AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES



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.