The conventions of a number of the States having at the time of their adopting
the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse
of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added.
Article the first [Not Ratified]
After the first enumeration required by the first article of the Constitution,
there shall be one Representative for every thirty thousand, until the number
shall amount to one hundred, after which the proportion shall be so regulated
by Congress, that there shall be not less than one hundred Representatives, nor
less than one Representative for every forty thousand persons, until the number
of Representatives shall amount to two hundred; after which the proportion shall
be so regulated by Congress, that there shall not be less than two hundred Representatives,
nor more than one Representative for every fifty thousand persons.
Article the third [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.
Article the fourth [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.
Article the fifth [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.
Article the sixth [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.
Article the seventh [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.
Article the eighth [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.
Article the ninth [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 re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according
to the rules of the common law.
Article the tenth [Amendment VIII]
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel
and unusual punishments inflicted.
Article the eleventh [Amendment IX]
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed
to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Article the twelfth [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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Additional Amendments to 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.
[Article. XI.]
[Proposed 1794; Ratified 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.
[Article. XII.]
[Proposed 1803; Ratified 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.
[Contested Article.]
[Proposed 1810; Probably Ratified 1819]
If any Citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive or retain
any Title of Nobility or Honour, or shall, without the Consent of Congress, accept
and retain any present, Pension, Office or Emolument of any kind whatever, from
any Emperor, King, Prince or foreign Power, such Person shall cease to be a Citizen
of the United States, and shall be incapable of holding any Office of Trust or
Profit under them, or either of them.
[Unratified Article.]
[Proposed 1861; Endorsed by President-elect Lincoln; Unratified]
Article Thirteen.
No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give
to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic
institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the
laws of said State.
Article. XIII.
[Proposed 1865; Ratified 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.
Article. XIV.
[Proposed 1866; Ratified Under Duress 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.
Article. XV.
[Proposed 1869; Ratified 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.
Article. XVI.
[Proposed 1909; Questionably Ratified 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.
[Article. XVII.]
[Proposed 1912; Ratified 1913; Possibly Unconstitutional (See Article V,
Clause 3 of the Constitution)]
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.
Article. [XVIII.]
[Proposed 1917; Ratified 1919; Repealed 1933 (See Amendment XXI, Section
1)]
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.
Article. [XIX.]
[Proposed 1919; Ratified 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.
[Unratified Article.]
[Proposed 1926; Unratified]
Article--
Section 1 The Congress shall have power to limit, regulate, and prohibit
the labor of persons under eighteen years of age.
Section 2 The power of the several States is unimpaired by this article
except that the operation of State laws shall be suspended to the extent necessary
to give effect to legislation enacted by the Congress.
Article. [XX.]
[Proposed 1932; Ratified 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.
Article. [XXI.]
[Proposed 1933; Ratified 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.
Article. [XXII.]
[Proposed 1947; Ratified 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.
Article. [XXIII.]
[Proposed 1960; Ratified 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.
Article. [XXIV.]
[Proposed 1962; Ratified 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.
Article. [XXV.]
[Proposed 1965; Ratified 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.
Article. [XXVI.]
[Proposed 1971; Ratified 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 by any State on account of age.
Section 2 The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
[Inoperative Article.]
[Proposed 1972; Expired Unratified 1982]
Article--
Section 1 Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged
by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Section 2 The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate
legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section 3 This amendment shall take effect two years after the date
of ratification.
[Inoperative Article.]
[Proposed 1978; Expired Unratified 1985]
Article--
Section 1 For purposes of representation in the Congress, election of
the President and Vice President, and article V of this Constitution, the District
constituting the seat of government of the United States shall be treated as though
it were a State.
Section 2 The exercise of the rights and powers conferred under this
article shall be by the people of the District constituting the seat of government,
and as shall be provided by the Congress.
Section 3 The twenty-third article of amendment to the Constitution
of the United States is hereby repealed.
Section 4 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.
Article. [XXVII.]
[Proposed 1789; Ratified 1992; Second of twelve Articles comprising the
Bill of Rights]
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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