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 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.
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 defense.
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 reexamined 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.
Amendment XI
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Section 1. The District constituting the seat of government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress
may direct:
A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress
to which the District would be entitled if it were a state, but in no event more than the least populous state; they shall be in
addition to those appointed by the states, but they shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice
President, to be electors appointed by a state; and they shall meet in the District and perform such duties as provided by the
twelfth article of amendment.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Amendment XXIV
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
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
No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of
Representatives shall have intervened.