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The Constitution
Articles in addition to, and Amendment of, the Constitution of the
United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the
Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the
Original Constitution.
THE TEN ORIGINAL AMENDMENTS
The first ten amendments to the Constitution were proposed by Congress
Sept. 25, 1789, and became effective Dec. 15, 1791. Together they are
known as the Bill of Rights, though only the first eight amendments
guarantee individuals specific rights and liberties.
Amendment 1
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 2
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 3
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 4
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 5
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.
Amendment 6
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 7
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.
Amendment 8
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor
cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Amendment 9
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be
construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment 10
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.
LATER AMENDMENTS
An amendment to the Constitution becomes effective when three fourths
of the states have ratified it. The dates given for the following
amendments are the days on which the certificates of adoption (formerly
called proclamations) were published.
Amendment 11
(Jan. 8, 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 12
(Sept. 25, 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 list 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 13
(Dec. 18, 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 14
(July 28, 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 15
(March 30, 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 16
(Feb. 25, 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 17
(May 31, 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 18
(Jan. 29, 1919; repealed Dec. 5, 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 in the Constitution, within seven years from
the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.
Amendment 19
(Aug. 26, 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 20
(Feb. 6, 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 third 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 third 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 21
(Dec. 5, 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 22
(March 1, 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 23
(April 3, 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 24
(Feb. 4, 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 25
(Feb. 10, 1967)
Section 1. In case of the removal of the President from office or 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 the 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 48 hours for that purpose if not in session. If
the Congress, within 21 days after receipt of the latter written
declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within 21 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 26
(June 30, 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 any state on account of age.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.
Amendment 27
(May 7, 1992)
No law, varying the compensation for the services of Senators and
Representatives, shall take effect until an election of Representatives
shall have intervened.
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