The United States Constitution
Liberals
love to twist this document to fit their warped paradigms. They hide behind the
First Amendment claiming protections that aren't there. What's interesting is
the only amendment they don't expand, and actually try to abolish, is the Second
Amendment. The Second Amendment is the only thing that separates American citizens
from a tyrannical, leftist government.
The US Constitution is written in
plain English. It is not difficult to understand, unless you are a liberal. Here
is the document in its entirety:

The
Constitution of the United States of America
We the people of the United
States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic
tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and
secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and
establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Article
I
Section 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested
in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House
of Representatives.
Section 2. The House of Representatives shall
be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states,
and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors
of the most numerous branch of the state legislature.
No person shall be
a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty five years,
and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected,
be an inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen.
Representatives
and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included
within this union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined
by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service
for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other
Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three years after the first
meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term
of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of Representatives
shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least
one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the state of New
Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island
and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four,
Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five,
South Carolina five, and Georgia three.
When vacancies happen in the Representation
from any state, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election
to fill such vacancies.
The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker
and other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment.
Section
3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from
each state, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years; and each Senator
shall have one vote.
Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence
of the first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes.
The seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration
of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year,
and the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one third may
be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen by resignation, or otherwise,
during the recess of the legislature of any state, the executive thereof may make
temporary appointments until the next meeting of the legislature, which shall
then fill such vacancies.
No person shall be a Senator who shall not have
attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United
States and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which
he shall be chosen.
The Vice President of the United States shall be President
of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.
The
Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a President pro tempore, in
the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the office of President
of the United States.
The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments.
When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the
President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And
no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two thirds of the members
present.
Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than
to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor,
trust or profit under the United States: but the party convicted shall nevertheless
be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according
to law.
Section 4. The times, places and manner of holding elections
for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature
thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations,
except as to the places of choosing Senators.
The Congress shall assemble
at least once in every year, and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in
December, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.
Section
5. Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications
of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business;
but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel
the attendance of absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties as
each House may provide.
Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings,
punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two thirds,
expel a member.
Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and
from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment
require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either House on any question
shall, at the desire of one fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.
Neither
House, during the session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other,
adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the
two Houses shall be sitting.
Section 6. The Senators and Representatives
shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and
paid out of the treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases, except
treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their
attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning
from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be
questioned in any other place.
No Senator or Representative shall, during
the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the
authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments
whereof shall have been increased during such time: and no person holding any
office under the United States, shall be a member of either House during his continuance
in office.
Section 7. All bills for raising revenue shall originate
in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments
as on other Bills.
Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives
and the Senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the President of
the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return
it, with his objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall
enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it.
If after such reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the
bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which
it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House,
it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both Houses shall be
determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against
the bill shall be entered on the journal of each House respectively. If any bill
shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after
it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as
if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return,
in which case it shall not be a law.
Every order, resolution, or vote
to which the concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary
(except on a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the
United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him,
or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and
House of Representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in
the case of a bill.
Section 8. The Congress shall have power to
lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide
for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties,
imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow
money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate commerce with foreign
nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;
To establish
a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies
throughout the United States;
To coin money, regulate the value thereof,
and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;
To provide
for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United
States;
To establish post offices and post roads;
To promote the
progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors
and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;
To
constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
To define and punish
piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law
of nations;
To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make
rules concerning captures on land and water;
To raise and support armies,
but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two
years;
To provide and maintain a navy;
To make rules for the government
and regulation of the land and naval forces;
To provide for calling forth
the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel
invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia,
and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United
States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers,
and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed
by Congress;
To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever,
over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular
states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the
United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the
consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection
of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings;--And
To
make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution
the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the
government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.
Section
9. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing
shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to
the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed
on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.
The privilege
of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion
or invasion the public safety may require it.
No bill of attainder or ex
post facto Law shall be passed.
No capitation, or other direct, tax shall
be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration herein before directed
to be taken.
No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any
state.
No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue
to the ports of one state over those of another: nor shall vessels bound to, or
from, one state, be obliged to enter, clear or pay duties in another.
No
money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made
by law; and a regular statement and account of receipts and expenditures of all
public money shall be published from time to time.
No title of nobility
shall be granted by the United States: and no person holding any office of profit
or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any
present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince,
or foreign state.
Section 10. No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance,
or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills
of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts;
pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation
of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.
No state shall, without the
consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except
what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection laws: and the net
produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any state on imports or exports, shall
be for the use of the treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be
subject to the revision and control of the Congress.
No state shall, without
the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war
in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with
a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent
danger as will not admit of delay.
Article II
Section 1.
The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.
He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and, together with the
Vice President, chosen for the same term, be elected, as follows:
Each
state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number
of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which
the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or
person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be
appointed an elector.
The electors shall meet in their respective states,
and vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant
of the same state with themselves. And they shall make a list of all the persons
voted for, and of the number of votes for each; which list 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 shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number
of electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such majority, and
have an equal number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately
choose by ballot one of them for President; and if no person have a majority,
then from the five highest on the list the said House shall in like manner choose
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. In every case, after the choice
of the President, the person having the greatest number of votes of the electors
shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal
votes, the Senate shall choose from them by ballot the Vice President.
The
Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which
they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout the United
States.
No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United
States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to
the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who
shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years
a resident within the United States.
In case of the removal of the President
from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers
and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and
the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation or
inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what officer shall
then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability
be removed, or a President shall be elected.
The President shall, at stated
times, receive for his services, a compensation, which shall neither be increased
nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected, and he
shall not receive within that period any other emolument from the United States,
or any of them.
Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall
take the following oath or affirmation:--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm)
that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and
will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution
of the United States."
Section 2. The President shall be commander
in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the
several states, when called into the actual service of the United States; he may
require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive
departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices,
and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the
United States, except in cases of impeachment.
He shall have power, by
and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two
thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public
ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of
the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and
which shall be established by law: but the Congress may by law vest the appointment
of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the
courts of law, or in the heads of departments.
The President shall have
power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate,
by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session.
Section
3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state
of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge
necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses,
or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the
time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper;
he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that
the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the
United States.
Section 4. The President, Vice President and all
civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment
for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
Article
III
Section 1. The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested
in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time
to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts,
shall hold their offices during good behaviour, and shall, at stated times, receive
for their services, a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their
continuance in office.
Section 2. The judicial power shall extend
to all cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of
the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority;--to
all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls;--to all cases
of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction;--to controversies to which the United
States shall be a party;--to controversies between two or more states;--between
a state and citizens of another state;--between citizens of different states;--between
citizens of the same state claiming lands under grants of different states, and
between a state, or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens or subjects.
In
all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those
in which a state shall be party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction.
In all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate
jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations
as the Congress shall make.
The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment,
shall be by jury; and such trial shall be held in the state where the said crimes
shall have been committed; but when not committed within any state, the trial
shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed.
Section
3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against
them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person
shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the
same overt act, or on confession in open court.
The Congress shall have
power to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall
work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted.
Article
IV
Section 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the
public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the Congress
may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings
shall be proved, and the effect thereof.
Section 2. The citizens
of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in
the several states.
A person charged in any state with treason, felony,
or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another state, shall
on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered
up, to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime.
No person
held to service or labor in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping into another,
shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such
service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such
service or labor may be due.
Section 3. New states may be admitted
by the Congress into this union; but no new states shall be formed or erected
within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction
of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures
of the states concerned as well as of the Congress.
The Congress shall
have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting
the territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in
this Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United
States, or of any particular state.
Section 4. The United States
shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government,
and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature,
or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic
violence.
Article V
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both
houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution,
or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states,
shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall
be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified
by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions
in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be
proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to
the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first
and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state,
without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.
Article
VI
All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the adoption
of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution,
as under the Confederation.
This Constitution, and the laws of the United
States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which
shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme
law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything
in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.
The
Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several
state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United
States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support
this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification
to any office or public trust under the United States.
Article VII
The
ratification of the conventions of nine states, shall be sufficient for the establishment
of this Constitution between the states so ratifying the same.
Bill
of Rights
Amendment I
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.
Amendment II
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.
Amendment III
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
IV
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 V
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 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.
Amendment
VI
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
defense.
Amendment VII
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 reexamined in any court
of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Amendment
VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed,
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Amendment IX
The
enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to
deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X
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.
Amendment
XI
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
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.
Amendment XIII
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
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.
Amendment
XV
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
XVI
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
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
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
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
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.
Amendment XXI
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
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
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
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
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
Section 1. The right of citizens of the
United States, who are 18 years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied
or abridged by the United States or any state on account of age.
Section
2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
Amendment XXVII
No law, varying the compensation
for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until
an election of Representatives shall have intervened.

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