The main body of the constitution describes the structure and function of the U.S. government. It is important to know from a civics perspective. People my age

The main body of the constitution describes the structure and function of the U.S. government. It is important to know from a civics perspective. People my age were taught about it in school, but there's not a whole lot to say about it. No one really contests the structure of Congress, the office of the President, or the Supreme Court and federal court system. Some of the amendments, particularly the first ten, deal with more philosophical matters such as rights retained by the people which the government could not abrogate, or other checks on government power. If a person has a grievance against the government in the United States, generally it would be litigated under the auspices of the first ten amendments or the fourteenth amendment. Significant portions of the main body, such as the election of senators by state legislatures and the "three-fifths" clause (according to which three fifths of the total number of slaves in a state were counted for purposes of allocating representatives to the House of Representatives for that state) were nullified or superseded by amendments.