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| Amendment | One of the ways that the Constitution can be adapted as times change is through amending the document; the amendment process is explained in Article V. |
| Bill of Rights | To help ensure ratification, supporters of the Constitution promised to add a list of basic, unalienable rights to the Constitution, and in 1791 the states ratified ten amendments that described these rights, which became known as the Bill of Rights. |
| First Amendment | “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” |
| Second Amendment | “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” |
| Tenth Amendment | “powers not delegated to the United States … nor prohibited … to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” |
| Fourteenth Amendment | says that all citizens have the right to equal protection of the law in all states. It was intended to protect the legal rights of the freed enslaved people and their descendants. It is also known as one of the Civil War or Reconstruction Amendments. |
| Fifteenth Amendment | prohibits the government from denying a person’s right to vote on the basis of race. It was intended to protect the legal rights of the freed enslaved males. It is also known as one of the Civil War or Reconstruction Amendments. |
| Seventeenth Amendment | says that the people—not state legislatures—elect United States senators directly. Congress tried to pass this amendment several times, but in 1912, scandals involving charges of vote buying in state legislatures finally helped the amendment pass. |
| State Legislature Ratification | The legislatures in three-fourths of the states can ratify the amendment. This allows only state legislators to vote on an amendment. |
| State Convention Ratification | States can hold special conventions and have three-fourths of the conventions approve it. This allows people to directly vote for amendments. |
| establishment clause | The first part of the First Amendment prohibits Congress from establishing a national religion. This also established separation of church and state. |
| amendment process | There are two steps to amending the Constitution—proposing an amendment and ratifying an amendment. In a reflection of our federal system of government, amendments are proposed at the national level and ratified in a state-by-state process. Congress sets a number of other rules that apply to the ratification process. A key rule is setting a time limit for states to ratify an amendment—if the time expires, then the whole ratification process is dead. Most recent amendments have had a limit of seven years. Placing a time limit has a large influence on whether an amendment can get the necessary number of states to pass. |
| interpretation | When federal courts decide cases, they are often interpreting the meanings of words and phrases in the Constitution that are imprecise. The courts have the power to review federal laws or government actions to determine whether they violate the Constitution. In doing so, they decide what parts of the document mean. |
| Texas v. Johnson | in 1989, the Supreme Court heard a case involving a man who purposely set an American flag on fire as part of a public protest. He was arrested and convicted for violating a Texas law that prohibited desecrating the flag. In Texas v. Johnson (1989), the Supreme Court ruled that flag burning in the context of a political protest is symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment, so the Texas law was unconstitutional. Many people were outraged by the Court’s decision. The very next day, a member of Congress introduced a constitutional amendment to ban any form of flag desecration. The amendment did not pass, but it has been proposed again many times since. |
| Brown v. Board of Education | the Supreme Court said that “separate educational facilities were inherently unequal” and therefore unconstitutional. This overturned an earlier decision, Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the Supreme Court ruled that separate but equal facilities for African Americans did not violate the Constitution. |
| state legislative branch | State legislatures pass laws that deal with a variety of matters, including health, crime, labor, education, and transportation, and they have the power to tax and to spend and borrow money. In some areas—like public welfare and public safety—state legislatures have more power than the U.S. Congress, which is limited to the lawmaking powers described in Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. |
| bicameral | Almost every state has a bicameral state legislature—one with two houses, like the U.S. Congress. The upper house is always called the senate, and the lower house is usually called the house of representatives, but some states refer to it as the general assembly, the house of delegates, the legislative assembly, or the general court. |
| unicameral | Nebraska has the only unicameral, or one-chambered, state legislature in the country. |
| state executive branch | Every state has an executive branch headed by a governor, who has the power to carry out, or execute, state laws. |
| Governor | head of a state’s executive branch and responsibilities include proposing and signing legislation, budgeting, appointing officials, planning for economic growth, and coordinating the work of executive departments. |
| state judicial branch | Like the U.S. Constitution, state constitutions establish courts to uphold and interpret state laws. Those courts help resolve conflicts such as business disagreements and grievances that citizens might have against each other. State courts also punish criminals who violate state laws. |
| national supremacy | As the basic law of the state, the state constitution is supreme, and trumps all other laws made within the state. At the same time, the state constitution cannot contain provisions that clash with the U.S. Constitution. |
| Supremacy Clause | Under the U.S. Constitution's supremacy clause, if a federal court decides that a provision or amendment of a state's constitution is in conflict with the U.S. Constitution, that provision or amendment must be removed. |
| local charter | Charters are documents that state governments issue to local governments. A charter grants the community a legal status and allows it to have a separate local government. Charters specify the type of government the community will have, the powers and responsibilities of the local government, and the procedure for electing officials to the local government. |
| state constitutional convention | Most states have the option of convening a statewide constitutional convention, which is a gathering of citizens who are usually elected by popular vote and who meet to consider changing or replacing a constitution. Again, whether voters can call for a convention or whether state legislatures must agree to the convention varies from state to state. |
| state constitutional commission | A constitutional commission is a group of experts who are appointed to study the state constitution and recommend changes. Florida and New Mexico are the only states that offer this method for constitutional amendments. |
