Amendments to the Constitution
Article [I.] (1789)
Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;
or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
Government for a redress of grievances.
Article [II.] (1789)
A
well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the
right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Article [III.] (1789)
No
Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the
consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by
law.
Article [IV.] (1789)
The
right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and
effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated,
and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or
affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the
persons or things to be seized.
Article [V.] (1789)
No
person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime,
unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases
arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual
service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for
the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be
compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be
deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall
private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Article [VI.] (1789)
In
all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and
public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the
crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously
ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the
accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have
compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the
Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
Article [VII.] (1789)
In
Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty
dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by
a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States,
than according to the rules of the common law.
Article [VIII.] (1789)
Excessive
bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and
unusual punishments inflicted.
Article [IX.] (1789)
The
enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to
deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Article [X.] (1789)
The
powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited
by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the
people.
[Article XI.] (1795)
The
Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any
suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United
States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any
Foreign State.
[Article XII.] (1804)
The
Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for
President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an
inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their
ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person
voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all
persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as
Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall
sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the
United States, directed to the President of the Senate;--The President of the
Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives,
open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;--The person
having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if
such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if
no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest
numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the
House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President.
But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the
representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose
shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a
majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House
of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice
shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then
the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or
other constitutional disability of the President. (See Note 14)--The person
having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the
Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors
appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest
numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for
the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and
a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person
constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to
that of Vice-President of the United States.
Article XIII. (1865)
Section
1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for
crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within
the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section
2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
Article XIV. (1868)
Section
1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State
wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall
abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor
shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due
process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.
Section
2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to
their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State,
excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for
the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States,
Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State,
or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male
inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age,(See Note 15)
and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for
participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation
therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male
citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of
age in such State.
Section
3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of
President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under
the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath,
as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a
member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of
any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have
engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or
comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of
each House, remove such disability.
Section
4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law,
including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in
suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither
the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation
incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any
claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts,
obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Section
5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the
provisions of this article.
Article XV. (1870)
Section
1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or
previous condition of servitude.
Section
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
Article XVI. (1913)
The
Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever
source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without
regard to any census or enumeration.
Article XVII. (1913)
The
Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each
State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall
have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications
requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.
When
vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the
executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such
vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the
executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the
vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.
This
amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any
Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.
Article XVIII. (Subsequently repealed by the XXI article) (1919)
Section
1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture,
sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation
thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all
territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby
prohibited.
Section.
2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce
this article by appropriate legislation.
Section.
3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an
amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as
provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the
submission hereof to the States by the Congress.
Article XIX. (1920)
The
right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Congress
shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Article XX. (1933)
Section
1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the
20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on
the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if
this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall
then begin.
Section.
2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting
shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law
appoint a different day.
Section.
3. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the
President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become
President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed
for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to
qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a
President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the
case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have
qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which
one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly
until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.
Section.
4. The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the
persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President
whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case
of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice
President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.
Section.
5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October following
the ratification of this article.
Section.
6. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an
amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the
several States within seven years from the date of its submission.
Article XXI. (1933)
Section
1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United
States is hereby repealed.
Section
2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession
of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in
violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.
Section
3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an
amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as
provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the
submission hereof to the States by the Congress.
Amendment XXII (1951)
Section
1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice,
and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President,
for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected
President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But
this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President
when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any
person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President,
during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the
office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.
Section
2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an
amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the
several states within seven years from the date of its submission to the
states by the Congress.
Amendment XXIII (1961)
Section
1. The District constituting the seat of government of the United States
shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct:
A
number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number
of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be
entitled if it were a state, but in no event more than the least populous
state; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the states, but they
shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice
President, to be electors appointed by a state; and they shall meet in the
District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of
amendment.
Section
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
Amendment XXIV (1964)
Section
1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other
election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice
President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied
or abridged by the United States or any state by reason of failure to pay any
poll tax or other tax.
Section
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
Amendment XXV (1967)
Section
1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or
resignation, the Vice President shall become President.
Section
2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the
President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon
confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
Section
3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the
Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written
declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his
office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary,
such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting
President.
Section
4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal
officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may
by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the
Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the
President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the
Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office
as Acting President.
Thereafter,
when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and
the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no
inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless
the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the
executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide,
transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the
Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the
President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.
Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight
hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one
days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not
in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble,
determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to
discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall
continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President
shall resume the powers and duties of his office.
Amendment XXVI (1971)
Section
1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are 18 years of age or
older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any
state on account of age.
Section
2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
Amendment XXVII (1992)
No law varying the compensation for the services of
the Senators and Representatives shall take effect until an election of
Representatives shall have intervened.
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