Amendment I
Amendment II
Amendment III
Amendment IV
Amendment V
Amendment VI
Amendment VII
Amendment VIII
Amendment IX
Amendment X
Amendment XI
Amendment XII
Amendment XIII
Amendment XIV
Amendment XV
Amendment XVI
Amendment XVII
Amendment XVIII
Amendment XIX
Amendment XX
Amendment XXI
Amendment XXII
Amendment XXIII
Amendment XXVI
Amendment XXV
Amendment XXVI
Amendment XXVII
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.
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.
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.
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.
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise
infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand
Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in
the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public
danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to
be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled
in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be
deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of
law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without
just compensation.
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right
to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State
and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which
district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be
informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be
confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory
process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the
Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
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.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines
imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not
be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to
the States respectively, or to the people.
The 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Section 1.
The right of citizens of the United States,
who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.
Section 2.
The Congress shall have power to
enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators
and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of
Representatives shall have intervened.
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