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 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
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.
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 it 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 state
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 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
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 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 anything 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 it's 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 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
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 of 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 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 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 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 behaviour, 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 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 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
attainted.
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 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 states 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 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
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 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,
G. Washington-Presidt.
and deputy from Virginia New Hampshire: John Langdon,
Nicholas Gilman Massachusetts: Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus
King Connecticut: Wm: Saml. Johnson, Roger Sherman New
York: Alexander Hamilton New Jersey: Wil: Livingston,
David Brearly, Wm. Paterson, Jona: Dayton Pennsylvania:
B. Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robt. Morris, Geo. Clymer,
Thos. FitzSimons, Jared Ingersoll, James Wilson, Gouv
Morris Delaware: Geo: Read, Gunning Bedford jun, John
Dickinson, Richard Bassett, Jaco: Broom Maryland:
James McHenry, Dan of St Thos. Jenifer, Danl
Carroll Virginia: John Blair--, James Madison
Jr. North Carolina: Wm. Blount, Richd. Dobbs Spaight,
Hu Williamson South Carolina: J. Rutledge, Charles
Cotesworth Pinckney, Charles Pinckney, Pierce Butler
Georgia: William Few, Abr Baldwin
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
uponprobable 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 (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 XII (1804)
The electors shall
meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for
President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least,
shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with
themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person
voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the
person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make
distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and
of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the
number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and
certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the
government of the United States, directed to the
President of the Senate;--The President of the Senate
shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of
Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes
shall then be counted;--the person having the greatest
number of votes for President, shall be the President, if
such number be a majority of the whole number of electors
appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from
the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding
three on the list of those voted for as President, the
House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by
ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the
votes shall be taken by states, the representation from
each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose
shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of
the states, and a majority of all the states shall be
necessary to a choice. And if the House of
Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the
right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the
fourth day of March next following, then the
Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of
the death or other constitutional disability of the
President. The person having the greatest number of votes
as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such
number be a majority of the whole number of electors
appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from
the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall
choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall
consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators,
and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to
a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to
the office of President shall be eligible to that of
Vice-President of the United States.
Amendment XIII (1865)
Section 1. Neither
slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment
for crime whereof the party shall have been duly
convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any
place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress
shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
Amendment XIV (1868)
Section 1. All persons
born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to
the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United
States and of the state wherein they reside. No state
shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the
privileges or immunities of citizens of the United
States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor
deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.
Section 2.
Representatives shall be apportioned among the several
states according to their respective numbers, counting
the whole number of persons in each state, excluding
Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any
election for the choice of electors for President and
Vice President of the United States, Representatives in
Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state,
or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to
any of the male inhabitants of such state, being
twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United
States, or in any way abridged, except for participation
in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation
therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the
number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole
number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such
state.
Section 3. No person
shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or
elector of President and Vice President, or hold any
office, civil or military, under the United States, or
under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as
a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United
States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an
executive or judicial officer of any state, to support
the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged
in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given
aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may
by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such
disability.
Section 4. The
validity of the public debt of the United States,
authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment
of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing
insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But
neither the United States nor any state shall assume or
pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of
insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or
any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but
all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held
illegal and void.
Section 5. The
Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate
legislation, the provisions of this article.
Amendment XV (1870)
Section 1. The right
of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States or by any state
on account of race, color, or previous condition of
servitude.
Section 2. The
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.
Amendment XVI (1913)
The Congress shall
have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from
whatever source derived, without apportionment among the
several states, and without regard to any census of
enumeration.
Amendment XVII (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 XVIII (1919)
Section 1. After one
year from the ratification of this article the
manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating
liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the
exportation thereof from the United States and all
territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for
beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.
Section 2. The
Congress and the several states shall have concurrent
power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Section 3. This
article shall be 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 (1920)
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 (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 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 (1933)
Section 1. The
eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of
the United States is hereby repealed.
Section 2. The
transportation or importation into any state, territory,
or possession of the United States for delivery or use
therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws
thereof, is hereby prohibited.
Section 3. This
article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been
ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by
conventions in the several states, as provided in the
Constitution, within seven years from the date of the
submission hereof to the states by the Congress.
Amendment XXII (1951)
Section 1. No person
shall be elected to the office of the President more than
twice, and no person who has held the office of
President, or acted as President, for more than two years
of a term to which some other person was elected
President shall be elected to the office of 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 (1961)
Section 1. The
District constituting the seat of government of the
United States shall appoint in such manner as the
Congress may direct:
A number of electors
of President and Vice President equal to the whole number
of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the
District would be entitled if it were a state, but in no
event more than the least populous state; they shall be
in addition to those appointed by the states, but they
shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of
President and Vice President, to be electors 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 (1964)
Section 1. The right
of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary
or other election for President or Vice President, for
electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator
or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or any state by reason of
failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.
Section 2. The
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.
Amendment XXV (1967)
Section 1. In case of
the removal of the President from office or of his death
or resignation, the Vice President shall become
President.
Section 2. Whenever
there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President,
the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall
take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both
Houses of Congress.
Section 3. Whenever
the President transmits to the President pro tempore of
the Senate and the Speaker of the House of
Representatives his written declaration that he is unable
to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and
until he transmits to them a written declaration to the
contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by
the Vice President as Acting President.
Section 4. Whenever
the Vice President and a majority of either the principal
officers of the executive departments or of such other
body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the
President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of
the House of Representatives their written declaration
that the President is unable to discharge the powers and
duties of his office, the Vice President shall
immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as
Acting President.
Thereafter, when the
President transmits to the President pro tempore of the
Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives
his written declaration that no inability exists, he
shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless
the Vice President and a majority of either the principal
officers of the executive department or of such other
body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four
days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the
Speaker of the House of Representatives their written
declaration 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 (1971)
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 (1992)
No law varying the
compensation for the services of the Senators and
Representatives shall take effect until an election of
Representatives shall have intervened. appealing to the
Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our
intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good
People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare,
That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be
free and independent states; that they are Absolved from
all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all
political connection between them and the State of Great
Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that
as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to
levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish
Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which
Independent States may of right do. And for the support
of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the
Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to
each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred
Honor.
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