The Bill of Rights
and other Amendments to the Constitution
The Bill of Rights
AMENDMENT I - [Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly, Petition (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.
AMENDMENT II - [Right to Bear Arms (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.
AMENDMENT III - [Quartering of Troops (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.
AMENDMENT IV - [Search and Seizure (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.
AMENDMENT V - [Grand Jury, Double Jeopardy, Self-Incrimination, Due Process (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.
AMENDMENT VI - [Criminal Prosecutions - Jury Trial, Right to Confront and to Counsel (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
defense.
AMENDMENT VII - [Common Law Suits - Jury Trial (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 reexamined in any court of the United States, than according
to the rules of the common law.
AMENDMENT VIII - [Excess Bail or Fines, Cruel and Unusual Punishment (1791)]
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
AMENDMENT IX - [Non-Enumerated Rights (1791)]
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by
the people.
AMENDMENT X - [Rights Reserved to States (1791)]
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.
Subsequent Amendments to the Constitution
AMENDMENT XI - [Suits Against a State (1798)]
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 - [Election of President and Vice-President (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 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.
AMENDMENT XIII - [Abolition of Slavery (1865)]
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 - [Privileges and Immunities, Due Process, Equal Protection, Apportionment of Representatives, Civil War
Disqualification and Debt (1868)]
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 power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
AMENDMENT XV - [Rights Not to Be Denied on Account of Race (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 power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT XVI - [Income Tax (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 of enumeration.
AMENDMENT XVII - [Election of Senators (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 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 - [Prohibition (1919)]
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 - [Women's Right to Vote (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 - [Presidential Term and Succession (1933)]
Section 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.
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 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.
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 - [Repeal of Prohibition (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 - [Two Term Limit on President (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 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.
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 - [Presidential Vote in D.C. (1961)]
Section 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.
Section 2.
The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT XXIV - [Poll Tax (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 any poll tax or other tax.
Section 2.
The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT XXV - [Presidential Succession (1967)]
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 - [Right to Vote at Age 18 (1971)]
Section 1.
The right of citizens of the United States, who are 18 years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by
the United States or any state on account of age.
Section 2.
The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT XXVII - [Compensation of Members of Congress (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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