Bill of Rights
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
Amendment XI
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
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
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
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
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
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.
Amendment XVII
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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators
and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of
Representatives shall have intervened.
