<P> The Fourteenth Amendment (1868) granted United States citizenship to former slaves and to all persons "subject to U.S. jurisdiction". It also contained three new limits on state power: a state shall not violate a citizen's privileges or immunities; shall not deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; and must guarantee all persons equal protection of the laws . These limitations dramatically expanded the protections of the Constitution . This amendment, according to the Supreme Court's Doctrine of Incorporation, makes most provisions of the Bill of Rights applicable to state and local governments as well . The mode of apportionment of representatives delineated in Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 has been superseded by that of this amendment, which also overturned the Supreme Court's decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford . </P> <P> The Fifteenth Amendment (1870) prohibits the use of race, color, or previous condition of servitude in determining which citizens may vote . The last of three post Civil War Reconstruction Amendments, it sought to abolish one of the key vestiges of slavery and to advance the civil rights and liberties of former slaves . </P> <P> The Nineteenth Amendment (1920) prohibits the government from denying women the right to vote on the same terms as men . Prior to the amendment's adoption, only a few states permitted women to vote and to hold office . </P> <P> The Twenty - third Amendment (1961) extends the right to vote in presidential elections to citizens residing in the District of Columbia by granting the District electors in the Electoral College, as if it were a state . When first established as the nation's capital in 1800, the District of Columbia's five thousand residents had neither a local government, nor the right to vote in federal elections . By 1960 the population of the District had grown to over 760,000 people . However, while its residents had all the responsibilities of citizenship, such as paying federal taxes, and could be drafted to serve in the military, citizens in thirteen states with lower populations had more voting rights than District residents . </P>

What are the principles upon which the us constitution is based