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The Constitution
of the United States of America
1787
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We the people of the United States, in
order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure
domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote
the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves
and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for
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 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 25 years, and been seven
years a citizens of the United States, and who shall not, when
elected, be an inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen.
Representatives 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 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 30,000, 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
their 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 30 years, and been nine years
a citizen of the United States, and 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.
Judgment in cases of impeachment shall
not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification
to hold and enjoy any office of honour, 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 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 behaviour,
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 on 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 this 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 becomes
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. After the bill is reconsidered, it shall
be sent together with the objections, to the other house, by which
it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds
of that house, it shall become a law. But in all 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, according
to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.
SECTION 8. The Congress shall have the
power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to
pay the debts and provide for the common defence 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 an uniform rule of naturalization,
and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the
Untied 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 Untied 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 rights 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 offences 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 offices:
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 distance (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 state in which the same shall
be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards,
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 this 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 1808, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation,
not exceeding 10 dollars for each person.
The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus
shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion
of 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 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
Congress, lay any impost 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; and 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 on 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 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 has 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
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 35 years, and been 14 years a
resident within the United States.
In case of the removal of the president
from office, or of his death, resignation or inability to discharge
the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve
on the vice president, 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 shall 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 actual service
of the United States; he may require the opinion, in writing,
or 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 offences
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,
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
next 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 times,
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 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 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 acts, 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 labour 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 labour, but shall be delivered upon claim
of the party to whom such service or labour may be due.
SECTION 3. New states may be admitted
by 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
houses 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 1808, 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.
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.
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.
The senators and representatives before-mentioned,
and the member 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.
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 17th day of September, in the year
of our Lord 1787, and of the independence of the United States
of America the 12th. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed
our names.
[Names omitted]
*****
ARTICLES OF AMENDMENT
AMENDMENT 1.
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 2.
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 3.
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 4.
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 5.
No person shall be held to answer for
a capital or other 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 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 6.
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 7.
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 8.
Excessive bail shall not be required,
nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments
inflicted.
AMENDMENT 9.
The enumeration in the constitution of
certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others
retained by the people.
AMENDMENT 10.
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 11 (1798).
The judicial power of the United States
shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity,
commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States, by citizens
of another state, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state.
AMENDMENT 12 (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 list 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 no 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
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 13 (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 14 (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 law.
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 members of such state being
of 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 and 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 a d 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 15 (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 16 (1913).
The Congress shall have power to lay and
collect taxes on income, from whatever source derived, without
apportionment among the several states, and without regard to
any census or enumeration.
AMENDMENT 17 (1913).
The Senate of the United States shall
be composed of two senators from each state, elected by the people
thereof for six years; and each senator shall have one vote. The
electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite
for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislatures.
When vacancies happen in the representation
of any state in the Senate, the executive authority of such state
shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies; provided,
that the legislature of any state may empower the executive thereof
to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies
by election as the legislature may direct.
This amendment shall not be so construed
as to affect the election or term of any senator chosen before
it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.
AMENDMENT 18 (1919).
SECTION 1. After one year from the ratification
of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating
liquors with, the importation thereof into, or 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 submission hereof
to the states by the Congress.
AMENDMENT 19 (1920).
The right of the 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 20 (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 year 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 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 it 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 sates within
seven years from the date of its submission.
AMENDMENT 21 (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 22 (1951).
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.
AMENDMENT 23 (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 purpose 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 dudes as provided
by the twelfth article of amendment.
SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power
to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT 24 (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 25 (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 of 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 discharged the powers
and duties of his office, and until he
transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such
powers and dudes shall be discharge 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 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 dudes of his
office, the Vice-President shall immediately assume the powers
and dudes 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 dudes of his office unless
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 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 dudes 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 dudes of his
office, the Vice-President shall continue to discharge the same
as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the
powers and dudes of his office.
AMENDMENT 26 (1971).
SECTION 1. The right of citizens of the
United States, who are eighteen years 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.
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