Welcome to Week Six!

This is our last full week together in this class. This week we will review the remainder of the Constitutional Amendments – 8th through 27th. I would like to pay special attention to Amendments 8th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 19th, and 25th. Amendment 15th required that the right to vote shall not be denied or abridged because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The Nineteenth Amendment required that the right to vote should not be denied on account of sex. And, the Twenty-Fifth Amendment provided solutions to three important questions: 1. what happens when a presidential vacancy arises; 2. what happens when a vice-presidential vacancy arises; and 3. what happens if the President becomes unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Identify what three rights are protected by the Eighth Amendment.
Explain what purposes bail serves.
Understand where the meaning of “cruel and unusual punishment” comes from.
Know what the general rule under the Eighth Amendment regarding punishments is.
Describe what the Fifteenth Amendment established.
Explain what was instituted by the Nineteenth Amendment.
Summarize the Twenty-Fifth Amendment.

The Eighth Amendment

Readings

Chapter 2: Bill of Rights in Brian Duignan (2012). The U. S. Constitution and Constitutional law. Eighth Amendment. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bmcc/reader.action?docID=934413&ppg=61

Get the chapter here:

The_U._S._Constitution_and_Constitutional_Law_-_Pg_61-65

Common Interpretations of the Eighth Amendment by Bryan A. Stevenson and John F. Stinneford: https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/interpretation/amendment-viii/clauses/103#the-eighth-amendment-by-bryan-stevenson-and-john-stinneford

The Eighth Amendment: A Contemporary Perspective by Bryan A. Stevenson. https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/interpretation/amendment-viii/clauses/103#the-eighth-amendment-a-progressive-perspective