Bill of Rights, 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
Passed 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
Passed 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Note: A portion of Article II, section 1 of the Constitution was superseded by the 12th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
Passed 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
Passed 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
Passed 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
Passed 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
Passed 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
Passed 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
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
Passed 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 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
Passed 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
Passed 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 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
Passed 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 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
Passed 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 any poll tax or other tax.
Section 2.
The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

AMENDMENT XXV
Passed 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
Passed 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
Originally 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.