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Quick Access to
The First Ten Amendments to
the Constitution
The
Bill of Rights
Adopted in 1791
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I
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II
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III
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IV
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V
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VI
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VII
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VIII
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IX
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X
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The Constitution of the
United States of America*
* Passages no longer in effect are printed in italic type.
Preamble
( outlines goals and effect)
We the people of the United States, in order
to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic
tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general
welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our
posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United
States of America.
Article
I (The legislative branch)
Section 1(Powers vested)
All legislative powers herein granted shall
be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist
of a Senate and a House of Representatives.
Section 2 (House of Representatives: selection, term, qualifications,
apportionment of seats, census requirement, exclusive power to impeach)
The House of Representatives shall be composed
of members chosen every second year by the people of the several
States, and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications
requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State
Legislature. No person shall be a Representative who shall not have
attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a
citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be
an inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen. Representatives
and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which
may be included within this Union, according to their respective
numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number
of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of
years and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other
persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within three years
after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and
within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they
shall by law direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed
one for every thirty thousand, but each State shall have at least
one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the
State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three, Massachusetts
eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut
five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware
one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina
five, and Georgia three. When vacancies happen in the representation
from any State, the Executive authority thereof shall issue writs
of election to fill such vacancies. The House of Representatives
shall choose their Speaker and other officers; and shall have the
sole power of impeachment.
Section 3 (Senate: selection, term, qualifications, exclusive
power to try impeachments)
The Senate of the United States shall be
composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the legislature
thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. Immediately
after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first election,
they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes. The
seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the
expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration
of the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of
the sixth year, so that one-third may be chosen every second year;
and if vacancies happen by resignation or otherwise, during the
recess of the legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may
make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the legislature,
which shall then fill such vacancies.
No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the
age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United
States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that
State for which he shall be chosen.
The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the
Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.
The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a President
pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall
exercise the office of President of the United States. The Senate
shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When sitting
for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the
President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall
preside: and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence
of two-thirds of the members present. Judgment in cases of impeachment
shall not extend further than to removal from the office, and disqualification
to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the
United States: but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable
and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according
to law.
Section 4 (Elections)
The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators
and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the legislature
thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such
regulations, except as to the places of choosing Senators. The Congress
shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall
be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint
a different day.
Section 5 (Powers and duties of the two chambers: rules
of procedure, power over members)
Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications
of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum
to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day,
and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members,
in such manner, and under such penalties, as each house may provide.
Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its
members for disorderly behavior, and with the concurrence of two-thirds,
expel a member.
Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time
to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment
require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either
house on any question shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those
present, be entered on the journal. Neither house, during the session
of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for
more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which
the two houses shall be sitting.
Section 6 (Compensation, privilege from arrest, privilege
of speech, disabilities of members)
The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for
their services, to be ascertained by law and paid out of the treasury
of the United States. They shall in all cases except treason, felony
and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their
attendance at the session of their respective houses, and in going
to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in
either house, they shall not be questioned in any other place. No
Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was
elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of
the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments
whereof shall have been increased, during such time; and no person
holding any office under the United States shall be a member of
either house during his continuance in office.
Section 7 (Legislative process: revenue bills, approval
or veto power of president)
All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives;
but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other
bills.
Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives
and the Senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the
President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it,
but if not he shall return it with objections to that house in which
it originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their
journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration
two-thirds of that house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall
be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which
it shall likewise be reconsidered, and, if approved by two-thirds
of that house, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the
votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the
names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered
on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not
be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted)
after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law,
in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their
adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a
law. Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of
the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except
on a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President
of the United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall
be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed
by two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according
to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.
Section 8 (Powers of Congress enumerated)
The Congress shall have power To lay and collect taxes, duties,
imposts, and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common
defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties,
imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow money on the credit of the United States; To regulate
commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, and
with the Indian tribes;
To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws
on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States; To
coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and
fix the standard of weights and measures; To provide for the punishment
of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United
States;
To establish post offices and post roads; To promote the progress
of science and useful arts by securing for limited times to authors
and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and
discoveries; To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high
seas and offenses against the law of nations; To declare war, grant
letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures
on land and water; To raise and support armies, but no appropriation
of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;
To provide and maintain a navy; To make rules for the government
and regulation of the land and naval forces; To provide for calling
forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections,
and repel invasions; To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining
the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed
in the service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively
the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the
militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress; To exercise
exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such district
(not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular
States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of government
of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places
purchased by the consent of the legislature of the State, in which
the same shall be, for erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards,
and other needful buildings;--and To make all laws which shall be
necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers,
and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government
of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof. (This
last section is known as the Elastic clause)
Section 9 (Powers denied Congress)
The migration or importation of such persons as any of the States
now existing shall think proper to admit shall not be prohibited
by the Congress prior to the year 1808; but a tax or duty may be
imposed on such importation, not exceeding $10 for each person.
The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended,
unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety
may require it. No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall
be passed. No capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless
in proportion to the census or enumeration herein before directed
to be taken. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from
any State. No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce
or revenue to the ports of one State over those of another; nor
shall vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter,
clear, or pay duties in another. No money shall be drawn from the
treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and
a regular statement and account of the receipts and expenditures
of all public money shall be published from time to time. No title
of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and no person
holding any office or profit or trust under them, shall, without
the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office,
or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign
state.
Section 10 (Powers denied the states)
No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation;
grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of
credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment
of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law
impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.
No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any imposts
or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary
for executing its inspection laws: and the net produce of all duties
and imposts, laid by any State on imports or exports, shall be for
the use of the treasury of the United States; and all such laws
shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress. No
State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage,
keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement
or compact with another State, or with a foreign power, or engage
in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will
not admit of delay.
Article
II (The executive branch)
(The president: power vested, term, electoral college, qualifications,
presidential succession, compensation, oath of office)
Section 1 (The president: power vested, term, electoral
college, qualifications, presidential succession, compensation, oath
of office)
The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United
States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four
years, and, together with the Vice-President, chosen for the same
term, be elected as follows: Each State shall appoint, in such manner
as the legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal
to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the
State may be entitled in the Congress; but no Senator or Representative,
or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United
States, shall be appointed an elector. The electors shall meet in
their respective States, and vote by ballot for two persons, of
whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with
themselves. And they shall make a list of all the persons voted
for, and of the number of votes for each: which list they shall
sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of 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 shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the
whole number of electors appointed; and if there be more than one
who have such majority, and have an equal number of votes, then
the House of Representatives shall immediately choose by ballot
one of them for President; and if no person have a majority, then
from the five highest on the list said house shall in like manner
choose 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. In every case, after the choice
of the President, the person having the greatest number of votes
of the electors shall be the Vice-President. But if there should
remain two or more who have equal votes, the Senate shall choose
from them by ballot the Vice-President.
The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors and
the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be
the same throughout the United States. No person except a natural-born
citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption
of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President;
neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not
have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen
years a resident within the United States. In cases of the removal
of the President from office or of his death, resignation, or inability
to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same
shall devolve on the Vice-President, and the Congress may by law
provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or inability,
both of the President and Vice-President, declaring what officer
shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly,
until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.
The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a
compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during
the period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not
receive within that period any other emolument from the United States,
or any of them. Before he enter on the execution of his office,
he shall take the following oath or affirmation:-- "I do solemnly
swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of the
President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability
preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Section 2 (Powers and duties: as commander in chief, over
advisers, to pardon, to make treaties and appoint officers)
The President shall be commander in chief of the army and navy
of the United States, and of the militia of the several States,
when called into the actual service of the United States; he may
require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each
of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties
of their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves
and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases
of impeachment. He shall have power, by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of
the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors,
other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme court,
and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments
are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established
by law: but Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior
officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts
of law, or in the heads of departments.
The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may
happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions
which shall expire at the end of their next session.
Section 3 (Legislative, diplomatic, and law-enforcement
duties)
He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of
the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such
measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary
occasions, convene both houses, or either of them, and in case of
disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment,
he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall
receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care
that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the
officers of the United States.
Section 4 (Impeachment)
The President, Vice-President and all civil officers of the United
States shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and on conviction
of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
Article III (The judicial branch)
Section 1 (Power vested; Supreme Court; lower courts; judges)
The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one
Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from
time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the Supreme
and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior,
and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation
which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.
Section 2 (Jurisdiction; trial by jury)
The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity,
arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States,
and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority;--to
all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls;--to
all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction;--to controversies
to which the United States shall be a party;--to controversies between
two or more States;--between a State and citizens of another State;--between
citizens of different States;--between citizens of the same State
claiming lands under grants of different States, and between a State,
or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens or subjects.
In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls,
and those in which a State shall be party, the Supreme Court shall
have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned,
the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to
law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations,
as the Congress shall make.
The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be
by jury; and such trial shall be held in the state where said crimes
shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State,
the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by
law have directed.
Section 3 (Treason: definition, punishment)
Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying
war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid
and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the
testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession
in open court. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment
of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of
blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attained.
Article IV
(States' relations)
Section 1(Full faith and credit)
Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public
acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. And
the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such
acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.
Section 2 (Interstate comity; rendition)
The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges
and immunities of citizens in the several States. A person charged
in any State with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee
from justice, and be found in another State, shall on demand of
the executive authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered
up, to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime.
No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws
thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law
or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor,
but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service
or labor may be due.
Section 3 (New states)
New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but
no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction
of any other State; nor any state be formed by the junction of two
or more States, or parts of States, without the consent of the legislatures
of the States concerned as well as of the Congress. The Congress
shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations
respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United
States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as
to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular
State.
Section 4 (Obligations of the United States to the states)
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union
a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them
against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the
executive (when the legislature cannot be convened), against domestic
violence.
Article V
(Mode of amendment)
The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall
deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution,
or, on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the
several States, shall call a convention for proposing amendments,
which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes,
as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures
of three-fourths of the several States, or by conventions in three-fourths
thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed
by the Congress; provided that no amendments which may be made prior
to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner
affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the
first article; and that no State, without its consent ,shall be
deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.
Article VI
(Prior debts; supremacy of Constitution; oaths of office)
All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the
adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United
States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation. This
Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made
in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made,
under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law
of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby,
anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary
notwithstanding. The Senators and Representatives before mentioned,
and the members of the several State legislatures, and all executive
and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several
States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution;
but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification
to any office or public trust under the United States.
Article
VII
(Ratification)
The ratification of the conventions of nine States shall be sufficient
for the establishment of this Constitution between the States so
ratifying the same. Done in Convention by the unanimous consent
of the States present, the seventeenth day of September in the year
of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven and of the
Independence of the United States of America the twelfth. In witness
whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names.
GEORGE WASHINGTON
And thirty-seven others
Amendments to the Constitution
(The first ten amendments--the Bill of Rights-- were adopted in
1791.)
- Amendment I
(Freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly)
- 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.
- Amendment II
(Right to bear arms)
- 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.
Amendment III (Quartering of soldiers)
- 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.
-
- Amendment IV (Searches and seizures)
- 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.
Amendment V (Rights of persons:
grand juries; double jeopardy; self-incrimination; due process;
eminent domain)
-
- 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 offense to be twice put in jeopardy of live 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.
Amendment VI (Rights
of accused in criminal prosecutions)
- 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 defense.
Amendment VII (Civil
trials)
- 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
reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to
the rules of the common law.
- Amendment VIII (Punishment
for crime)
- Excessive bail shall not be required, nor
excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
- Amendment IX (Rights
retained by the people)
- The enumeration in the Constitution, of
certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others
retained by the people.
- Amendment X (Powers
reserved to the states)
- 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.
Amendments Since 1791
(Subsequent to the Bill of Rights)
- Amendment XI
(Suits against the states; adopted 1798)
- 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.
- Amendment XII (Election
of the president; adopted 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 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. 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.
Amendment XIII (Abolition of slavery; adopted 1865)- Section 1: Neither
slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime
where of 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.
- Amendment XIV (Adopted
1868)
Section 1 (Citizenship rights; privileges and immunities;
due process; equal protection)
-
- 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 (Apportionment of representation)
- 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 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 (Disqualification of Confederate
officials)
- 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. Congress may,
by a vote of two-thirds of each house, remove such disability.
- Section 4 (Public debts)
- 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 of emancipation of any slave;
but all such debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal
and void.
- Section 5 (Enforcement)
- The Congress shall have power to enforce,
by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
- Amendment XV (Extension
of right to vote; adopted 1870)
Section 1 (all citizens have the right to vote)
-
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 (Enforcement)
The Congress shall have power to
enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Amendment XVI (Income tax; adopted 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.
Amendment XVII (Popular election of senators;
adopted 1913)
Section 1 (senators to be elected by eligible voters for
state legislatures)
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 [voters for] the most numerous branch of the State
legislatures.
- Section 2 (governors can make temporary
appointments to fille vacancies)
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.
- Section 3 (does not apply to sitting
senators)
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.
Amendment XVIII (Prohibition of intoxicating
liquors; adopted 1919, repealed 1933)
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 by the
Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission
there of to the States by the Congress.
-
- Amendment XIX
(Right of women to vote; adopted 1920)
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 sex.
- Section 2
- The Congress shall have power to enforce
this article by appropriate legislation.
Amendment XX (Commencement of terms
of office; adopted 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 meetings shall begin at noon
on the 3rd day of January, unless they shall by law appoint
a different day.
- Section 3 (Extension of presidential
succession)
- 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 persons
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.
Amendment XXI (Repeal of Eighteenth
Amendment; adopted 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 submission
thereof to the States by the Congress.
Amendment XXII (Limit on presidential
tenure; adopted 1951)
Section 1
- No person shall be elected to the
office of 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 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 (Presidential
electors for the District of Columbia; adopted 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 the power
to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Amendment XXIV (Poll tax outlawed
in national elections; adopted 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 the power
to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Amendment XXV (Presidential succession;
adopted 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 (Vice-presidential vacancy)
- 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 (Presidential disability)
- 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(s)
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. There upon 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 (Right of eighteen-year-olds
to vote; adopted 1971)
Section 1
- The right of citizens of the United
States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall
not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State
on account of age.
- Section 2
- The Congress shall have power to enforce
this article by appropriate legislation.
Amendment XXVII (Congressional pay
raises; adopted 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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