Constitution of the United States of America
(In Convention, September 17, 1787)
Preamble
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more
perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility,
provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and
secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do
ordain and establish the Constitution of the United States of
America.
Article I.
Section 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in
a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate
and a House of Representatives.
Section 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members
chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and
the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite
for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature.
No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to
the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of
the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an
inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen.
Representative and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the
several states which may be included within this Union, according
to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding
to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to
service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed,
three-fifths of all other persons. The actual enumeration shall
be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress
of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten
years in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of
representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but
each state shall have at least one representative; and until such
enumeration shall be made, the state of New Hampshire shall be
entitled to choose three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and
Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New-
Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six,
Virginia ten, North-Carolina five, South-Carolina five, and
Georgia three.
When vacancies happen in the representation from any state, the
Executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill
such vacancies.
The House of Representatives shall choose the Speaker and other
officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment.
Section 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two
senators from each state chosen by the legislature thereof, for
six years and each senator shall have one vote.
Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the
first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into
three classes. The seats of the senators of the first class shall
be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second
class at the expiration of the fourth year, and of the third class
at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one-third may be
chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen by resignation,
or otherwise during the recess of the legislature of any state,
the Executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the
next meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such
vacancies.
No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to the
age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United
States, who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that
state for which he shall be chosen.
The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the
Senate, but shall have no vote unless they be equally divided.
The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a President
pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice-President, or when he
shall exercise the office of President of the United States.
The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments.
When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or
affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried,
the Chief Justice shall preside: And no person shall be convicted
without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present.
Judgement in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to
removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any
office of honor, trust or profit under the United States; but the
party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to
indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law.
Section 4. The times, places and manner of holding elections for
senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by
the legislature thereof: but the Congress may at any time by law
make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of
choosing Senators.
The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such
meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they
shall by law appoint a different day.
Section 5. Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns
and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each
shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may
adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the
attendance of absent members, in such manner, and under such
penalties as each house may provide.
Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its
members for disorderly behavior, and with the concurrence of two-
thirds, expel a member.
Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time
to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their
judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of
either house on any question shall, at the desire of one-fifth of
those present be entered in the journal.
Neither house, during the session of Congress shall, without the
consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any
other place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting.
Section 6. The senators and representatives shall receive a
compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and
paid out of the treasury of the United States. They shall in all
cases, except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be
privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of
their respective houses, and in going to and returning from the
same; and for any speech or debate in either house, they shall not
be questioned in any other place.
No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he
was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority
of the United States, which shall have been created, or the
emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and
no person holding any office under the United States, shall be a
member of either house during his continuance in office.
Section 7. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the house
of representatives; but the senate may propose or concur with
amendments as on other bills.
Every bill which shall have passed the house of representatives
and the senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the
president of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it,
but if not he shall return it, with his objections to that house
in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections
at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after
such reconsideration two-thirds of that house shall agree to pass
the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the
other house, by which is shall likewise be reconsidered, and if
approved by two-thirds of that house, it shall become a law. But
in all such cases the votes of both houses shall be determined by
yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against
the bill shall be entered on the journal of each house
respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the President
within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been
presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he
had signed it, unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent
its return, in which case it shall not be a law.
Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the
Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a
question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of
the United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be
approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by
two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according
to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.
Section 8. The Congress shall have power
To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the
debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of
the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be
uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several
states, and with the Indian tribes;
To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws
on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin,
and fix the standard of weights and measures;
To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and
current coin of the United States;
To establish post offices and post roads;
To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing
for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to
their respective writings and discoveries;
To constitute tribunals inferior to the supreme court;
To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high
seas, and offenses against the law of nations;
To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make
rules concerning captures on land and water;
To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that
use shall be for a longer term than two years;
To provide and maintain a navy;
To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and
naval forces;
To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of
the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia,
and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the
service of the United States, reserving to the States
respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority
of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by
Congress;
To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over
such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession
of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the
seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like
authority over all places purchased by the consent of the
legislature of the states in which the same shall be, for the
erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other
needful buildings; -And
To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying
into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested
by the Constitution in the government of the United States, or in
any department or officer thereof.
Section 9. The migration or importation of such persons as any of
the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be
prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight
hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such
importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.
The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended,
unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety
may require it.
No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed.
No capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in
proportion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to
be taken.
No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state.
No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or
revenue to the ports of one state over those of another: nor shall
vessels bound to, or from, one state, be obliged to enter, clear,
or pay duties in another.
No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of
appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of
the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be
published from time to time.
No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: And
no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall,
without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present,
emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king,
prince, or foreign state.
Section 10. No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or
confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money;
emit bills of credit; make any thing but gold and silver coin a
tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post
facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant
any title of nobility.
No state shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any
imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be
absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the
net produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any state on
imports or exports, shall be for the use of the Treasury of the
United States; all such laws shall be subject to the revision and
control of the Congress.
No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of
tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, enter into
any agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power,
or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger
as will not admit of delay.
Article II.
Section 1. The executive power shall be vested in a president of
the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the
term of four years, and, together with the vice-president, chosen
for the same term, be elected as follows.
Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature
thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole
number of senators and representatives to which the state may be
entitled in the Congress: but no senator or representative, or
person holding an office of trust or profit under the United
States, shall be appointed an elector.
The electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by
ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an
inhabitant of the same state with themselves. And they shall make
a list of all the persons voted for, and of the number of votes
for each; which list 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
shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole
number of electors appointed; and if there be more than one who
have such majority, and have an equal number of votes, then the House of
Representatives shall immediately choose by ballot one of them for
president; and if no person have a majority, then from the five
highest on the list the said house shall in like manner choose 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. In every case, after the
choice of the president, the person having the greatest number of
votes of the electors shall be the vice-president. But if there
should remain two or more who have equal votes, the senate shall
choose from them by ballot the vice-president.
The Congress may determine the time of the choosing the electors,
and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall
be the same throughout the United States.
No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the
United States, at the time of the adoption of this constitution,
shall be eligible to the office of president; neither shall any
person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to
the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident
within the United States.
In case of the removal of the president from office, or his death,
resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of
the said office, the same shall devolve on the vice-president, and
the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death,
resignation or inability, both of the president and vice-
president, declaring what officer shall then act as president, and
such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be
removed, or a president be elected.
The president shall, at stated times, receive for his services, a
compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished
during the period for which he shall have been elected, and he
shall not receive within that period any other emolument from the
United States, or any of them.
Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the
following oath or affirmation:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute
the office of president of the United States, and will to the best
of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the constitution of
the United States."
Section 2. The president shall be commander in chief of the army and
navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several
States, when called into the actual service of the United States;
he may require the opinion, in writing of the principal officer in
each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to
the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power to
grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United
States, except in cases of impeachment.
He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the
senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the senators
present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice
and consent of the senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public
ministers and consuls, judges of the supreme court, and all other
officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein
otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law.
But the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior
officers, as they think proper, in the president alone, in the
courts of law, or in the heads of departments.
The president shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may
happen during the recess of the senate, by granting commissions
which shall expire at the end of their session.
Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress
information of the state of the union, and recommend to their
consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and
expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both
houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between
them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them
to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive
ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that
the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the
officers of the United States.
Section 4. The president, vice-president and all civil officers of
the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment
for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and
misdemeanors.
Article III.
Section 1. The judicial power of the United States shall be vested
in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress
may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of
the Supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during
good behavior, and shall, at stated time, receive for their
services a compensation which shall not be diminished during their
continuance in office.
Section 2. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and
equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United
States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their
authority; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public
ministers, and consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime
jurisdiction; to controversies to which the United States shall be
a party; to controversies between two or more States, between a
State and citizens of another State, between citizens of different
States, between citizens of the same State claiming lands under
grants of different States, and between a State or the citizens
thereof, and foreign states, citizens, or subjects.
In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and
consuls, and those in which a State shall be a party, the Supreme
Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases
before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate
jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions and
under such regulations as the Congress shall make.
The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall
be by jury; and such trial shall be held in the State where the
said crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed
within any State the trial shall be at such place or places as the
Congress may by law have directed.
Section 3. Treason against the United States shall consist only in
levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving
them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason
unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or
on confession in open court.
The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of
treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of
blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person
attained.
Article IV
Section 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the
public act, records, and judicial proceedings of every other
State. And the Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the
manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be
proved, and the effect thereof.
Section 2. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all
privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States.
A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other
crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State,
shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State from
which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having
jurisdiction of the crime.
No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws
thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law
or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor,
but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such
service or labor may be due.
Section 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union;
but no new State shall be formed or erected within the
jurisdiction of any other State, nor any State be formed by the
junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the
consent of the legislatures of the States concerned as well as of
the Congress.
The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all
needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other
property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this
Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of
the United States, or of any particular State.
Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this
Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of
them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or
of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened),
against domestic violence.
Article V.
The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both House shall deem it
necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on
the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several
States, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which,
in either case, shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as
part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of
three-fourths of the several States, or by conventions in three-
fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may
be proposed by the Congress; provided [that no amendment which may
be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight
shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the
ninth section of the first Article;] and that no State, without
its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the
Senate.
Article VI.
Section 1. All debts contracted and engagements entered into,
before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid
against the United States under this Constitution, as under the
Confederation.
Section 2. This Constitution, and the laws of the United States
which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made,
or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States,
shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every
State shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws
of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.
Section 3. The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and
the members of the several State legislatures, and all executive
and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the
several States, shall be bound, by oath or affirmation, to support
this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as
a qualification to any office or public trust under the United
States.
Article VII.
The ratification of the conventions of nine States shall be
sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the
States so ratifying the same.
Done in Convention, by the unanimous consent of the States
present, the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the twelfth. In
Witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names.
George Washington
President and Deputy from Virginia
New Hampshire
John Langdon
Nicholas Gilman
Massachusetts
Nathaniel Gorham
Rufus King
Connecticut
William Samuel Johnson
Roger Sherman
New York
Alexander Hamilton
New Jersey
William Livingston
David Brearley
William Paterson
Jonathan Dayton
Pennsylvania
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Mifflin
Robert Morris
George Clymer
Thomas Fitzsimons
Jared Ingersoll
James Wilson
Gouverneur Morris
Delaware
George Read
Gunning Bedford, Jr.
John Dickinson
Richard Bassett
Jacob Broom
Maryland
James McHenry
Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer
Daniel Carroll
Virginia
John Blair
James Madison, Jr.
North Carolina
William Blount
Richard Dobbs Spaight
Hugh Williamson
South Carolina
John Rutledge
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
Charles Pinckney
Pierce Butler
Georgia
William Few
Abraham Baldwin
AMENDMENTS
1st Amendment
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.
2nd Amendment
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.
3rd Amendment
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.
4th Amendment
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.
5th Amendment
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.
6th Amendment
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.
7th Amendment
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.
8th Amendment
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines
imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted.
9th Amendment
The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not
be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
10th Amendment
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.
11th Amendment
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.
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 the 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 a majority, then,
from the persons having the highest numbers, not exceeding three,
on the list of those voted for a President, the House of
Representative 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] the Vice President shall act as President,
as in case of 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, form 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.
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.
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 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.
15th Amendment
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.
16th Amendment
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.
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 appointment 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.
18th Amendment
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 of the date of the submission
hereof to the States by Congress.
19th Amendment
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.
20th Amendment
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
years, 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.
21st Amendment
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.
22d Amendment
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.
23rd Amendment
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 Representative 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.
24th Amendment
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.
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 Speakers 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
declation, 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.
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 the power to enforce this article
by appropriate legislation.