(4) Base Camp

First, the good news: this sucker's short. The entire amendment is less than two pages. (You can cheer now.)

Now, the bad news: it's written by the U.S. Congress. Yes, those ladies and gentlemen are very well-educated, but they seem to have a tough time writing things that easily make sense. The first paragraph alone is one giant mess of a run-on sentence that would make your Language Arts teacher cringe.

Don't despair, intrepid Shmoopers, because all it takes is to read each part a bit slower, and maybe twice, to understand what Congress is saying. Look at it this way: the Platt Amendment is not breezy beach reading, but at the same time you would only need to pause your beach volleyball game for five minutes to get through the whole thing.

Win some and lose some, right?