Ask the Constitution

Since America's earliest days, people have come from all over the world to live here, but it isn't easy. Their right to enter the country has been challenged many times, and it is still challenged today. From the early Europeans to modern-day immigrants and refugees, people have fought to enter the United States, and the Constitution has changed over time to meet their needs. It has also challenged them. The argument continues today about immigrants from Muslim countries. Is anyone allowed to come to America, and what does the Constitution really say about immigration? Readers will explore the answers to these questions.

When the United States of America began as a country, only white men who owned land could vote. Over the last 230 years, people have fought and protested and even died to expand the right to vote to include every adult over the age of eighteen. Today, are there ways you can lose your right to vote? If it's too difficult to vote, can we really say that you still have that right? Voting is the best and sometimes only way Americans can have a say in their government, and readers will learn why it's worth fighting for.

America is a complex tapestry of laws, from the local ones passed by your city council to national laws made by Congress. Sometimes Congress passes a law to build a program, such as the Affordable Care Act, and then hands some or all of its administration over to the states. Was it always like this? What happens when a state and the national government disagree? Readers find out how these issues have evolved since before the Constitution was signed.

Our understanding of gender has changed quite a bit since the Constitution was first written. Yet, there has always been debate about how women should be included under the laws that govern the United States. The women's suffrage movement fought to give women the right to vote. With the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, this dream was finally realized. There have been many more battles along the way, including for the Equal Rights Amendment, which would guarantee equal rights under the Constitution regardless of sex or gender. What does the Constitution say about women, and what amendments do feminists argue should be passed? Readers explore the answers to these questions and more.

Religion is our most personal freedom. It's the first thing the Bill of Rights guarantees all Americans and the last thing we'd think the government could take away. Between wedding cakes, travel bans, public schools, and private employers, the role of faith in public life is constantly in the news. Americans of many different faiths, for many different reasons, are worried the government is going to interfere with their freedom to believe. Could the U.S. government really outlaw a religion? Is it already happening now? It's time to ask the Constitution.

Since the birth of the United States of America, the question of who can own a gun has been debated by passionate people on both sides of the argument. The Founding Fathers are no longer around to clarify exactly what they meant in the Second Amendment. As the country suffers an increasing number of public shootings in schools and beyond, the question of who should be able to own a gun becomes even more important for the safety of everyone in America. Readers will explore the issue and make an intelligent decision for themselves.