Congress of the United States begun and held at the City of New-York, on Wednesday
the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine.
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: And as extending the ground of
public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent
ends of its institution.
RESOLVED by the Senate and
House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress
assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following
Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as
amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all, or any of
which Articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said
Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the
said Constitution; viz.
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.
(Note:
The following text is a transcription of the first ten amendments to
the Constitution in their original form. These amendments were ratified
December 15, 1791, and form what is known as the "Bill of Rights.")
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 re-examined 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.
Amendments
XI through XXVII
(Constitutional Amendments 1-10 make up what
is known as The Bill of Rights. Amendments
11-27 are listed below.)
AMENDMENT XI
Passed by
Congress March 4, 1794. Ratified February 7, 1795.
Note:
Article III, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by amendment
11.
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
Passed
by Congress December 9, 1803. Ratified June 15, 1804.
Note:
A portion of Article II, section 1 of the Constitution was superseded
by the 12th amendment.
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 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.
*Superseded
by section 3 of the 20th amendment.
AMENDMENT XIII
Passed by
Congress January 31, 1865. Ratified December 6, 1865.
Note:
A portion of Article IV, section 2, of the Constitution was superseded
by the 13th amendment.
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
Passed by
Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July 9, 1868.
Note:
Article I, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by section 2 of
the 14th amendment.
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
the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of
this article.
*Changed by section 1 of the 26th
amendment.
AMENDMENT
XV
Passed by Congress February 26, 1869. Ratified February
3, 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 the power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
AMENDMENT
XVI
Passed by Congress July 2, 1909. Ratified February 3,
1913.
Note: Article I, section 9, of the
Constitution was modified by amendment 16.
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
Passed
by Congress May 13, 1912. Ratified April 8, 1913.
Note:
Article I, section 3, of the Constitution was modified by the 17th
amendment.
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
Passed by Congress December 18, 1917. Ratified
January 16, 1919. Repealed by amendment 21.
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
Passed
by Congress June 4, 1919. Ratified August 18, 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
Passed
by Congress March 2, 1932. Ratified January 23, 1933.
Note:
Article I, section 4, of the Constitution was modified by section 2 of
this amendment. In addition, a portion of the 12th amendment was
superseded by section 3.
Section 1. The
terms of the President and the 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 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
Passed
by Congress February 20, 1933. Ratified December 5, 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
Passed
by Congress March 21, 1947. Ratified February 27, 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
President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any
person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed
by 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
Passed
by Congress June 16, 1960. Ratified March 29, 1961.
Section
1. The District constituting the seat of Government of the
United States shall appoint in such manner as 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
Passed by
Congress August 27, 1962. Ratified January 23, 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 poll tax or other tax.
Section
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT XXV
Passed by
Congress July 6, 1965. Ratified February 10, 1967.
Note:
Article II, section 1, of the Constitution was affected by the 25th
amendment.
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
Passed
by Congress March 23, 1971. Ratified July 1, 1971.
Note:
Amendment 14, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by section 1
of the 26th amendment.
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.
AMENDMENT
XXVII
Originally proposed Sept. 25, 1789. Ratified May 7,
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.
