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section 2, of the Constitution was superseded by the 13th amendment.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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