Rank the constitutional amendments in order of importance

Great Debates
1

How would you rank the constitutional amendments in order of importance?

I’d say

  1. 1st Amendment: free speech, free religion, right to assemble
  2. 14th Amendment: citizenship, equal protection
  3. 4th Amendment: prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures
  4. 5th Amendment: right to due process
  5. 16th Amendment: gives government the power to levy an income tax
  6. 2nd Amendment: right to bear arms
    …
  7. 27th Amendment: congressional salary changes don’t take effect until the next session.

I’d say the 13th, 15th, and 19th Amendments are all historically important, but could reasonably be covered by the 14th Amendment. But it was necessary to spell them out explicitly at the time.

Anyone feel like filling in the rest of that list, or arguing with what I have so far?

2

I’d put the seventh amendment pretty high on the list. The ability to have your case decided by a jury is a Hugh check on government and corporate power.

3

I can’t see how anyone could argue that the 13th isn’t THE most important one.

4

Seems like I saw a list somewhere of the Amendments ranked by how often they were used in SCOTUS decisions. Sadly I can’t find it now, but I’d think that would provide a more systematic way to provide a ranking then just everyone throwing out their favorite amendments.

5

Also, sort of funny the OP didn’t put the 18th last.

6

18th amendment (prohibition) has got to be at the bottom even below the 27th since it currently has no effect what so ever.

ETA damn Siplicio’s fast typing skills

7

Does the 18th even make the list since the 21st did away with it?

8

Yeah, I was gonna say.

9

I change my mind - the 21st was the most important amendment.

10

I went back and forth about putting the 18th last, but finally decided against it because it was very significant at it’s time, and because we’ve learned a little bit from it’s example (just a little bit). The 27th just seems so insignificant. Honestly, I didn’t even know it existed until right before I started this topic.

11

I group them as follows: Very Important, Moderately Important, Unimportant, Should Not Have Passed In The First Place

**Very Important **

1st Speech, religion, press
I may not agree with you, but I would never squelch your voice or dictate your religion

13th Emancipation
Removal of the great evil from the days of the Founders

5th Due process and right to not incriminate one’s self
Fair trials are essential

19th Women’s suffrage
Half the population couldn’t vote

15th Universal male suffrage
Less important than the 19th only because it affects fewer people

24th Poll tax prohibition
Too many were denied to vote because of this and other shams

6th Speedy trial
Another essential part of criminal law

8th Excessive fines, cruel and unusual punishment
Sheriff Arpaio may want to read this one

4th Unreasonable search and seizure
Not sure if the TSA complies

Moderately Important
14th Citizenship defined
Despite the howls from the right about “anchor babies”

7th Trial by jury in civil cases
Yes, we can take on the big boys

3rd Quartering of soldiers
Yeah, I suppose in theory we need this

16th Income tax
Gotta run the government

21st Repeal of 18th
At least one of the mistakes was repealed

17th Election of US Senators
Can’t believe that some don’t like this

9th Rights not enumerated
I suppose we need a catch-all but this is pretty vague

12th Revised presidential election
Yes, it was dopey the way it was set up originally

25th Presidential succession
I suppose we need this just in case…

Unimportant

23rd Electors for DC
A better solution would be to give the residential area to Maryland

11th Sovereign immunity
Not sure why we can’t sue other states

26th 18 year old vote
It didn’t seem to cure the apathy among the younger generation

20th Change terms of President, Congress
A bit drastic, we could have used the extra time in 2000-01.

27th Congressional salary changes
There’s a cure for congress granting itself excessive raises- it’s called elections
Should Not Have Passed In The First Place

10th Limitatation on federal power
The price we pay for this is having backward states

22nd Presidential term limits
As frightening as a third term of Bush would have been, a third term of Clinton would have prevented much misery

18th Prohibition
What a stupid idea

2nd Guns
What a colossal mistake

12

This is kind of goofy. It’s the 14th Amendment and then everything else. It doesn’t matter if the federal government isn’t infringing on your rights if state governments can.

13

Would the 13th have been possible without the 1st?

14

This is my first choice also. Beer tastes good after a bicycle ride.

15

Pretty good list, except you wildly underestimate the importance of the 14th.

16

I struggled with this one. I would have had it higher up the list but I really didn’t see one that I could put it past. Or perhaps the divisor between very important and moderately important was one spot too high.

17

I think your problem is that it’s a lot more important than just “defining citizenship”. Hell, that’s arguably the least important thing it does.

18

Guns are not mentioned in the second amendment. Arms are. Back in the day, this would have meant anything from staves to cannons, but most commonly meant a musket. Arms are defined as any weapon, used for offensive or defensive purposes. I’m waiting for someone to bring a case in front of the Supremes arguing for their right to have a nuclear arsenal. I want a flamethrower and a an M1 Abrams to protect my property.

19

Specifically, the 14th provided the mechanism by which the Bill of Rights (most of it, not all) was held binding on state governments as well as the federal.

20

And if they get a favorable ruling, hopefully we can agree on repeal.