AMENDMENTS
This amendment protects your five basic freedoms: Religion, Assembly, Press, Petition, and Speech (RAPPS).
What is the 1st Amendment?
While other states have counties, Louisiana is divided into these.
What are Parishes?
In this form of government, power is inherited and held by a King or Queen.
What is a Monarchy?
A fancy word that simply means "the right to vote."
Written by the Pilgrims in 1620, this document was the first example of Self-Government in the colonies.
What is the Mayflower Compact?
Under this amendment, the police cannot search your home or seize your property without a warrant or probable cause.
What is the 4th Amendment?
The head of the Executive Branch at the state level (the "President" of Louisiana).
Who is the Governor?
A government where one person has unlimited power, often taken by force (like North Korea).
What is a Dictatorship (or Autocracy)?
To formally approve a document (like when 9 of 13 states had to approve the Constitution).
What is Ratify?
This British document from 1215 limited the power of the King for the first time and established the idea of "Trial by Jury."
What is the Magna Carta?
This amendment protects you from "Double Jeopardy" and self-incrimination (the right to remain silent).
What is the 5th Amendment?
Louisiana’s legal system is different from the other 49 states because it is based on this French code.
What is the Napoleonic Code?
n Ancient Greece, every citizen voted on every law directly. In the U.S., we elect officials to vote for us. This U.S. system is called a Representative Democracy or a...
What is a Republic?
This adjective describes a legislature that has two houses (like our Congress with the House and Senate).
What is Bicameral?
This French philosopher taught us that power should be divided into three branches (Separation of Powers) so one person doesn't control everything.
Who is Baron de Montesquieu?
Passed after the Civil War, this amendment defines citizenship and guarantees "Equal Protection" under the law for all Americans.
What is the 14th Amendment?
The name of the legislative body that governs a parish (like a City Council, but for the parish).
What is the Police Jury?
This term describes a government ruled by a small group of people (often the wealthy or military elite).
What is an Oligarchy?
The people who live in a politician's district that they are elected to represent (YOU are this to your Congressman).
What is a Constituent?
Thomas Paine wrote this famous pamphlet to convince ordinary Americans that it was time to declare independence from Britain.
What is "Common Sense"?
Because 18-year-olds were being drafted into the Vietnam War but couldn't vote, this amendment lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.
What is the 26th Amendment?
Just like the US Constitution, the LA Constitution has a Bill of Rights; specifically, Article I, Section 27 protects the right to do this (which is popular in our Sportsman's Paradise).
What is the Right to Hunt and Fish?
A government that recognizes God or a divine being as the ultimate authority, where laws are based on religious texts (like Iran).
What is a Theocracy?
A formal list of charges against a government official (like the President) accusing them of misconduct—it is the accusation, not the removal.
What is Impeachment?
This violent event (a farmer's uprising) in Massachusetts scared the Founding Fathers and proved that the Articles of Confederation were too weak to keep the peace.
What is Shays' Rebellion?