AMENDMENTS
TO THE CONSTITUTION
For the First 10
Amendments, see the Bill of Rights
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.