Forty years ago, the 26th Amendment to the United States Constitution took effect, lowering the universal voting age in America from 21 years to 18 years. Millions of young Americans were extended the right to vote, empowering more young people than ever before to help shape our country.

The proposed 26th Amendment passed the House and Senate in the spring of 1971 and was ratified by the states on July 1, 1971.

The Supreme Court upheld the legislation in a 5 to 4 vote in applying the lowered voting age to federal elections only. A constitutional amendment was required to uniformly reduce the age to 18. Endorsed by Speaker Carl Albert of Oklahoma, the amendment passed the House by a vote of 401 to 19, on March 23, 1971.

Protects the states from lawsuits filed by citizens of other states or country. Requires separate ballots for the offices of president and vice president. You just studied 17 terms!

Terms in this set (10)

• 11th amendment. states can not be sued in federal court by citizens of another state or foreign country.
• 12th amendment. changed electoral college for President/ Vice President voting.
• 13th amendment. prohibited slavery.
• 14th amendment.
• 15th amendment.
• 16th amendment.
• 17th amendment.
• 18th amendment.

Section 1 of the Twenty-first Amendment expressly repeals the Eighteenth Amendment. Section 2 bans the importation of alcohol into states and territories that have laws prohibiting the importation or consumption of alcohol.

The transportation or importation into any state, territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

Twenty-Second Amendment

The 22nd Amendment strictly limits that the Presidential Office shall not be held by a person more than two times. The provision also holds that any person holding the position of President for more than two years of any given term cannot be elected to the office of President more than once.

The amendment prohibits anyone who has been elected president twice from being elected again. Under the amendment, someone who fills an unexpired presidential term lasting more than two years is also prohibited from being elected president more than once.

In the Electoral College system, each state gets a certain number of electors based on its total number of representatives in Congress. Each elector casts one electoral vote following the general election; there are a total of 538 electoral votes. The candidate that gets more than half (270) wins the election.