1. Another amendment proposed in the early nineteen hundreds was designed to change the method of electing United States Senators. For more than one hundred years, senators were elected by the legislatures of their states. The Seventeenth Amendment, approved in nineteen thirteen, gave the people the right to elect senators directly.
2. In nineteen nineteen, the states approved an amendment to ban the production, transportation, and sale of alcohol. Alcohol was prohibited. It could not be produced or sold legally anywhere in the United States.
3. The amendment, however, did not stop the flow of alcohol. Criminal organizations found many ways to produce and sell it illegally. Finally, after thirteen years, Americans decided that Prohibition had failed. It had caused more problems than it had solved. So, in nineteen thirty-three, the states approved another constitutional amendment to end the ban on alcohol.
4. Other amendments in the twentieth century include one that gives women the right to vote. It became part of the Constitution in nineteen twenty.
5. Another amendment limits a president to two four-year terms in office. And the Twenty-sixth Amendment gives the right to vote to all persons who are at least eighteen years old.
6. The Twenty-seventh Amendment has one of the strangest stories of any amendment to the United States Constitution. This amendment establishes a rule for increasing the pay of senators and representatives. It says there must be an election between the time Congress votes to increase its pay and the time the pay raise goes into effect.
7. The amendment was first proposed in seventeen eighty-nine. Like all amendments, it needed to be approved by three-fourths of the states. This did not happen until nineteen ninety-two. So, one of the first amendments to be proposed was the last amendment to become law.
8. The twenty-seven amendments added to the Constitution have not changed the basic system of government in the United States. The government still has three separate and equal parts: the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. The three parts balance each other. No part is greater than another.
9. The first American states had no strong central government when they fought their war of independence from Britain in seventeen seventy-six. They cooperated under an agreement called the Articles of Confederation. The agreement provided for a Congress. But the Congress had few powers. Each state governed itself.
10. When the war ended, the states owed millions of dollars to their soldiers. They also owed money to European nations that had supported the Americans against Britain.
11. The new United States had no national money to pay the debts. There was an American dollar. But not everyone used it. And it did not have the same value everywhere.
12. The situation led to economic ruin for many people. They could not pay the money they owed. They lost their property. They were put in prison. Militant groups took action to help them. They interfered with tax collectors. They terrorized judges and burned court buildings.
13. The situation was especially bad in the northeast part of the country. In Massachusetts, a group led by a former soldier tried to seize guns and ammunition from the state military force.
14. Shays' Rebellion, as it was called, was stopped. But from north to south, Americans were increasingly worried and frightened. Would the violence continue? Would the situation get worse?
15. Many Americans distrusted the idea of a strong central government. After all, they had just fought a war to end British rule. Yet Americans of different ages, education, and social groups felt that something had to be done. If not, the new nation would fail before it had a chance to succeed.
16. These were the opinions and feelings that led, in time, to the writing of the United States Constitution. That would be our story in the coming weeks of THE MAKING OF A NATION.
Our program was written by Christine Johnson and read by Tony Riggs and Frank Oliver. Transcripts and MP3s of our programs are at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION, an American history series in VOA Special English.
Vocabulary
- After all = afinal de contas
- Ages= idades
- agreement = acordo
- alcohol = álcool
- ammunition = munição
- Another = um (a) outro (a)
- as it was called = como foi chamada
- at least = pelo menos
- balance = equilibrar
- branch = seção, parte
- buildings = prédios
- burned = incendiaram, queimaram
- Debts = dívidas
- designed to = projetado(a) para
- distrusted = desconfiavam
- each other = um ao outro
- Each= cada
- Ended = acabou
- equal = igual
- fail = fracassar
- Felt = sentiram (presente = “feel”)
- few = poucos
- flow = fluxo
- frightened = assustado
- gave = deu (presente = “give”)
- get worse = piorar
- guns = armas
- had failed = tinha falhado
- had just fought = tinham acabado de lutar
- had to be done = tinha que ser feito
- increase = aumentar
- increasingly = cada vez mais
- led by= liderado por
- led to = conduziu a, levou a
- Like = como
- northeast = nordeste
- office = cargo
- one of the strangest = uma das mais estranhas
- Owed= deviam
- pay raise = aumento de salário
- property = propriedade
- Proposed = proposto(a)
- put in prison = colocados na prisão
- representatives = deputados
- ruin = ruína
- rule = governo, regime
- rule = regra
- seize = apoderar-se de , apreender
- sold = vendido
- Soldiers = soldados
- solved = solucionado
- still = ainda
- strong = forte
- succeed = ter sucesso, prosperar
- Supported= apoiado
- tax collectors = coletores de impostos
- terms = períodos
- the same value = o mesmo valor
- there must be = deve haver
- three-fourths = três quartos (3/4)
- took action = tomaram uma atitude
- worried = assustado
- writing = escrita
- written by = escrito por
- Yet = porém
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