them sit in jail for 6 years while they wait to have a trial, because that would be unfair to anyone who was innocent.

The accused also has the right to an lawyer. If you can not afford an attorney or lawyer, one will be given to you by the court. The Miranda case has made this right famous. Whenever someone is arrested they are read their Miranda rights. "These rights include the right to be silent, and the right to an attorney."