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 first 10 amendments to the Constitution were proposed by
the Congress on Sept. 25, 1789. They were ratified by the
following states, and the notifications of the ratification by the
governors thereof were successively communicated by the President
to the Congress: New Jersey, Nov. 20, 1789; Maryland, Dec. 19,
1789; North Carolina, Dec. 22, 1789; South Carolina, Jan. 19,
1790; New Hampshire, Jan. 25, 1790; Delaware, Jan. 28, 1790; New
York, Feb. 4, 1790; Pennsylvania, March 10, 1790; Rhode Island,
June 7, 1790; Vermont, Nov. 3, 1791; and Virginia, Dec. 15, 1791.
Ratification was completed on Dec. 15, 1791.
The amendments were subsequently ratified by Massachusetts,
March 2, 1939; Georgia, March 18, 1939; and Connecticut, April 19,
1939.
Two other amendments were concurrently proposed in 1789. One
failed of ratification. The other (Amendment XXVII) was not
ratified until May 7, 1992, when the Michigan legislature gave it
the required number of state approvals.
Amendment [ I ]
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 ]
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 ]
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 ]
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 ]
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 [ VI ]
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the
right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the
State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed,
which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and
to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be
confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory
process for obtaining Witnesses in his favor, and to have the
assistance of counsel for his defence.
Amendment [ VII ]
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 ]
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines
imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Amendment [ IX ]
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall
not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the
people.
Amendment [ X ]
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 ] [1795]
The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed
to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted
against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or
by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.
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
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]
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 or
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 theConstitution, 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]
Amendment [XXVII] [1992]
No law, varying the compensation for the services of the
Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election
of Representatives shall have intervened.
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