For the First 10 Amendments,
see the Bill of
Rights
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 President shall act as President, as in
the case of the death or other
constitutional 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-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 denie
d 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 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
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 Presi dent
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
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.
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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Edited 11/3/2000