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AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES

Amendment I (1791)

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 (1791)

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 (1791)

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 (1791)

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 (1791)

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 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.

Amendment VI (1791)

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 (1791)

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 (1791)

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines

imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment IX (1791)

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall

not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X (1791)

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.

Amendment XI (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 (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. 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 (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.

Amendment 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, 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.

Amendment 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.

Amendment 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

of enumeration.

Amendment 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.

Amendment XVIII (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.

Amendment 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.

Amendment 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.

Amendment 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.