The Constitution of the United States
The Bill Of Rights (Amendments I Through X)
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 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 [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 defence.
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 to 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 posed, 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.
The Rest of the Amendments
Amendment XI [1798]
The Judicial power of the United States shall not be the 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 or enumeration.
Amendment XVII [1913]
1.The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each
State, elected by the people there of,
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.
2.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.
3.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 in operative 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]
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 sex.
2.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 3rd 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 3rd 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 the 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 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 ap pointed 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 and 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 power
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 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 [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.