[Additional Amendments to the Constitution]
ARTICLES in addition to, and Amendment of, the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and
ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution
[Article. XI.]
[Proposed 1794; Ratified 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.
[Article. XII.]
[Proposed 1803; Ratified 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.
[Contested Article.]
[Proposed 1810; Probably Ratified 1819]
If any Citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive or retain any Title of Nobility or Honour, or shall,
without the Consent of Congress, accept and retain any present, Pension, Office or Emolument of any kind whatever, from any
Emperor, King, Prince or foreign Power, such Person shall cease to be a Citizen of the United States, and shall be incapable
of holding any Office of Trust or Profit under them, or either of them.
[Unratified Article.]
[Proposed 1861; Signed by President Lincoln; Unratified]
Article Thirteen.
No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere,
within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of
said State.
Article. XIII.
[Proposed 1865; Ratified 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.
Article. XIV.
[Proposed 1866; Ratified Under Duress 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.
Article. XV.
[Proposed 1869; Ratified 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.
Article. XVI.
[Proposed 1909; Questionably Ratified 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.
[Article. XVII.]
[Proposed 1912; Ratified 1913; Possibly Unconstitutional (See Article V, Clause 3 of the Constitution)]
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.
Article. [XVIII.]
[Proposed 1917; Ratified 1919; Repealed 1933 (See Amendment XXI, Section 1
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.
Article. [XIX.]
[Proposed 1919; Ratified 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.
[Unratified Article.]
[Proposed 1926; Unratified]
Article —
Section. 1. The Congress shall have power to limit, regulate, and prohibit the labor of persons under eighteen years of
age.
Section. 2. The power of the several States is unimpaired by this article except that the operation of State laws shall
be suspended to the extent necessary to give effect to legislation enacted by the Congress.
Article. [XX.]
[Proposed 1932; Ratified 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.
Article. [XXI.]
[Proposed 1933; Ratified 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.
Article. [XXII.]
[Proposed 1947; Ratified 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.
Article. [XXIII.]
[Proposed 1960; Ratified 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.
Article. [XXIV.]
[Proposed 1962; Ratified 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.
Article. [XXV.]
[Proposed 1965; Ratified 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.
Article. [XXVI.]
[Proposed 1971; Ratified 1971]
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.
[Inoperative Article.]
[Proposed 1972; Expired Unratified 1982]
Article —
Section. 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account
of sex.
Section. 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section. 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.
[Inoperative Article.]
[Proposed 1978; Expired Unratified 1985]
Article —
Section. 1. For purposes of representation in the Congress, election of the President and Vice President, and article
V of this Constitution, the District constituting the seat of government of the United States shall be treated as though it
were a State.
Section. 2. The exercise of the rights and powers conferred under this article shall be by the people of the District
constituting the seat of government, and as shall be provided by the Congress.
Section. 3. The twenty-third article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.
Section. 4. 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.
Article. [XXVII.]
[Proposed 1789; Ratified 1992; Second of twelve Articles comprising the Bill of Rights]
No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election
of Representatives shall have intervened.
Notes:
1. The title was not a part of the original document. It was added when the document was printed.
2. Section numbers are not in the original document. We have added them here without putting all of them in brackets.
3. Our scanned images show this as a semi-colon, but an image at a congressional site shows a comma.
4. In the Congressional Statutes at Large, Vol. 1, Page 97, at http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=001/llsl001.db&recNum=220,
the first and third commas are omitted, so that it reads:
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.
The question remains open of where those additional, and grammatically spurious, commas came from, but they do not change
the legal meaning of the provision, and it would not be erroneous to omit them.
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