Assignment

Inthose based on race and based on sex probably the major civil rights issue of today some would argue would be the LBGTQ movement that’s right you know in the history of American Civil rights movements that’s a relatively recent one we’ve had these issues dealing with race and sex really since our founding really for over a couple of centuries This is not by the way and this is the limitation of our approach in this class we’re not doing a history of the civil rights movement because this is a government class so we’re talking specifically in here about government action with respect to civil rights so we won’t be looking at Martin Luther King as important as that is and we won’t be looking at the Birmingham bus boycott and we won’t be looking at Rosa Parks and we won’t be looking at the at the citizens lunch counters in North Carolina that’s all for a history class and you should take a history class and you should get that history of these rights movement but that that’s that’s not what we’re on about it here what we’re on about being here are the actions that the federal government have taken with respect to civil rights that is with respect to ameliorating discrimination in American Society based mostly historically on race and sex now there have been other issues or will talk about for example when we talk about the 1964 Civil Rights Act there’s been a history of discrimination against immigrants as well based on nationality especially in the 19th century Irish immigrants in the middle of the century and Chinese immigrants in the end at the end of the 19th century but the two big ones are our race and sex and the government actions with one exception that we’re going to talk about are going to fall basically under three categories and those three categories will include constitutional amendments which will look at first and then statutes and you know by now that a statute is a law passed by Congress and then finally Supreme Court opinions so court cases so every an it might be helpful you know to make a little chart when you kind of trace the history of US government action in the United States with respect to civil rights to peg every action under one of these categories in a constitutional amendment is it a statute a law passed by Congress or is it a court case a Supreme Court opinion and will look at all three of the next couple of days as I hope you know an if you don’t all explain it to you now constitutional stuff is the Supreme law of the land right the constitution comes first constitution does outrank a statute there is a hierarchy there’s been a few examples of where I’ve said in the past don’t think of this as a hierarchy but this is a hierarchy constitutional amendments are fundamental law they can’t be altered by legislative action so you can’t have a statute and we talked about this when we talked about judicial review you can’t have a statute a law passed by Congress that conflicts with the constitution ’cause the constitution comes first it is the fundamental law that’s meant to be timeless it’s meant to apply across generations well you know statutes laws passed by Congress come and go and can be repealed by Congress can be amended and so forth today with a fairly easy process relatively easy are the same is not true of constitutional amendments it’s very difficult to amend the constitution should be because it is as I say the law that’s supposed to stretch across generations that is the law that is supposed to reflect timeless principles now I said there’s one exception to this government action when it comes to civil rights when I said they all fall under one of these three categories cost to some limits statutes and Supreme Court opinions and the one exception the one government action that doesn’t fall under one of these three categories is the one that we talk about first and this takes us back to January 1 1863 January 1 1863 now if you know your history you know that on January 1 1863 we here in the United States are fighting a civil war civil war over issues of slavery and the expansion of slavery in states rights and that sort of thing you’ll remember from our discussion of the constitutional convention that nobody thought under the original constitution that the federal government had the power to regulate slavery no if New York didn’t want it fine that’s new york’s decision if Georgia did want it fine that’s Georgia’s decision and the federal government had nothing to say about it one way or the other within the borders of the pre existing stage but what about all this vast territory on the continent they haven’t yet organized themselves into states for the United States still loans as a result of the Louisiana purchase and the Gadsden purchase and and and the treaties with Great Britain that settled the northwest border and what not about all these territories out out West what power does the federal government have over that and that’s an issue that’s sort of bedevilled the United States government indifferent politicians saw it very differently in the lead up to the civil war but the major issue in the lead up of the civil war was not the elimination of slavery itself but the elimination of its expansion could slavery go into the territories could it go into the area of the Louisiana purchase could the federal government ban slavery in those areas should states or new states or new territories be able to decide that issue for themselves or as one Supreme Court opinion in 1857 called Dred Scott decided is any government powerless to deal with or pharma slave owner I want to take my slave into Minnesota for example take away my property if you think of a slave is my property so this issue of this expansion of slavery is kind of what leads to the civil war in president Lincoln in his first inaugural address delivered on March 4th 1861 makes his position clear which is as most people up to that time thought the federal government doesn’t have any power to abolish slavery in the states where it already existed but it does have the power to prevent the expansion of slavery into the rest of this vast continent so that’s the position when Lincoln takes office on March 4 1861 and almost immediately thereafter the next month war starts in Charleston harbor Fort Sumter SC and then we fight this bitter or costly deadly war for four years and Lincoln starts in an I think by now you may know that I’m talking this is action on January 1 1863 of lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation which was a presidential order that’s why it doesn’t fall into one of the categories of constitutional amendments or statute or court cases this is a presidential order and he starts to formulate it president Lincoln does in the summer of 1862 but then based on the advice of one of his cabinet officers he was holds issuing this some answer patient proclamation until the North Windsor battle because in the summer of 1862 the war is going badly for the North at this will look it is feared like a desperate measure so like it with holds it until the North wins a major battle on the battlefield more or less that ends up being the bloodiest battle in American history the battle of antietam here in Maryland in September of 1862 and then Lincoln decides to issue this order saying the slaves are free and he decides to change the war aim remember one of the initial war aims was not to abolish slavery just limited expansion but like and as you know is commander in chief the president as commander in chief and the war aims or what he says the war aims are so on January 1 1863 when he issues his Emancipation Proclamation changing the war apes now going forward and for the next 2 plus years of the war the elimination of slavery in the United States does become a war aim and Lincoln orders it and is Emancipation Proclamation January 1 1863 says the slaves are henceforth and forever free those states that are now in rebellion against the United States that is those Confederate states that had seceded from the union slaves are now free we could worded the order the Emancipation Proclamation that reason that way for a reason there were four slave states they did not leave the union there were four slave states they didn’t all fight on behalf of the union but they at least remain neutral they did not join the confederacy so there were four what you call border states that did not leave the union during the civil War One of them was Kentucky Kentucky was a slave state but it remained in the union during the civil war that was true also of Missouri that was true also of Maryland and that was true also of Delaware so Delaware Maryland Missouri and Kentucky are 4 border states the states that have slavery but don’t succeed don’t join the confederacy Lincoln doesn’t make icipe answer patient proclamation apply to them because he’s afraid if he does they will leave EU if he does issue an order to Kentucky that well they’ve got a free their slaves Kentucky will eat they’ll join the confederacy so will Missouri so we’re so will Delaware so Maryland so he makes his Emancipation Proclamation his order freeing the slaves applicable only to those states of the confederacy Florida Georgia South Carolina North Carolina Virginia Arkansas Texas Louisiana Mississippi Alabama and Tennessee those 11 those 11 states made up the old confederacy so trainees in those states they are now free well there’s a couple of problems with this order hopefully by this point in the class you’ve all instantly recognized one of the problems and the major problem with this horror is this where does Lincoln get the authority who does he think he is but we don’t have Kings in the United States that’s not how our system works that’s not how it’s supposed to work anyway we don’t have a system whereby Oh well the president has ordered it now it’s done that sounds like something a King does not like something a president in a constitutional Republic is permitted to do so where does he get the authority Lincoln is a brilliant constitutional scholar is a very brilliant man by the way practice law for any number of years he realized but there are constitutional objections to his issue in an order like this that doesn’t go through Congress so he has to hang his hat on something he has to cite some basis in the constitution for his authority to do this and the power that he claims gives him this authority is his power as commander in chief right his commander in chief we’re at war this is a war measure you know some people say well the masturbation proclamation was meaningless because of the states where it was effective that didn’t recognize Lincoln as their president anyway after all they had succeeded that’s not really a well taken criticism because there were several areas in the South that were under federal control several area coastal areas in the old southeast at most famously the city of New Orleans was occupied by the federals much of Mississippi much of Tennessee was occupied by the federal army so there were some slaves that were actually freed by the Emancipation Proclamation of course Lincoln wanted those freed slaves to be able to fight in the union army that was another basis for the order but it justifies the order as his at as is stemming from his authority as commander in chief no fair enough the divorce going to end at some point at least hopefully the war will end at some point what then well then if you want this done permanently slavery eliminate it in the United States you’re going to need a constitutional amendment and there’s where we get into the constitutional amendments if you ever watched the movie Lincoln starring Daniel day Lewis and if you haven’t you should I don’t watch very many movies but that’s one that I did watch this ’cause I was on a panel that was discussing it after it came out so I had to watch it campeon panel discussing the movie if you haven’t watched the movie so I watched the movie Lincoln Daniel day Lewis think it was about eight years ago or so it came out great movie very well done but if you’ve ever watched it you know that it’s about lincoln’s battle to get the 13th amendment to the constitution through Congress to amend the constitution in a 2/3 vote of both houses of Congress and 3/4 of the states so 2/3 vote of both houses of Congress and then a 3/4 vote if you have 50 states you need 38 of those states to ratify a constitutional amendment for it to become effective so as I mentioned a little while ago it’s very difficult to amend the constitution and shouldn’t be but anyway we do an anagama movie Lincoln deals with lincolns efforts to get the 13th amendment through Congress which he does manage to accomplish is his last major accomplishment before he is assassinated in April 1865 so we have three constitutional amendments that deal with civil rights in the immediate aftermath of the civil war and those have gone down in history as the three post civil war mammoths they are #13 which is ratified in 1865 that’s the amendment that abolishes slavery in the United States #14 the most important constitutional amendment in history which is ratified in 1868 and then #15 voting rights amendment which is ratified in 1870 so you have amendments 1314 and 15 to the constitution ratified in the immediate aftermath of the civil war collectively known as the three post civil more amendments 1314 and 50 address in a moment ago 13 abolish slavery or involuntary servitude in the United States no more slavery no more involuntary except as a punishment for crime that’s the exception that’s listed in the 13th amendment but otherwise it’s not legal anywhere in the United States down slash slavery abolished by the 13th minute bades 1865 right after the civil war ends so you might think that will you know were then well the road to having short of a Society of equal rights in the United States but not quite in fact not even close so now the southern states who were being re admitted to the union after they lose the civil war they can’t have slavery anymore that’s prohibited by the 13th amendment slavery is done what other rights do they have to recognize in the now freed Slaves what other legal privileges do they have to afford the now freed slaves that’s the question these southern states the states of the old confederacy I have one person who messages me citizenship that’s a good answer but it’s wrong as a good answer because that’s where we’re going next after the 13th amendment abolishes slavery and the question in the old South becomes what other rights do they have to grant but now freed slaves the southern states answer to that is nothing nothing I want you to remember when we first talked about the drafting of the constitution and who would apply to remember I stressed then you met I have gotten tired of me stressing it and thought that I was splitting hairs or beating a dead horse but this is where it becomes really important I stressed then that the constitution Dell only with federal government action includes the amendments the first 10 amendments which we’ll talk about later in the week including the 1st amendment of the constitution which has Congress shall make no law abridging your free speech or freedom of the press or your right to exercise your religion freely when it says Congress shall make no law it meant exactly that Congress the United States Congress did states have laws abridging free speech sure did they have laws establishing religion sure states did did the federal government objected that the federal constitution object to that no I can’t stress the point strongly enough the federal constitution applied only to actions of the federal government not to actions of private parties not to the actions of states but only to the actions of the federal government so in the First Amendment says no establishment of religion it means the federal government can’t establish it doesn’t mean a state can’t when it says no suppression of free speech it means the federal government test pressure for you doesn’t mean a state can’t up to this point that’s all going to change with the next amendment that we talk about after our break which is amendment #14 so when we come back in 5 to 7 minutes we’re going to talk about the most famous and the most important constitutional amendment in American history and that’s amendment #14.

Part 2 recording is going we’re going to go there we had just finished looking at the passage of the 13th amendment in the last months of Abraham lincoln’s administration the last months of his life abolishing slavery in the United States and then we came to the amendment that I said is the most important by far by far the most important constitutional amendment in American history this is the second of three post civil war constitutional amendments the 14th amendment ratified in 1868 that is 3 years after the conclusion of the ship war and one of you very accurately put your finger on the issue after the passage of the 13th amendment which assistantship the southern states after the passage of the 13th amendment there like well we can’t have slaves anymore that’s prohibited by the 13th amendment but what else do we have to do and the answer I said to you was nothing why after all these people the freed slaves they aren’t even citizens and they are confirmed in that belief that freed slaves are not citizens in a Supreme Court opinion that was issued back in 1857 called the Dred Scott opinion these people they aren’t even citizens we don’t have to let them vote we don’t have to let them serve on juries we don’t have to let them own property we don’t have to afford them any legal rights or any benefits of citizenship they’re not citizens that’s the reaction predictably of the southern states to the passage of the 13th amendment so the 14th amendment is going to change all that and there’s three important parts is actually 5 important parts I talk about the three most important there are three important parts they were gonna talk about when it comes to the 14th amendment and the first is the citizenship clause out the 14th amendment oops I misspelled class CLAUSE citizenship ’cause to this claim that well these folks aren’t even citizens we pass Congress passes the requisite number of states ratifies the 14th amendment which says anyone born in the United States and there’s another qualification that don’t worry bout says and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States but anyone basically is anyone born in the United States is a citizen of the United States and a citizen of the state in which they reside that’s what the 14th amendment’s citizenship costs anyone born in the United States is a citizen of the United States and of the state of the state in which they reside well this is 1868 remember you know by now the slave trade the international slave trade is banned way back in 1808 like 60 years later 1868 virtually every one of these now freed slaves and United States born here they’re born in the United States so this is the federal government’s response to the southern States and well they’re not even citizens the 14th of Emma said well yes they are anyone born in the United States is a citizen of the United States an estate an of the state wherein they reside so so much for that argument by the way the 14th amendment and the citizenship cost gives the United States what’s called Citizenship still to this day one of the few countries in the world that has this birthright citizenship born here citizen here it’s still controversial in the 21st century it still came up as recently as the presidential debates in 2016 between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton they debated the 14th amendment’s citizenship clause is one of the issues they addressed because the amendment was meant to capture the free quad captures a bad word it was meant to apply to the freed slaves that’s why it was ratified back in 1868 and the argument that they weren’t even citizens but it says what it says and it says anybody born here citizen here and of course freed slaves is not the 21st century issue we I mean with slavery abolished in 1865 there are no living former free slaves but what happens in the 21st century is people cross the border illegally and then have children here and are those children citizens of the United States even though their parents came here illegally in the answers well the 14th amendment says yes if you’re born here you’re a citizen here an I say that debate came up in the presidential debates in 2016 because Donald Trump said well that’s not what it means when they were talking about immigration Hillary Clinton pointed out well here’s what the 14th amendment says about people that were born here I am Donald Trump said and and he was right about this that is what it meant that isn’t what what the 14th amendment was getting at it was getting in the freed slaves back in 1868 but it says what it says which is that if you want here your system here and so there is Disappearance so there it is so anyway there’s birthright citizenship that’s one important aspect of the 14th amendment so southern states can no longer say they’re not even citizens the 14th amendment says yes they are so that’s number one and then you have the other two important parts of the 14th amendment that I’m going to talk about or what’s called the due process clause of the 14th amendment and then what’s called the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment the due process clause being most important for our discussion of civil liberties later this week the equal protection clause being most relevant for our discussion of civil rights now now here’s what the 14th amendment says and I want you to pay particular attention to the exact verbage right which is that no state maybe NI a citizen of the United States no state may deny a citizen of the United States due process of law or the equal protection of the law I will talk more about due process when we talk about civil liberties my focus now is on equal protection no state may deny a citizen of the United States equal protection of the law’s 14th amendments equal protection loss now what’s the really really really really significant language there I mean all cap it they highlighted I know they say you’re not supposed to all cat because it shouted when I’m going to chat a little beer right no state may deny citizen of the United States due process of law or the equal protection was no state hopefully you see my point write the federal constitution now is governing states not just the federal government the federal constitution is demanding that the states provide equal protection and due process remember what I emphasized earlier federal constitution only applied to the federal government Bill of Rights only applied to the federal government now along comes the 14th amendment that says no state maybe now I do process of law or equal protection of the law that’s big that’s big big big that’s crucial that’s what makes the 14th amendment the most important constitutional method in American history think of it this way remember the system of federalism that we talked about the first week of class oh the two sovereigns and I told you it’s not really a hierarchy don’t think of it that way we got the federal government that has some responsibilities and we have the state government that has other responsibilities and as far as the federal government and the federal constitution is concerned there are limited exceptions that I don’t have time to go into in the original constitution but for the most part as far as the federal constitution was concerned states could do whatever they want federal government didn’t stop the states from doing whatever they wanted a student the federal constitution did not stop the states from doing whatever they wanted the federal government was stopped a lot of things as result of the federal constitution but not states this all changes and we’re becoming as a result of the 14th amendment and we’re becoming less of a Federation and more of a nation right will be coming last said well were a collection of states that you know Georgia has their laws in New Hampshire has their laws in Pennsylvania has their laws in New Jersey has theirs and we’re all kind of sort of in a union here but we all kinda sorta do our own thing that’s what it’s like up to the civil war and then after the civil war in the 14th amendment no more of this New Jersey and North Carolina each do their own thing are these constitutional protections and constitutional liberties and constitutional requirements for fair government and fair treatment of American citizens are going to be uniform throughout the country as a result of the civil war in the 14th amendment do you see the point ultimately is this we fundamentally transform the way we govern ourselves and how we look at ourselves as a result of the civil war as a result of the 14th amendment no more each state does their own thing but now each state has to provide constitutional guarantees and constitutional liberties and citizenship as a result of the 14th amendment that’s huge that that that fundamentally transforms who we are as a nation and one of the things we’ll see when we talk about civil liberties later in the week there’s all of these liberties that you’re familiar with I’m sure that are spelled out in the Bill of Rights the first 10 amendments to the constitution free speech free religion Free Press the right to bear arms right to be free from searches and seizures the right to counsel the right to speedy trial at on and on and on are going to apply to the states going forward going to take some time after the passage of the 14th amendment but we’re going to demand as a result of the 14th amendment that individual states recognize these constitutional liberties not just the federal government federal government still has to force but states now as well that’s the overwhelming importance of the four Kingdom and so you have the citizenship clause anyone born in United States is a citizen of the United States you have the equal protection clause no state may deny a citizen of the United States equal protection of the laws and you have the due process plus no state may deny a citizen of United States due process of law what’s due process by the way something we’ll talk about later in the week but just to sort of introduce the concept now it’s this idea that there are certain fundamental guarantees especially in the context of criminal law that if those guarantees are not recognized that the government is not treating you properly is not treating you fairly the right to be confronted with your accusers the right to have the assistance of counsel in trial the right not to be thrown in prison for years on end in the government tell you we’re going to get to your trial eventually maybe in 2028 or something so the right to a speedy and public trial those sorts of things all those make up due process in other words there are certain procedures the state when it exercises its power against you must recognize and must comply with and that’s due process and the states are going to have to start providing due process after the 4th amendment alright so that’s the 13th amendment the 14th amendment the first 2 of the three post civil war amendments for 13 amendment 1865 14th amendment 1868 and then we come to 1870 and the 50 amendment the third and last of the post civil war menace by the way after amendment 15 is ratified in 1870 it’s going to be another 40 three years until we get another constitutional amendment number 16 and 17 both of which we’ve talked about in here already both of them passed in 1913 limit #16 authorizing the federal government have an income tax for 17 providing for the popular election of US senators both of those ratified in 19 I select how rare constitutional methods or how rare they are designed to be we don’t get another one after the 15th amendment for nearly half a century with actually with voting rights and specifically voting discrimination with respect to race or the fact that somebody used to be a slave 15th amendment prohibits states again it’s Alabama that’s applying to the states prohibits states from discriminating in their voting loss based on race or previous condition of servitude no state says the 15th of may they discriminate in their voting laws based on race or based on previous condition of servitude in other words Maryland can’t say well he used to be a slave so you can’t vote Florida can’t say well you’re African American so you can’t vote I am no steak I mean you know Massachusetts can’t say well you’re African American so you can’t vote that’s going to be unconstitutional after the 15th remember when we first talked about voting in here one of the things that we see largely a matter of steak not federal remember I said in early America there were a samples of voting that way actually before the passage of another going to talk about women who voted in the United States it was left up to the states voting is not a constitutional right may surprise you to hear me say that it is true right up until last year when they changed it last year in the state of Florida if you were ever convicted of a felony you could never vote again it’s still true in Iowa by the way you’re convicted of a felony you never you never can vote Niall again you can’t vote in 48 of the 50 states there are only two exceptions catfolk lawyer in prison while you’re serving a prison sentence assess their constitutional right right you don’t lose your constitutional rights because you’ve been convicted of a crime but you can lose your voting privilege because it is a privilege because you’ve been convicted of a crime but the 15th amendment says voting decisions can’t be based on race so can you prevent people from voting well yes you can but not based on their race you can no longer after the 15th amendment have a state law which says well you can vote if you’re white or if you’re 95% white but not if you’re African American or not if you’re you know of Chinese descent or something like that those laws are now going to be as a result of the 15th men and you may have noticed you probably didn’t notice there are another category of people is not protected by the 15th amendment right 15th amendment prohibits discrimination in voting based on rights and by the way and this is important before I leave the 15th amendment the 15th amendment also has a clause enabling Congress to pass laws to make it happen to make the purposes of the 15th amendment effectual so it’s all well and good for a constitutional amendment that says no discrimination voting laws based on race but how’s that gonna happen in practice will probably Congress is going to have to enact laws to make that happen because some of the southern states are probably going to resist this and if you know about 19th century and early 20th century American history you probably are away a lot of the southern states did resist this so Congress was empowered under the 15th amendment to pass legislation to make sure that there is no disk in voting based on race full gonna talk about some of that legislation tomorrow what I said just now was that you probably noticed that there is a category of people that is protected by the 15th amendment in voting laws but there’s a category of people that is not protected by the 15th and I’m sure you figured out by now that I am refering two women 1970 very few women in the United States could vote very few states permit women the vote some states out West beginning in the 1870s in the 1880s Wyoming Colorado did give women the franchise to vote but most states especially those in the old United States on the East Coast did not only men could vote and of course after 1870 by law that would include African American men and freed slaves men but it didn’t include women of any that was a major source bought with a lot of women’s advocacy groups back in 1870 they thought they were gonna have an amendment protecting gun rights at all include both race and sex but the 15th amendment included only race it includes sex so continues for another 50 years half a century but for the most part women are not able to vote until 1920 and the passage of the 19th amendment other women’s rights movement has been around in full force really since 1848 and the Seneca falls conference that was called by Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth cady Stanton and other prominent women’s rights advocates so certainly by 1870 they were expecting the right of the two they didn’t get it again the 15th amendment addresses race not sex so the constitutional amendment addressing sex is going to wait until the end of the First World War notice that the the 15th amendment is a direct result of the civil war the 19th amendment at five 1920 is a direct consequence of the First World War what was called at the time the Great War wasn’t referred to as the First World War until there was a Second World War but it’s the Great War in nine 20 and the 19th amendment ratified in 1920 says no state may discriminate in their voting laws based on sex no state may discriminate in their voting laws based on sex the 19th amendment 1920 support for the 19th amendment really snowball as a direct result of the Great War the First World War and president Woodrow Wilson he was the president during this war in initially are you opposed the 19th amendment did Woodrow Wilson one of the sort of social fit Of the First World War was that for the first time in American history you had women entering the workforce almost we’ve become industrialized by 1920 and somebody’s gotta excuse the word man load of quote the industry when a very large percentage of America’s young men are overseas after 1917 fighting a war and that ends up being women so you have women entering the industrial workforce in large numbers for the first time in American history in the First World War and president Wilson he’s kind of like well you know that turned out pretty well then he reverses his previous position and endorses the the ratification of the 19th amendment which happens almost immediately after the war is over so after the 19th amendment in 1920 states can’t have law saying only men can vote that’s going to be unconstitutional as a consequence of the 19th amendment and then there’s one more amendment that we’re going to talk about there’s a couple other constitutional members that deal with voting rights including a poll tax which I’m not going to address ’cause I don’t have time because it’s important or not because it’s not important but I have to sort of pick and choose the limitations of time I have when I’m going to address the final voting rights amendment that I’m going to address is the 26th 26th amendment to the constitution which is ratified in 1971 again if you enjoy reading American history and you know a lot about American history you’ll recognize what’s going on in 1971 it’s another war this is an undeclared war but it’s where in the middle of Vietnam in 1971 and most states in 1971 set a minimum voting age of 21 we have draft in 1971 and who went first in that draft was the 18 year olds and the 19 year old so if you have a family member who was born in 1950 two 1953 around then they probably entered the draft lottery if they quote unquote one after Vietnam they wept Fortunately we haven’t had a craft since that time I was not old enough in 1971 to be subject to the draft I mean it was literally it was a lottery it was a lottery that you did not want to win right they would pull balls out and then and basically it’s OK among those who turn 18 who draws number one what birthday to maybe you know it was August 4th so August 4th would be #1 so if you were were born on August 4th and you were 18 you were going to war you were going to be adopted I was just curious of a later date what what my birthday would have been would I have had to have gone had I been of age which I wasn’t and my number based on my birth date in 1971 would have been 307 so I probably would have been pretty safe you want a low number number I guess it is and I would have been 307 so I don’t think I would have had to go but most you know if you drew under 100 you were going these are 18 and 19 year olds so think of what’s happening here I think you get my point right or sending 18 nineteen 20 year olds over to Vietnam that getting limbs blown off to getting their faces blown off their dying they’re getting diseases in the malaria ridden swamps of southeast Asia we’re getting all kinds of diseases as a result of Agent Orange cancer and worse things still and then they’re coming back to the States and we’re saying all thanks so much you know sorry that you lost your arm and you had your face blown off all by the way you can’t vote you know I I think the massive injustice of that would be obvious to just about anybody and so wash the 26th amendment was probably the most popular constitutional amendment in American history it’s like it was proposed at breakfast and and ratified by dinnertime and if I’m exaggerating it’s it’s not by much on the 26th amendment I think I said 27th if I did I’m at 2620 sixth amendment ratified in 1971 I said no discrimination in voting based on age for those 18 or older so no discrimination in voting based on age for anybody 18 or older now let me say 1 final word and then I’m done for the day about the wording of this amendment I think a lot of people think that you know people who draw up these constitutional amendments mostly lawyers they think they get paid by the word of more words the better why word it in such a convoluted way why say no discrimination in voting based on age for those 18 or older why not just say anyone in general can vote it’s a lot simpler right and hopefully you know the answer to that already based on what I said a few minutes ago why not say why not make it simple and just so anyone 18 or older can vote and the answer to that is because it’s not true it’s not true that 18 and 118 or older can vote you can still have restrictions on voting I mentioned one of them you know if you’re in prison you can’t vote in some states if you were ever convicted of a felony you can’t vote so it wouldn’t be true to write in the constitution anyone 18 or older can vote but there can be no discrimination in voting based on age for those 18 roller going forward after the 26th amendment so those are the three really important constitutional members that deal with voting rights the 15th amendment which will come back tomorrow and talk about that legislation that I mentioned saying no discrimination based on race or previous condition of servitude the 19th of abaci no discrimination in voting based on sex and the 26th amendment say no discrimination in voting based on age as long as you’re 18 or over just to clarify if a state wanted to go lower than 18 they could I think one step leave Oregon now has you know he could vote if you’re 70 of the state wanted to say you could vote when you’re 12 they could do that right because that would not be to discriminate in voting based on someone’s age who’s 18 or older anyone 18 or older can still vote with the limitations that I mentioned but a state can have a higher voting age so a state could make a voting age 16 they couldn’t make it 20 as a result of the 26th amendment one thing to notice that I think is really important so last thing we’ll have to say for today and really worth keeping in mind all three of these major voting rights amendments 15th no discrimination based on race 19th no discrimination based on sex 26 no discrimination based on age Z