Amendment
a change or addition to a legal or statutory document.
Archivist of the United States
the main official managing the operation of the National Archives and Records Administration.
Article V
the section of the Constitution that provides methods for amending the document.
Bill of Rights
the first ten amendments to the US Constitution.
Certification
the process of verifying that an amendment has been properly ratified.
Concurrent resolution
a resolution adopted by both houses of Congress.
Electorate
all the people in a country or area who are entitled to vote in an election.
Federal Register
a publication of the federal government that lists proposed and final administrative regulations of federal agencies.
Framers
any of the delegates who participated in the creation of the U.S. Constitution.
Joint resolution
a legislative measure requiring approval by both the Senate and the House.
Legislative boundries
the limits of the area represented by a member of the House of Representatives.
Madison amendment
another name for the 27th Amendment, which limits the ability to change the salary of members of Congress until after an election of members of the House of Representatives.
Quorum
the minimum number of members of a group that must be present at a meeting to make the proceedings of that meeting valid.
Ratification
the official method of confirming a proposed amendment to the Constitution.
Ratifying convention
one of the two methods established by Article V of the United States Constitution for ratifying proposed constitutional amendments.
Registered letter
a mail service allowing the sender proof of mailing and receipt of the letter or package.
Resolution
a written motion adopted by Congress.
United States Statutes at Large
the official record of Acts of Congress and concurrent resolutions passed by Congress.
Bill of Rights
the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
Cruel and unusual punishments
includes such items as torture, deliberately degrading punishment, or punishment too severe for the crime committed.
Due process
fair treatment through the normal judicial system.
Enumerated
a list of items.
Freedom of assembly
the right to hold public meetings and form associations without interference by the government.
Freedom to petition
to make a complaint to, or seek the assistance of, one's government, without fear of punishment.
Freedom of the press
the right to publish opinions without censorship by the government.
Freedom of religion
the right to practice whatever religion one chooses.
Freedom of speech
the right to express opinions without censorship or restraint.
Lawsuit
a case that a court is asked to decide involving a dispute between people or groups.
Militia
a group of people not part of the armed forces of a country but trained like soldiers.
Quarter
to provide lodging and/or food to military troops.
Search warrant
a legal document authorizing police or other officials to enter and search property.
Virginia Declaration of Rights
a document drafted in 1776 to proclaim the natural rights of citizens, including the right to reform or abolish "inadequate" government.
Civil disobedience
the refusal to comply with certain laws as a peaceful form of political protest.
Civil liberties
rights protected against government actions.
Civil rights
how civil liberties are guaranteed by the government through laws, court decisions, and actions of government agencies.
Civil rights movement
a movement to secure for African Americans equal access to the basic privileges and rights of U.S. citizenship that peaked in the 1950s and 1960s.
Disenfranchisement
denial of the right to vote to a person or group of people.
Equal protection clause
part of the 14th amendment that prohibits states from denying any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Fifteenth Amendment
prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
Fourteenth Amendment
defines national citizenship and forbids the states from restricting the basic rights of citizens or other persons.
Gender norms
what a society considers male and female behavior.
Involuntary servitude
being forced through coercion or violence to work for another.
Legal equality
also known as equality under the law, the principle under which all people are subject to the same laws and possess the same basic rights.
Literacy test
an examination to determine whether a person meets the literacy requirements for voting, typically used to prevent African Americans and the poor from voting.
Nineteenth Amendment
prohibits any American citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex.
Poll tax
a tax required as a qualification for voting, typically used to prevent African Americans and the poor from voting.
Reconstruction
the period (1865-77) after the Civil War in which the states formerly part of the Confederacy were brought back into the United States.
Segregation
the enforced separation of different racial groups in a country, community, or establishment.
Self-determination
the process by which a country determines its own statehood.
Suffrage
the right to vote in political elections.
Thirteenth Amendment
abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.
Twenty-Fourth Amendment
prohibits both Congress and the states from making the right to vote in federal elections conditional on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax.
Twenty-Sixth Amendment
prohibits the states and the federal government from using age as a reason for denying the right to vote to citizens who are at least eighteen years old.
Abstinence
restraining oneself from participating in something, such as drinking alcohol.
Anti-Saloon League
the leading organization lobbying for prohibition in the U.S. in the early 20th century.
Constitutionality
a law's status in meeting the requirements of the Constitution, as determined by a court.
Deadlock
a situation, often involving opposing parties, in which no progress can be made.
Direct election
an election in which citizens vote directly instead of having representatives who vote for them.
Eighteenth Amendment
established the prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the U.S. by declaring illegal the production, transport, and sale of alcohol.
Electoral College
a body of people representing the states of the U.S. who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president.
Graduated income tax
a tax that rises in steps, with those having the highest income paying the highest percentage of tax.
Income tax
the tax levied by a government directly on income, especially an annual tax on personal income.
Organized crime
groups with some type of a formal structure whose main goal is to make money through illegal activities.
Perscription
a written message from a doctor that officially allows a patient to purchase and use a medicine.
Prohibition
the prevention by the law of the manufacture and sale of alcohol in the US between 1920 and 1933.
Sixteenth Amendment
permitted the government to establish a federal income tax.
Temperance
abstinence from or moderation in drinking alcoholic beverages.
Twelfth Amendment
changed the process by which a President and a Vice-President are elected by the Electoral College.
Twenty-Fifth Amendment
established rules of succession for the presidency and vice presidency in the event of death, resignation, or incapacity.
Twenty-First Amendment
repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, which had mandated nationwide Prohibition on alcohol.
Twenty-Second Amendment
limited presidential terms to two for any one person, or to one elected term if the person has completed more than two years of another president's term.
Twenty-Third Amendment
allowed District of Columbia residents to vote in presidential elections.
Volstead Act
enacted to carry out the intent of the Eighteenth Amendment, which established prohibition in the United States.
Women's Christian Temperance Union
an organization founded in the late 19th century in the United States that encouraged total abstinence from alcohol.