Home >>Amendments 11-27
AMENDMENT XI
Passed by Congress March 4, 1794. Ratified February 7, 1795.
Note: Article III, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by
amendment 11.
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 June 15, 1804.
Note: A portion of Article II, section 1 of the Constitution was
superseded by the 12th amendment.
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 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.
*Superseded by section 3 of the 20th amendment.
AMENDMENT XIII
Passed by Congress January 31, 1865. Ratified December 6, 1865.
Note: A portion of Article IV, section 2, of the Constitution was
superseded by the 13th amendment.
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.
Note: Article I, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by
section 2 of the 14th amendment.
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 the power to
enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
*Changed by section 1 of the 26th amendment.
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.
Note: Article I, section 9, of the Constitution was modified by
amendment 16.
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
Passed by Congress May 13, 1912. Ratified April 8, 1913.
Note: Article I, section 3, of the Constitution was modified by the
17th amendment.
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. Repealed
by amendment 21.
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
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
Passed by Congress March 2, 1932. Ratified January 23, 1933.
Note: Article I, section 4, of the Constitution was modified by
section 2 of this amendment. In addition, a portion of the 12th amendment was
superseded by section 3.
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 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
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
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.
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
President more than 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.
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
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 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
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 other tax.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to
enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT XXV
Passed by Congress July 6, 1965. Ratified February 10, 1967.
Note: Article II, section 1, of the Constitution was affected by the
25th amendment.
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
Passed by Congress March 23, 1971. Ratified July 1, 1971.
Note: Amendment 14, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by
section 1 of the 26th amendment.
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United
States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to
enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT XXVII
Originally proposed Sept. 25, 1789.
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.
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