The Neglected Amendments of the U.S. Constitution

Although the U.S. Constitution has twenty-seven amendments, most law students graduate having studied only the twelve "big" amendments: First (freedom of association, press, religion, and speech); Second (right to bear arms); Fourth (protection from unreasonable searches and seizures); Fifth (due process); Sixth (right to counsel); Seventh (trial by jury); Eighth (banning cruel and unusual punishments); Tenth (unenumerated powers); Eleventh (state immunity from federal lawsuits); and the Reconstruction Amendments (Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth), which were passed to protect the country's newly freed slaves.

This book is designed to fill the gap left by other constitutional law casebooks. It examines the following fifteen "neglected" amendments: Third (quartering of troops); Ninth (unenumerated rights); Twelfth (Electoral College); Sixteenth (income tax); Seventeenth (direct election of U.S. senators); Eighteenth (outlawing liquor); Nineteenth (giving women the vote); Twentieth (presidential and Congressional terms); Twenty-First (repealing the Eighteenth Amendment); Twenty-Second (limiting presidents to two terms); Twenty-Third (District of Columbia voting rights); Twenty-Fourth (poll taxes); Twenty-Fifth (presidential disability and succession); Twenty-Sixth (lowering the voting age to eighteen); and Twenty-Seventh (Congressional pay raises). It also discusses the six unratified amendments as well as the thousands of proposed amendments that, for one reason or another, have never made it out of Congress.

There is much to be gained from studying the neglected amendments. Far from merely occupying their own orbits in the Constitutional constellation, they often have been relied on by courts interpreting the big amendments. They also shine a light on our country's history; help chart its development from a small, agrarian society to a modern, industrial nation; and illustrate how much America's view of itself has changed since the Constitution's ratification in 1789.