In this essay, I’m going to talk about the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth amendments to the constitution of the United States of America. Amendment sixteen made income tax allowed, amendment seventeen clarified the rules of the senate, amendment eighteen banned liquors, and amendment nineteen allowed women to vote in elections.
Amendment sixteen was probably one of the worst amendments to the constitution. Literally its only purpose is to make the income tax allowed. It was the first amendment to give congress power instead of giving it to the people. This was one giant leap in the wrong direction, and gave Americans an income tax that would only get bigger as time goes on. Income tax is one of the many taxes that have to be filed to pay for all sorts of things, many of which should be privately funded instead of funded by taxpayers (eg. public schools, exploration for alien life, and other government nonesense). Basically, income tax should not be legal.
Amendment seventeen confirmed that there were two senators per state, and that the term of each senator lasts six years.
Amendment eighteen banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of liquor, basically banning the entire existence of liquor in the United States of America. I guess you could still drink liquor if you already had it, but that’s it. Of course, people still did it illegally. This would go on to be reverted in the twenty-first amendment, which made it so it was legal again.
Amendment nineteen allowed all citizens of the United States of America to vote, regardless of sex. The fifteenth amendment had already stated that all races could vote, so now, anybody who was taxed was allowed to vote. There is not much more to be said about this amendment.
In conclusion, two of these amendments were good, and two of these amendments were bad. The confirmation of the rules of the senate were good because they could get rid of some confusion. The ban of liquor was bad, not because I think it is good to drink, but because government restrictions are almost never a good thing, and people were still going to do it illegally. Income tax is very bad, and legalizing it is also very bad. There should be as few taxes as possible. Lastly, allowing every citizen of the United States of America to vote is very good, because that means everybody can get representation in the corrupt American government.