The Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights is the first 10 Amendments to the
Constitution. ... It guarantees civil rights and liberties to the individual—like
freedom of speech, press, and religion. It sets rules for due process of law
and reserves all powers not delegated to the Federal Government to the people
or the State
THE BILL OF RIGHTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Congress of the United States begun and held at the City
of New-York, on Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and
eighty nine.
THE Conventions of a number
of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed
a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that
further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending
the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the
beneficent ends of its institution.
RESOLVED by the Senate and House
of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two
thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed to
the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of
the United States, all, or any of which Articles, when ratified by three
fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as
part of the said Constitution; viz.
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
the first...
After the first enumeration required by the first article of the Constitution,
there shall be one Representative for every thirty thousand, until the number
shall amount to one hundred, after which the proportion shall be so regulated
by Congress, that there shall be not less than one hundred Representatives, nor
less than one Representative for every forty thousand persons, until the number
of Representatives shall amount to two hundred; after which the proportion
shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall not be less than two
hundred Representatives, nor more than one Representative for every fifty
thousand persons.
Article
the second...
No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and
Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall
have intervened.
Article
the third... 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
the fourth... 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
the fifth...
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
the sixth... 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
the seventh... 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.
Article
the eighth... 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.
Article
the ninth... 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 re-examined in any Court of the United States, than
according to the rules of the common law.
Article
the tenth...
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel
and unusual punishments inflicted.
Article
the eleventh... The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights,
shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Article
the twelfth... 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.
ATTEST,
Frederick
Augustus Muhlenberg, Speaker of the House of Representatives
John Adams, Vice-President of the United States, and President of the Senate
John Beckley, Clerk of the House of Representatives.
Sam. A Otis Secretary of the Senate
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.