The Constitution: Amendments 11-27
Constitutional Amendments 1-10 make up what is known as The
Bill of Rights.
Amendments 11-27 are listed below
AMENDMENT XI ElevenPassed 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 TwelvePassed 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Constitution was superseded by the 12th amendment.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 ThirteenPassed 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 FourteenPassed 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 FifteenPassed 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 SixteenPassed 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 SeventeenPassed 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 EighteenPassed 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 Nineteen
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 TwentyPassed 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 TwentyonePassed 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 TwentytwoPassed 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 Twenty-threePassed 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 Twenty-fourPassed 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 Twenty-fivePassed 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 Twenty-sixPassed 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 Twenty-sevenOriginally 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.