Constitution of the United States

The Constitution of the United States of America

Amendments and Bill of Rights

Preamble

We the People of the United States, in order to form a more 
perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, 
provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and 
secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do 
ordain and establish the Constitution of the United States of 
America. 

Article I.

Sect. 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in 
a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate 
and a House of Representatives. 

Sect. 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. 

Representative 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 be law direct.  The number of 
representative 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 the Speaker and other 
officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment. 

Sect. 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 hall 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 of 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, 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. 

Judgement 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. 

Sect. 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 be law appoint a different day. 

Sect. 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 behaviour, 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 
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. 


Sect. 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. 


Sect. 7. All bill for raising revenue shall originate in the house 
of representative; 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 is 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 Representative 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. 

Sect. 8. The Congress shall have power     

To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the 
debts and provide for the common defence 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 an 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 offences 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 states 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 the Constitution in the government of the United States, or in 
any department or officer thereof. 

Sect. 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 
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 
the 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. 

Sect. 10. No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or 
confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; 
emit bills of credit; make any thing 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 its 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; 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.

Sect. 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 am equal 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 the 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 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 be elected. 

The president shall, at stated times, receive for his services, a 
compensation, which shall neither be encreased 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." 

Sect. 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 offences 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 session. 

Sect. 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. 

Sect. 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.

Sect. 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 behavior, and shall, at stated time, receive for their 
services a compensation which shall not be diminished during their 
continuance in office. 

Sect. 2.

1. 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. 

2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and 
consuls, and those in which a State shall be a 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. 

3. 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. 

Sect. 3.

1.  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. 

2.  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 
attained. 

Article IV

Sect. 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the 
public act, 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. 

Sect. 2.

1. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges 
and immunities of citizens in the several States. 

2. 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. 

3. 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. 

Sect. 3.

1.  New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; 
but no new State 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. 

2.  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. 

Sect. 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 House 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.

Sect. 1.  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. 

Sect. 2.  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. 

Sect. 3.  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. 

Attest:  
William Jackson, Secretary
George Washington
PRESIDENT AND DEPUTY FROM VIRGINIA

NEW HAMPSHIRE
John Langdon
Nicholas Gilman

MASSACHUSETTS
Nathaniel Gorham
Rufus King

NEW YORK
Alexander Hamilton

NEW JERSEY
William Livingston
David Brearley
William Paterson
Jonathan Dayton

PENNSYLVANIA
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Mifflin
Robert Morris
George Clymer
Thomas Fitzsimons
Jared Ingersoll
James Wilson
Gouverneur Morris

DELAWARE
George Read
Gunning Bedford, Jr.
John Dickinson
Richard Bassett
Jacob Broom

MARYLAND
James McHenry
Dan of St. Thomas Jennifer
Daniel Carroll

VIRGINIA
John Blair
James Madison, Jr.

NORTH CAROLINA
William Blount
Richard Dobbs Spaight
Hugh Williamson

SOUTH CAROLINA
John Rutledge
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
Charles Pinckney
Pierce Butler

GEORGIA
William Few
Abraham Baldwin



Amendments

Bill of Rights

The Conventions of a number of the States having, at the time of adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to
prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added, and as
extending the ground of public confidence in the Government will best insure the beneficent ends of its institution;

Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two-thirds of
both Houses concurring, that the following articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the
Constitution of the United States; all or any of which articles, when ratified by three-fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid
to all intents and purposes as part of the said Constitution, namely:


1st Amendment (1791)
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. 

2nd Amendment (1791)
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. 

3rd Amendment (1791)
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. 

4th Amendment (1791)
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. 

5th Amendment (1791)
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 offence, 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. 

6th Amendment (1791)
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 defence. 

7th Amendment (1791)
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 re-
examined in any court of the United States than according to the 
rules of the common law. 

8th Amendment (1791)
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines 
imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted. 

9th Amendment (1791)
The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not 
be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. 

10th Amendment (1791)
The powers not delegated to 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. 

End Bill of Rights

11th Amendment (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. 

12th Amendment (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 the 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 a majority, then, 
from the persons having the highest numbers, not exceeding three, 
on the list of those voted for a President, the House of 
Representative 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] the Vice President shall act as President, 
as in case of 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, form 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; 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. 

13th Amendment (1865)
Sect. 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. 
Sect. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by 
appropriate legislation. 

14th Amendment (1868)
Sect. 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 any person within its jurisdiction 
the equal protection of the laws. 
Sect. 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. 
Sect. 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. 
Sect. 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. 
Sect. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate 
legislation, the provisions of this article. 

15th Amendment (1870)
Sect. 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. 
Sect. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by 
appropriate legislation. 

16th Amendment (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 or 
enumeration. 

17th Amendment (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 appointment 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. 

18th Amendment (1919)
Sect. 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.  
Sect. 2. The Congress and the several States shall have 
concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate 
legislation. 
Sect. 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 of the date of the submission 
hereof to the States by Congress. 

19th Amendment (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. 

20th Amendment (1933)
Sect. 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. 
Sect. 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. 
Sect. 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. 
Sect. 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. Sect. 5. 
Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October 
following the ratification of this article. Sect. 6. This article 
shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an 
amendment to the Constitution by three-fourths of the several 
States within seven years from the date of its submission. 

21st Amendment (1933)
Sect. 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution 
of the United States is hereby repealed. 
Sect. 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. 
Sect. 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. 

22d Amendment (1951)
Sect. 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 
his Article becomes operative from holding the office of President 
or acting as President during the remainder of such term. 
Sect. 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. 

23rd Amendment (1961)
Sect. 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 Representative 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 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. 
Sect. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by 
appropriate legislation. 

24th Amendment (1964)
Sect. 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. 
Sect. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by 
appropriate legislation. 

25th Amendment (1967)
Sect. 1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of 
his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become 
President. 
Sect. 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. 
Sect. 3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro 
tempore of the Senate and the Speakers 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. 
Sect. 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 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. 

26th Amendment (1971)
Sect. 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. 
Sect. 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article 
by appropriate legislation.

27th Amendment (1992)
No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators
and Representatives shall take effect, until election of Representa-
tives shall have intervened.
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