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BILL OF RIGHTS
The Amendments
The following are the Amendments to the
Constitution. The first ten Amendments collectively
are commonly known as the Bill of Rights. History
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Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press,
Expression. Ratified 12/15/1791. Note
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.
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Amendment 2 - Right to Bear Arms. Ratified
12/15/1791. Note
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.
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Amendment 3 - Quartering of Soldiers. Ratified
12/15/1791. Note
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.
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Amendment 4 - Search and Seizure. Ratified
12/15/1791.
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.
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Amendment 5 - Trial and Punishment, Compensation for
Takings. Ratified 12/15/1791.
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 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.
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Amendment 6 - Right to Speedy Trial, Confrontation
of Witnesses. Ratified 12/15/1791.
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.
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Amendment 7 - Trial by Jury in Civil Cases. Ratified
12/15/1791.
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.
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Amendment 8 - Cruel and Unusual Punishment. Ratified
12/15/1791.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive
fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments
inflicted.
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Amendment 9 - Construction of Constitution. Ratified
12/15/1791.
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain
rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage
others retained by the people.
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Amendment 10 - Powers of the States and People.
Ratified 12/15/1791. Note
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.
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Amendment 11 - Judicial Limits. Ratified 2/7/1795.
Note History
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.
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Amendment 12 - Choosing the President,
Vice-President. Ratified 6/15/1804. Note History The
Electoral College
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.
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Amendment 13 - Slavery Abolished. Ratified
12/6/1865. History
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.
2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article
by appropriate legislation.
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Amendment 14 - Citizenship Rights. Ratified
7/9/1868. Note History
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.
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.
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.
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.
5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by
appropriate legislation, the provisions of this
article.
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Amendment 15 - Race No Bar to Vote. Ratified
2/3/1870. History
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.
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this
article by appropriate legislation.
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Amendment 16 - Status of Income Tax Clarified.
Ratified 2/3/1913. Note History
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.
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Amendment 17 - Senators Elected by Popular Vote.
Ratified 4/8/1913. History
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.
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Amendment 18 - Liquor Abolished. Ratified 1/16/1919.
Repealed by Amendment 21, 12/5/1933. History
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.
2. The Congress and the several States shall have
concurrent power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.
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.
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Amendment 19 - Women's Suffrage. Ratified 8/18/1920.
History
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.
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Amendment 20 - Presidential, Congressional Terms.
Ratified 1/23/1933. History
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.
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.
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.
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.
5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th
day of October following the ratification of this
article.
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.
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Amendment 21 - Amendment 18 Repealed. Ratified
12/5/1933. History
1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the
Constitution of the United States is hereby
repealed.
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.
3. The 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.
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Amendment 22 - Presidential Term Limits. Ratified
2/27/1951. History
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.
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.
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Amendment 23 - Presidential Vote for District of
Columbia. Ratified 3/29/1961. History
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.
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this
article by appropriate legislation.
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Amendment 24 - Poll Tax Barred. Ratified
1/23/1964.History
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.
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this
article by appropriate legislation.
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Amendment 25 - Presidential Disability and
Succession. Ratified 2/10/1967.Note History
1. In case of the removal of the President from
office or of his death or resignation, the Vice
President shall become President.
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.
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.
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.
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Amendment 26 - Voting Age Set to 18 Years. Ratified
7/1/1971. History
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.
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this
article by appropriate legislation.
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Amendment 27 - Limiting Changes to Congressional
Pay. Ratified 5/7/1992. History
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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