While there are 27 AMENDMENTS (as of 2022), ONLY 25 of them are APPLICABLE --- since AMENDMENT 18 was cancelled by AMENDMENT 21. ***********************
[Note 1: Prior to both becoming a U.S. President, James Madison sent Thomas Jefferson a copy of Madison's 1st draft of what he had written as the U.S. Constitution.]
[Note 2: Jefferson responded by asking Madison to add two items:
[Note 3: James Madison then wrote the Bill of Rights --- the first 10 Amendments] --- {Term limits were not addressed.}
[Note 4: See Amendment 22 (1951) --- "Term Limits for the Presidency".] {Why not Term Limits for U.S. Senators, U.S House of Representatives & Supreme Court Justices?}
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Note: The first 10 Amendments are known as the Bill of Rights i.e. the rights of U.S. Citizens]
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Amendment 1: Freedom,
Petitions, Assembly (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 people peaceably to assemble, and to
petition the Government for redress of grievances.
Amendment 2: 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.
[Note 1: There is a belief that the 2nd Amendment
wording was meant to mollify Southerners who wanted assurance that any Slave
rebellion could legally be put down. That reportedly was why James Madison
inserted the word "security”. Madison was challenged by the need
to satisfy demands from Southerners, without mentioning the word
"Slave" in his first draft of both the Constitution & the Bill of
Rights.]
[Note 2: A "well-regulated Militia"
in today's culture implies the National Guard in each State.]
[Note 3: Amendment 2 was ratified in 1791. The typical
"Arms" available in 1791 were both single-shot pistols and
muskets.]
[Note 4: Review the U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8
- Powers of Congress --- Clauses 14 & 15.]
Amendment 3: Quartering of
Soldiers (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 4: Search and
Arrest (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 5: Rights in
criminal cases (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
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 6: Right to a
fair trial (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 defence.
Amendment 7: Rights in
civil cases (1791)
In Suits at common law,
where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars ($20), the right of trial by jury shall
be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in
any Court in the United States, than according to the rules of common law.
Amendment 8: Bail, fines,
punishment (1791)
Excessive bail shall not
be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment
inflicted.
Amendment 9: Rights
retained by the People (1791)
The enumeration in the
Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage
others retained by the people.
Amendment 10: States'
Rights (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.
------- End of
the Bill of Rights ------
Amendment 11: Lawsuits
against States (1795)
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.
[Note: This Amendment
modifies Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution.]
Amendment 12: Presidential
Elections (1804)
[Note: This
Amendment supersedes a portion of Article II, Section
1.]
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 will sign and certify, and
transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to
the President of the Senate;
[Note: the
"President of the Senate” is the current Vice President of the United
States.]
The President of the
Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and the 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 (3) 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, representation from each State having one vote; [One vote per State by the State Representatives of
each State. In 1804, there were 17 States in the U.S. --- which did not include
the State of California; in 2020, the population of the State of California
exceeds the combined population of 10 States (of those 17 States) --- per this
clause, those 10 States had a total of 10 votes whereas California had 1
vote!!]
a quorum for this purpose
shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds (2/3) 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 (4th) 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.]
[Note: Superseded by
Section 3 of Amendment 20: Terms of Office]
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 (2) highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose
the Vice President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of
two-thirds (2/3) 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 13: Abolition of
Slavery (1865)
Section 1: Neither
slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof
that 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 14: Civil Rights (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 (21) years of age, and citizens of the
United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion,
or other crime, the basis for 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 is such State.
[Note: See Amendment 26:
"18-year-old-suffrage" specifies rights for "citizens"
vis-à-vis "male inhabitants" or "male citizens" , and for
U.S. citizens "18 years old" vis-à-vis "21 years old."]
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 (2/3) 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 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 15: Black
suffrage (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 16:
Income Taxes (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.
Amendment 17: Senatorial
Elections (1913)
The Senate of the United
States shall be composed of two (2) Senators
from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six (6) 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 legislature.
[Note 1: The 26 least
populated States, with 15% of the total U.S. population, elect 52 Senators
(52%) to the current U.S. Senate.]
[Note 2: When our
Founders wrote the Constitution, they did not trust the people living in each
State, to elect the U.S. Senators for their own State. This can be seen by
reading the original Article I, Section 3. It is amended by Amendment
17.]
When vacancies happen in
the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such
State (usually the Governor) 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 18: Prohibition
of Liquor (1920)
[Repealed on December 5, 1933 by Amendment 21.]
Amendment 19: Women’s
suffrage (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 20: Terms of
Office (1933)
Section
1. The terms of the President and the Vice President shall end at
noon 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 [Senate and House] shall assemble at least once every
year, and such meeting shall begin at noon of 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 been 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 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 (3/4) of the several States within
seven (7) years from the date of its
submission. [Obsolete]
Amendment 21: Repeal of
Prohibition (1933)
Section 1. The eighteenth (18th) 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. The 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 (7) years from the date of the submission hereof to the States
by the Congress. [Obsolete]
Amendment 22: Term
Limits for the Presidency (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 (2) years of a term to which some
other person was elected President shall be elected to the office 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. [Obsolete]
Section 2. This
article shall be inoperative unless is shall have been ratified as an amendment
to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths (3/4) of the several States within
seven (7) years from the date of its
submission to the States by the Congress. [Obsolete]
Amendment 23: Washington
D.C. Suffrage (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 (12th) article
of amendment.
Section 2. The
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
Amendment 24: Abolition of
poll taxes (1961)
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 25: 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 (Senate and House of Representatives).
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 (Senate or House) 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 (Senate or House) may by law provide, transmit within four (4) 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 (48) hours for that purpose if not in
session. If the Congress, within twenty-one (21) days after receipt of the latter written declaration,
or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one (21) days after Congress is required to assemble,
determines by two-thirds (2/3) 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 26: 18-year-old
suffrage (1971)
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are
eighteen (18) 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 27:
Congressional Pay Raises (1992)
No law, varying the
compensation for the services of Senators and Representatives, shall take
effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.