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: the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Tenth, Eleventh, and the three Reconstruction Amendments (Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth).

This book is designed to fill the resulting gap. 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 18); and Twenty-Seventh (Congressional pay raises).

Also discussed are the six unratified amendments, as well as the thousands of proposed amendments that have never made it out of Congress.