Equal Protections under the Constitution Answers

The purpose of the Equal Rights Amendment is to guarantee equal rights for all citizens

Which statement best describes the process of amending the US Constitution?

Read the scenario.It is November of 1920. Across the country, people are voting in the first presidential election since the passage of the 19th Amendment. Two sisters named Hettie and Elizabeth are excited to become the first women in their family to vote. However, when they arrive at the polling place, they discover that they have to pay a tax to vote. Another woman in the line, who is a Black American, like the sisters, also has to pay a tax. However, the White American women waiting to vote do not have to pay. Unable to afford the tax, Hettie and Elizabeth are prevented from voting.

Read the passage on the 14th Amendment.The 14th Amendment was one of three Reconstruction amendments passed after the Civil War. Section 2 of the amendment overturns the three-fifths rule for determining state representation in the US House of Representatives. It also declares that states cannot deny voting rights to male citizens 21 and older unless they have participated in a crime. The voting restriction was meant to punish Confederates for rebelling in the Civil War. However, states have used the restriction to prevent people convicted of crimes from voting.

Read the summary of the United States v. Wong Kim Ark Supreme Court case.Wong Kim Ark was born in 1873 in the United States to parents who were Chinese citizens living and working in San Francisco. In 1895, Wong was denied entry to the United States when returning from a trip to China. US officials claimed that Wong was not an American citizen because China traced citizenship through bloodlines. Rather than accept the decision, Wong challenged the ruling on the grounds of the 14th Amendment. The case eventually reached the Supreme Court. In 1898, the court ruled in a 6–2 decision that Wong was an American citizen based on his birth in the United States.