The Past Isn’t the Past
This amendment abolished slavery “except as punishment for a crime,” a loophole that today underpins prison labor and mass incarceration.
What is the 13th Amendment?
Originally, this group of people were mostly the only ones allowed to vote in federal elections.
Who were white male property owners?
This compromise counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for representation, strengthening slaveholding political power without granting Black people rights.
What is the Three-Fifths Compromise?
Because the Constitution gives states primary authority over elections, this system allows felony disenfranchisement laws to strip millions—disproportionately Black people—of the right to vote.
What is Federalism?
This institution was designed to buffer “the passions of the masses” and was originally not directly elected by the people.
What is the U.S. Senate?
This constitutional clause required escaped enslaved people to be returned to their enslavers, even if they fled to free states.
What is the Fugitive Slave Clause?
Under this constitutional doctrine, people in places like Puerto Rico and Guam are governed by the U.S. but lack full constitutional rights because they are considered “unincorporated territories.”
What are the Insular Cases?
This body formally elects the president, limiting direct popular control over executive power.
What is the Electoral College?
This class of property-owning elites primarily shaped the Constitution to protect their economic interests.
Who are The Framers?