[Footnote 61:  For Amendment XI, see p. 160; for Amendment XII, see p. 119.]

Thus, amendments may be proposed in either of two ways:  by a vote of two-thirds of both houses of Congress; or by a National convention called by Congress for that purpose on the application of two-thirds of the State legislatures.  The convention method has never been used in proposing amendments to this Constitution.

Amendments may also be ratified in two ways:  by the legislatures in three-fourths of the several States; or by conventions in three-fourths thereof.  Congress has always selected the first of these methods.

Amending the Constitution Difficult.—­That it is difficult to amend the Constitution may be seen when we consider that some two thousand amendments have been proposed in an official way.  During a single session of the Fifty-seventh Congress, fifty amendments, on twenty different phases of government, were proposed in one or other of the houses of Congress.

Amendment XIII.—­The purpose of the first ten amendments has already been noted on p. 112.

The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments were the results of negro slavery.  The Emancipation Proclamation granted freedom to all of the slaves in the States then in rebellion.  There were some States, however, as Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri, where slavery might still exist legally.  In order to be rid of this institution altogether, Congress proposed the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which is as follows:—­

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

It was declared a part of the Constitution, December 18, 1865.

Amendment XIV.—­This amendment was proposed by Congress, June 16, 1866, as a part of the general plan for reconstruction.  The Southern States were not to be regarded as a part of the Union until they should ratify it.  The entire amendment, given in Appendix A, should be read.  Sections 1 and 2, however, contain the most important provisions.  Section 1 has already been partially discussed on p. 95, under the question, “Who are citizens?” Section 2 has also been considered on p. 54, in connection with the apportionment of representatives.

Congress has at different times removed the disabilities from certain of the classes mentioned in Section 3.  Finally, an act of June 6, 1898, removed the last disability imposed by this section.

Amendment XV.—­In order to secure full political rights for the negroes, the Fifteenth Amendment was passed, as indicated on p. 51.

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.