AMENDMENTS. 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 I.] Freedom of Religion, of Speech, of the Press, and Right of Petition. 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.* [ARTICLE II.] Right of People to Bear Arms Not to be Infringed. 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. [ARTICLE III.] Quartering of Troops. 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. [ARTICLE IV.] Persons and Houses to be Secure from Unreasonable Searches and Seizures. 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. [ARTICLE V.] Trials for Crimes-Just Compensation for Private Property Taken for Public Use. 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 offence 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. *The first ten articles of amendment to the constitution of the United States (with two others which were not ratified by the requisite number of States) were submitted to the several State Legislatures by a resolution of Congress which passed on the 25th of September, 1789, at the first session of the First Congress, and were ratified by the Legislatures of the followNew Jersey, November 20, 1789; ing States: Maryland, December 19, 1789; North Carolina. December 22, 1789; South Carolina, January 19, 1790; New Hampshire, January 25, 1790; Delaware, January 28, 1790; Pennsylvania, March 10, 1790; New York, March 27, 1790; Rhode Island, June 15, 1790; Vermont, November 3, 1791; Virginia, December 15, 1791. The acts of the Legislatures of the States ratifying these amendments were transmitted by the Governors to the President, and by him communicated to Congress. The Legislatures of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Georgia do not appear by the record to have ratifled them. *The eleventh amendment to the Constitution of the United States was submitted to the Legislatures of the several States by a resolution of Congress passed on the 5th of September, 1794, at the first session of the Third Congress : and on the 8th of January, 1798, at the second session of the Fifth Congress, it was declared by the President, in a message to the two Houses of Congress, to have been adopted by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the States, there being at that time sixteen States in the Union. †See Article III, Sec. 2. §On the second Monday in January, by act of Congress, approved February 3, 1887. 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 VicePresident of the United States. [ARTICLE XIII.] Slavery Prohibited. Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly con the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as VicePresident, 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 hav-victed, shall exist within the United States, or ing 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 On the second Wednesday in February, by act of Congress, approved February 3, 1887. The twelfth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was submitted to the Legislatures of the several States, there being then seventeen States, in lieu of the original third paragraph of the first section of the second article, by a resolution of Congress passed on the 12th o. December, 1803, at the first session of the Eighth Congress, and was ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the States in 1804, according to a proclamation of the Secretary of State dated the 25th of September, 1804. *The thirteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was submitted to the Legislatures of the several States, there being then thirty-six States, by a resolution of Congress passed on the 1st of February, 1865, at the second session of the Thirty-eighth Congress, and was ratified, according to a proclamation of the Secretary of State dated December 18, 1865, by the Legislatures of twenty-seven of the thirty-six States, viz: Illinois, February 1, 1865; Rhode Island, February 2, 1865; Michigan, February 2, 1865; Maryland, February 3, 1865; New York, February 3, 1865; West Virginia, February 3, 1865; Maine, February 7, 1865; Kansas, February 7, 1865; Massachusetts, Feb ruary 8, 1865; Pennsylvania, February 8, 1865; Virginia, February 9, 1865; Ohio, February 10, 1865; Missouri, February 10, 1865; Indiana. February 16, 1865; Nevada, February 16, 1865; Louisiana, February 17, 1865; Minnesota, February 23, 1865; Wisconsin, March 1, 1865; Vermont, March 9, 1865; Tennessee, April 7, 1865; Arkansas, April 20, 1865; Connecticut, May 5, 1865; New Hampshire, July 1, 1865; South Carolina, November 13, 1865; Alabama, December 2, 1865; North Carolina, December 4, 1865; Georgia, December 9, 1865. The following States not enumerated in the proclamation of the Secretary of State also ratified this amendment: Oregon, December 11, 1865; California, December 20, 1865; Florida, December 28, 1865; New Jersey, January 23, 1866; Iowa, January 24, 1866; Texas, February 18, 1870. any place subject to their jurisdiction.* [ARTICLE XIV.] Citizenship Defined-Privileges of Citizens. 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.† latures of the States of Connecticut, Tennessee, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, New York, Ohio, Illinois, West Virginia, Kansas, Maine, Nevada, Missouri, Indiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Iowa, Arkansas, Florida North Carolina, Alabama, South Carolina, and Louisiana, being three-fourths and more of the several States of the Union, have ratified the fourteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States, duly proposed by two-thirds of each House of the Thirty-ninth Congress: Therefore, Resolved, That said fourteenth article is hereby declared to be a part of the Constitution of the United States, and it shall be duly promulgated as such by the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State accordingly issued a proclamation, dated the 28th of July, 1868, declaring that the proposed fourteenth amendment had been ratified, in the manner hereafter mentioned, by the Legislatures of thirty of the thirty-six States, viz: Connecticut, June 30, 1866; New Hampshire, July 7, 1866; Tennessee, July 19, 1866; New Jersey, September 11, 1866 (and the Legislature of the same State passed a resolution in April, 1868, to withdraw its consent to it); Oregon, September 19, 1866; Vermont, November 9, 1866; Georgia, rejected it November 13, 1866; and ratified it July 21, 1868; North Carolina rejected it December 4 1866, and ratified it July 4, 1868; South Carolina rejected it December 20, 1866; and ratified it July 9, 1868; New York ratified it January 10, 1867; Ohio ratified it January 11, 1867 (and the Legislature of the same State passed a resolution in January, 1868, to withdraw its consent to it); Illinois ratified it January 15, 1867; West Virginia, January 10, 1867; Kansas, January 18, 1867; Maine, January 19, 1867; Nevada, January 22, 1867; Missouri, January 26, 1867; Indiana, January 29, 1867; Minnesota, February 1, 1867; Rhode Island, February 7, 1867; Wisconsin, February 13, 1867; Pennsylvania, February 13, 1867; Michigan, February 15 1867; Massachusetts, March 20, 1867; Nebraska, June 15, 1867; Iowa, April 3, 1868; Arkansas, April 6, 1868; Florida, June 9, 1868; Louisiana, July 9, 1868; and Alabama, July 13 1868. Georgia again ratified the amendment February 2, 1870. Texas rejected it November 1, 1866, and ratified it February 18, 1870. Virginia rejected it January 19, 1867, and ratified it October 8, 1869. The amendment was rejected by Kentucky, January 10, 1867; by Delaware, February 8, 1867; by Maryland, March 23, 1867, and was not after wards ratified by either State. Apportionment of Representatives. 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. Disqualification for Office-Removal bility. of Disa 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 engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of twothirds of each House, remove such disability. Public Debt not to be Questioned-Payment of Debts and Claims Incurred in Aid of Rebellion Forbidden. shall have 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 emanci pation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void. Election of United States Senators-Filling of Vacancies-Qualifications of Electors. 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 elec tion to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointment 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. ‡ The fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed to the Legislatures of the several States by the Fortieth Congress, on the 27th of February, 1869, and was declared, in a proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated March 30, 1870, to have been ratified by the Legislatures of twenty-nine of the thirty-seven States, viz: Nevada, March 1, 1869; West Virginia, March 3, 1869; North Carolina, March 5, 1869; Louisiana, March 5, 1869; Illinois, March 5, 1869; Michigan, March 8, 1869; Wisconsin, March 9, 1869; Massachusetts, March 12, 1869; Maine, March 12, 1869; South Carolina, March 16 1869; Pennsylvania, March 26, 1869; Arkansas, March 30, 1869; New York, April 14, 1869 (and the Legislature of the same State passed a resolution January 5, 1870, to withdraw its consent to it); Indiana, May 14, 1869; Connecticut, May 19, 1869; Florida, June 15, 1869: New Hampshire, July 7, 1869; Virginia, October 8, 1869; Vermont, October 21, 1869; Alabama, November 24, 1869; Missouri, January 10, 1870; Mississippi, January 17, 1870; Rhode Island, January 18, 1870; Kansas, January 19, 1870; Ohio rejected it May 4, 1869, and ratified it January 27, 1870; Georgia, February 2, 1870; Iowa, February 3, 1870; Nebraska, February 17, 1870; Texas, February 18, 1870; Minnesota, February 19, 1870. The State of New Jersey rejected the amendment and afterwards ratified it on the 21st of February, 1871, subsequent to the date of the proclamation of the Secretary of State. The States of California, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Oregon and Tennessee rejected this amendment. See also the nineteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, extending the right of suffrage to women. †The sixteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, by the Sixty-first Congress, and was declared in a proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated February 25, 1913, to have been ratified by the Legislatures of thirty-six States, viz: Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina, Illinois, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Maryland, Georgia. Texas, Ohio, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, California, Montana, Indiana, Nevada, North Carolina, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorada, North Dakota, Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, Maine, Tennessee, Arkansas, Wisconsin, New York, South Dakota, Arizona, Minnesota, Louisiana, Delaware and Wyoming. The seventeenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed to the Legislatures of the several States by the Sixtysecond Congress, second session, and was declared, in a proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated May 31, 1913, to have been ratified by the Legislatures of thirty-six States, viz Massachusetts, Arizona, Minnesota, New York, Kansas, Oregon, North Carolina, California, Michigan, Idaho, West Virginia, Nebraska, Iowa, Montana, Texas, Washington, Wyoming, Colorado, Illinois, North Dakota, Nevada, Vermont, Maine New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Ohio, South Dakota, Indiana, Missouri, New Mexico, New Jersey, Tennessee, Arkansas, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. + 268 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. [ARTICLE XVIII.] Manufacture, Sale or Transportation of Intoxicating Liquors, for Beverage Purposes, Prohibited. 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. * Congress and the Several States Given Concurrent Power to Pass Appropriate Legislation to Enforce this Article. Section 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. [Art. 19 Provisions of Article to Become Operative, When Adopted by Three-fourths of the States. 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.] Right of Citizens to Vote not to be Denied on Account of Sex. 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.† 9. *The eighteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed to the Legislatures of the several States by the Sixtysecond Congress, second session, and was declared in a proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated January 29, 1919, to have been ratified by the Legislatures of thirty-six States; the ratifications were received by the Department of State in the following order, viz:-Virginia, January 11, 1918; Kentucky, January 16, 1918; North_Dakota, January 28, 1918; South Carolina, February 12, 1918; Maryland, March 12, 1918; South Dakota, March 22, 1918; Texas, March 4, 1918; Montana, February 20, 1918; Delaware, March 26, 1918; Massachusetts, March 26, 1918; Arizona, May 25, 1918; Georgia, July 2, 1918; Louisiana, August 9, 1918; Michigan, January 2, 1919; West Virginia, January 1919; Maine, January 8, 1919; Mississippi, January 13, 1918; Florida, December 3, 1918; Oklahoma, January 7, 1919; Washington, January 13, 1919; New Hampshire, January 15, 1919; Nebraska, January 16, 1919; Minnesota, January 17, 1919; Indiana, January 14, 1919: California, January 13, 1919; Colorado, January 15, 1919; Alabama, January 18, 1919; Oregon, January 15, 1919; Ohio, January 7, 1919; Illinois, January 14, 1919; Wyoming, January 17, 1919; Idaho, January 15, 1919; Wisconsin, January 15, 1919; North Carolina, January 16, 1919; Utah, January 18, 1919; and Kansas, January 20, 1919. The Legislatures of the following States not enumerated in the proclamation of the Secretary of State also ratified this amendment: New Mexico, January 20, 1919; Wisconsin, January 15, 1919; North Carolina, January 16, 1919; Utah, January 18, 1919; Missouri, January 17, 1919; Nevada, January 27, 1919, and Pennsylvania, February 26, 1919. The nineteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed to the Legislatures of the several States by the Sixtysixth Congress, and was declared in a proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated August 26, 1920, to have been ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the several States in the following order, viz:--Illinois, June 10, 1919; Michigan, June 10, 1919; Wisconsin, June 11, 1919; Kansas, June 16 1919; New York, June 16, 1919; Ohio, June 16, 1919; Massachusetts, June 25, 1919; Pennsylvania, June 27, 1919; Texas, June 28, 1919; Iowa, July 2, 1919; Missouri, July 3, 1919; Arkansas, July 28, 1919; Montana, August 2, 1919; Nebraska, August 2, 1919; Minnesota, September 8, 1919; New Hampshire, September 10, 1919; Utah, October 2, 1919; California, November 1, 1919; Maine, November 5, 1919: South Dakota, December 4, 1919; North Dakota, December 5, 1919: Colorado, December 15, 1919: Rhode Island, January 6, 1920; Oregon, January 13, 1920; Indiana, January 16, 1920; Kentucky, January 19, 1920; Wyoming, January 27, 1920; Nevada, February 7, 1920; Idaho, February 11, 1920; Arizona, February 12, 1920; New Jersey, February 17, 1920; New Mexico, February 21, 1920; Oklahoma, February 28, 1920; West Vir ginia, March 13, 1920: Washington, March 22, 1920; Tennessee, August 24, 1920; Connecticut, September 14, 1920; and Vermont, February 8, 1921. |