AMENDMENT
XI
Passed by
Congress March 4, 1794. Ratified February 7, 1795.
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
Passed by
Congress December 9, 1803. Ratified July 27, 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
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,] {Altered by 20th Amendment}
then the Vice-President shall act as President, as
in 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 numbers 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
Passed by
Congress January 31, 1865. Ratified December 6, 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
Passed by
Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July 9, 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 to 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 f or 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 the power to enforce, by appropriate
legislation, the provisions of this article.
AMENDMENT
XV
Passed by
Congress February 26, 1869. Ratified February 3, 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 the power to enforce this article
by appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT
XVI
Passed by
Congress July 2, 1909. Ratified February 3, 1913.
The Congress shall
have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from
whatever sources derived, without apportionment among
the several States, and without regard to any census
or enumeration.
AMENDMENT
XVII
Passed by
Congress May 13, 1912. Ratified April 8, 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
Passed by
Congress December 18, 1917. Ratified January 16, 1919.{Altered
by Amendment 21}
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. The Congress and the several States
shall have concurrent power to enforce this article
by appropriate legislation. 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
Passed by
Congress June 4, 1919. Ratified August 18, 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
Section 1.
The terms of the President
and the 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 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 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 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
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 (October 1933).
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
Passed by
Congress February 20, 1933. Ratified December 5, 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
Passed by
Congress March 21, 1947. Ratified February 27, 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 that two years of
a term to which some other person was elected President
shall be elected to the office of President more that
once. But this Article shall not apply to any person
holding the office of President when this Article
was proposed by 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. 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
Passed by
Congress June 16, 1960. Ratified March 29, 1961.
Section 1.
The District constituting
the seat of Government of the United States shall
appoint in such manner as 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 preform 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
Passed by
Congress August 27, 1962. Ratified January 23, 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 poll tax or any other tax.
Section 2.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT
XXV
Passed by
Congress July 6, 1965. Ratified February 10, 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 the 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, transmits 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 departments or of such other body
as Congress may by law provide, transmits 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
Passed by
Congress March 23, 1971. Ratified June 30, 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 power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
AMENDMENT
XXVII
Ratified May
7, 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.