Constitutional Amendments 1-10 make up what is known as The Bill
of Rights. Amendments 11-27 are listed below.
AMENDMENT XI
Passed by Congress March 4, 1794. Ratified February 7,
1795.
Note: Article III, section 2, of the Constitution was
modified by amendment 11.
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
Passed by Congress December 9, 1803. Ratified June 15,
1804.
Note: A portion of Article II, section 1 of the
Constitution was superseded by the 12th amendment.
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 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.
*Superseded by section 3 of the 20th amendment.
AMENDMENT XIII
Passed by Congress January 31, 1865. Ratified December 6,
1865.
Note: A portion of Article IV, section 2, of the
Constitution was superseded by the 13th amendment.
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
Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July 9,
1868.
Note: Article I, section 2, of the Constitution was
modified by section 2 of the 14th amendment.
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 the power to
enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this
article.
*Changed by section 1 of the 26th amendment.
AMENDMENT XV
Passed by Congress February 26, 1869. Ratified February 3,
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 the power to enforce
this article by appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT XVIPassed by Congress
July 2, 1909. Ratified February 3, 1913.
Note: Article I, section 9, of the Constitution was
modified by amendment 16.
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
Passed by Congress May 13, 1912. Ratified April 8,
1913.
Note: Article I, section 3, of the Constitution was
modified by the 17th amendment.
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
Passed by Congress December 18, 1917. Ratified January 16,
1919. Repealed by amendment 21.
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
Passed by Congress June 4, 1919. Ratified August 18,
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
Passed by Congress March 2, 1932. Ratified January 23,
1933.
Note: Article I, section 4, of the Constitution was
modified by section 2 of this amendment. In addition, a portion of
the 12th amendment was superseded by section 3.
Section 1.
The terms of the President and the 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 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
Passed by Congress February 20, 1933. Ratified December 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 XXII
Passed by Congress March 21, 1947. Ratified February 27,
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 President more than once. But this Article
shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when
this Article was proposed by 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
Passed by Congress June 16, 1960. Ratified March 29,
1961.
Section 1.
The District constituting the seat of
Government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as
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
Passed by Congress August 27, 1962. Ratified January 23,
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 poll tax or other tax.
Section 2.
The Congress shall have power to enforce
this article by appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT XXV
Passed by Congress July 6, 1965. Ratified February 10,
1967.
Note: Article II, section 1, of the Constitution was
affected by the 25th amendment.
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
Passed by Congress March 23, 1971. Ratified July 1,
1971.
Note: Amendment 14, section 2, of the Constitution was
modified by section 1 of the 26th amendment.
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
Originally proposed Sept. 25, 1789. Ratified May 7,
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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