Amendments 13, 14, and 15 are collectively known as the Reconstruction Amendments: they were passed as instructions to rebuild the country after the Civil War. They addressed slavery, citizenship, equality, and voting rights for Black people. This week, the More Perfect team explores the legacy of the amendments beyond the Civil War — the ways the promises o ... Show More
Nov 2018
The Sleeper Amendments with Post Animal
<p>On first read the 16th and 22nd Amendments are at best sleepers and at worst, stinkers. In a list of Constitutional hits like the right to free speech, the right to bear arms, and birthright citizenship, the amendments covering taxes and term limits tend to fall by the wayside ... Show More
26m 28s
Nov 2018
The Power Player Amendments with Devendra Banhart
<p>The 25th and 26th Amendments — ratified in 1967 and 1971, respectively — are some of the newest additions to our founding document. However, they tackle some pretty basic questions: who gets to rule, and who gets to vote? If a president dies or is incapacitated, who takes over ... Show More
41m 41s
Nov 2018
The Democracy Amendments with Stef Chura
<p>This week, More Perfect<em> </em>takes a look at three amendments on the more obscure end of the spectrum. The 12th, 17th, and 20th Amendments made fine-tune adjustments to the way we pick our leaders. More Perfect<em> </em>is here to prove these three are more interesting tha ... Show More
31m 6s
May 2022
Reconstruction IV: Voting Rights At Last
May 26, 1965. One hundred years after the Civil War, Congress is debating a bill whose goal is to enforce the 15th amendment, which, in 1870, promised the right to vote regardless of race. But that’s not what happened. Now the Civil Rights movement is saying: It’s time to make re ... Show More
41 m
Nov 2020
Supreme Court Landmarks | Separate and Unequal | 3
After the Civil War, America began to rebuild a shattered nation. For the first time, the country could create a society without slavery, and a nation where Black people could forge their own path as independent citizens.But by the 1890s, the laws and policies that promised new r ... Show More
35m 30s
Aug 2024
Thomas Mundy Peterson: The Story of the 1st Black Voter in the United States
On this episode of Our American Stories, this is the story of what happened shortly after the ratification of the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibiting a citizen’s right to vote “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Here to tell a ... Show More
9m 29s
Apr 2021
Ep. 159 Advanced US Citizenship Test Help for 2021: The Fourteenth Amendment | USCIS HELP
<p>If you plan on taking the US Citizenship Test soon, this video goes deep, goes pretty advanced into a couple topics that may show up on the USCIS. We go pretty deep here into the 14th Amendment. I explain the Brown vs. Board of Education, a landmark Supreme Court case. I expla ... Show More
22m 57s
May 2023
Reconstruction: Why We Didn't Learn About It
The Reconstruction Era, a period in American history at the end of and immediately following the Civil War, is one of the single-most important and instructive periods in American history. It has also, historically, been one of the least taught. Why is that, and what are we missi ... Show More
41m 55s