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 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
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
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
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
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. (see Amendment XX) 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
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
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 (see Amendment XXVI), 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
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
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
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
Repealed by Amendment XXI.
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
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
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.
(see Amendment XXV)
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
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
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
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
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
Amendment XXV
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
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.
