We the People

We, the people of the United States, are creating this Constitution to build a better union. We want to set up a fair system of justice, keep peace at home, provide for national defense, and promote the general well-being. And we want to protect the benefits of freedom for ourselves and for future generations.

All the lawmaking power given by this Constitution belongs to Congress, which is made up of two parts: the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The members of the House of Representatives are elected by the people of each state every two years. Anyone allowed to vote for the larger branch of their state legislature is also allowed to vote for the House.

To serve in the House, a person must be at least 25 years old, have been a U.S. citizen for at least seven years, and live in the state that elects them at the time of the election.

The number of Representatives each state gets, and the share of certain direct taxes it owes, are based on its population. That population was counted by adding up all free people, including those under contracts of service for a set number of years, leaving out untaxed Native Americans, and counting each enslaved person as three fifths of a person. A national population count, the census, must happen within three years of Congress’s first meeting and every ten years after that. There can be no more than one Representative for every 30,000 people, but every state gets at least one. Until the first census, the text sets each state’s starting number of Representatives.

The “three fifths of all other Persons” rule counted each enslaved person as three fifths of a person; Section 2 of the 14th Amendment replaced the representation rule, and the 13th Amendment’s abolition of slavery made the direct-tax rule moot.

If a House seat from a state becomes empty, that state’s governor must call a special election to fill it.

The House picks its own Speaker and other officers. The House alone has the power to impeach, meaning to formally accuse federal officials of wrongdoing.

The Senate has two Senators from each state, originally chosen by the state legislatures, serving six-year terms. Each Senator gets one vote.

The 17th Amendment now provides for Senators to be elected directly by the people of each state.

After the first election, Senators were split into three roughly equal groups so their terms end in different years: one group after two years, the next after four, and the last after six. This staggers elections so about a third of the Senate is chosen every two years. If a Senate seat became empty while a state legislature was not in session, the governor could appoint someone temporarily until the legislature met and filled the seat.

The 17th Amendment changed how Senate vacancies are filled, generally through a special election with optional temporary appointment by the governor.

To serve in the Senate, a person must be at least 30 years old, have been a U.S. citizen for at least nine years, and live in the state they will represent at the time of the election.

The Vice President serves as the head of the Senate but can only vote to break a tie.

The Senate chooses its other officers, including a President pro tempore who leads the Senate when the Vice President is absent or is acting as President.

The Senate alone holds the trials for officials the House has impeached. Senators must take an oath for these trials. When the President is on trial, the Chief Justice of the United States presides over the trial. No one can be convicted unless two thirds of the Senators present vote to convict.

The only penalties from an impeachment trial are removal from office and being barred from holding future federal office. But the person convicted can still be charged, tried, and punished in the ordinary courts for the same conduct.

Each state legislature sets the times, places, and methods for electing its Senators and Representatives. But Congress can pass laws to create or change those rules, except it cannot set the place where Senators are chosen.

Congress must meet at least once a year. That yearly meeting was set to begin on the first Monday in December, unless Congress chose a different day by law.

The 20th Amendment moved the start of Congress’s annual session to noon on January 3.

Each chamber decides for itself whether its own members were properly elected and are qualified to serve. A majority of a chamber’s members must be present to conduct business; this is called a quorum. A smaller group can postpone meetings day to day and can force absent members to show up, using whatever methods and penalties that chamber sets.

Each chamber makes its own rules for how it operates, can discipline its members for misconduct, and, with a two-thirds vote, can remove a member.

Each chamber must keep a written record of what it does and publish it regularly, except for parts it decides should stay secret. If one fifth of the members present ask for it, each member’s yes-or-no vote on any question must be recorded in that record.

While Congress is in session, neither chamber can take a break of more than three days, or move to a different location, without the other chamber’s agreement.

Senators and Representatives are paid for their work, with the amount set by law and paid from the national treasury. While attending Congress, and while traveling to and from it, they cannot be arrested except for treason, serious crimes, or breaking the peace. They also cannot be sued or prosecuted anywhere else for anything they say in a speech or debate in Congress.

During their term, a Senator or Representative cannot be appointed to a civilian job under the federal government that was created, or whose pay was raised, during that term. And no one holding a federal office can serve in Congress while still in that office.

Any bill to raise money, such as a tax bill, must start in the House of Representatives. The Senate can still propose or agree to changes, just as with other bills.

After both the House and Senate pass a bill, it goes to the President before it can become law. If the President approves, he signs it. If not, he sends it back, with his objections, to the chamber where it started; that chamber records the objections and reconsiders the bill. If two thirds of that chamber still vote for it, the bill and the objections go to the other chamber, which also reconsiders; if two thirds of that chamber also approve, the bill becomes law despite the President’s refusal. In these cases, both chambers must record each member’s yes-or-no vote by name. If the President does nothing for ten days, not counting Sundays, after receiving a bill, it becomes law as if he had signed it, unless Congress has adjourned and so prevented its return, in which case the bill does not become law. That last situation is known as a pocket veto.

Any order, resolution, or vote that needs the agreement of both the House and the Senate, except a vote to adjourn, must also be sent to the President. It takes effect only if he approves it, or, if he rejects it, only if two thirds of both chambers pass it again, following the same rules that apply to a bill.

Congress can set and collect taxes, customs duties, and other charges in order to pay the nation’s debts and provide for the country’s defense and general well-being. Any such duties and charges must be the same in every part of the country.

Congress can borrow money on behalf of the United States.

Congress can regulate trade with other countries, trade between the states, and trade with Indian tribes.

Congress can set one nationwide process for becoming a citizen and one set of bankruptcy laws that applies across the country.

Congress can make money, set the value of U.S. and foreign coins, and establish official standards for weights and measures.

Congress can set penalties for counterfeiting U.S. money and government financial instruments.

Congress can create post offices and the mail routes that connect them.

Congress can encourage learning and invention by giving authors and inventors exclusive rights to their works and discoveries for a limited time. This is the basis for copyrights and patents.

Congress can create federal courts that rank below the Supreme Court.

Congress can define and set penalties for piracy and serious crimes committed at sea, as well as violations of international law.

Congress can declare war, authorize private ships to attack enemy vessels, and make rules about property seized during war on land or sea.

Congress can create and fund armies, but it cannot approve army funding for more than two years at a time.

Congress can create and maintain a navy.

Congress can make the rules that govern and discipline the armed forces.

Congress can arrange for the militia to be called up to enforce federal law, put down rebellions, and repel invasions.

Congress can set up how the militia is organized, armed, and trained, and govern the part of it in federal service. The states keep the power to appoint militia officers and to do the training under standards Congress sets.

Congress has full lawmaking authority over the national capital district, which states give up to the federal government and which can be no larger than ten miles on each side (one hundred square miles). Congress has the same authority over federal sites such as forts, weapons depots, arsenals, shipyards, and other needed buildings, when bought with the consent of the state where they are located.

Congress can make all laws that are needed and appropriate to carry out the powers listed above and the other powers the Constitution gives to the federal government or any of its parts. This is known as the Necessary and Proper Clause.

Congress cannot prohibit the states that currently exist from bringing in the people they choose to admit until the year 1808, though it may place a tax of up to ten dollars on each person brought in.

This clause concerned the importation of enslaved people; its restriction on Congress expired in 1808, after which Congress banned the Atlantic slave trade.

The right to challenge an unlawful imprisonment in court cannot be taken away, except during a rebellion or invasion when public safety requires it.

Congress cannot pass a law that declares a specific person guilty and punishes them without a trial, and it cannot pass a law that makes an act a crime after the act was already done.

Congress cannot impose a head tax or other direct tax unless it is divided among the states in proportion to their populations as counted in the census.

The 16th Amendment later allowed a federal income tax without apportionment among the states.

Congress cannot tax goods that are exported from any state.

Congress cannot use trade or tax rules to favor one state’s ports over another’s, and ships traveling to or from one state cannot be forced to stop, check in, or pay duties in another state.

Money can be spent from the Treasury only when Congress has approved it by law, and the government must regularly publish a record of what it takes in and spends.

The United States cannot grant titles of nobility, and no federal officeholder may accept any gift, payment, office, or title from a foreign king, prince, or government without Congress’s permission.

No state may make a treaty or alliance, authorize private ships to attack enemy vessels, make its own money, issue paper money, or make anything but gold and silver coin acceptable for paying debts. No state may pass a law that punishes a specific person without a trial, a law that makes an act a crime after it was done, or a law that weakens or undoes existing contract obligations. And no state may grant titles of nobility.

Without Congress’s permission, no state may tax imports or exports, except for what is absolutely necessary to run its inspection laws. Any net money a state collects from such taxes goes to the U.S. Treasury, and Congress can review and override these state laws.

Without Congress’s permission, no state may charge fees based on a ship’s cargo capacity, keep troops or warships during peacetime, make an agreement with another state or a foreign government, or go to war, unless it is actually invaded or faces a danger so immediate that it cannot wait.

The power to carry out the laws belongs to a President of the United States. The President serves a four-year term, and a Vice President is chosen for the same term. They are elected in the way described below.

The 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951, later limited Presidents to two elected terms.

Each state chooses a group of electors in whatever way its legislature decides. The number of electors equals that state’s total number of Senators and Representatives in Congress. No Senator, Representative, or person holding a federal office may serve as an elector.

The electors meet in their own states and each casts votes for two people, at least one of whom must not live in the elector’s own state. They make a list of everyone voted for and the number of votes each received, then sign, certify, and send the sealed list to the President of the Senate at the seat of government. In front of both houses of Congress, the President of the Senate opens all the certificates, and the votes are counted. The person with the most votes becomes President, if that number is a majority of all the electors. If more than one person has such a majority and they are tied, the House of Representatives immediately picks one of them for President by ballot. If no one has a majority, the House picks the President from the top five on the list. When the House chooses the President, voting is done by state, with each state delegation casting one vote; a quorum requires members from two thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states is needed to win. After the President is chosen, the person with the next most electoral votes becomes Vice President. If two or more are tied for that, the Senate chooses the Vice President from among them by ballot.

This procedure was replaced by the 12th Amendment, which has electors vote separately for President and Vice President.

Congress may set the date for choosing the electors and the day they cast their votes, and that day must be the same across the entire country.

Only a “natural born citizen” of the United States, generally understood to mean a citizen from birth, or someone who was already a U.S. citizen when the Constitution was adopted, may be President. In addition, no one may serve as President who is under 35 years old or who has not lived in the United States for at least 14 years.

If the President is removed from office, dies, resigns, or cannot perform the job, the powers and duties pass to the Vice President. Congress may pass laws deciding who acts as President if both the President and Vice President are removed, die, resign, or cannot serve, and that officer serves until the inability ends or a new President is elected.

The 25th Amendment later clarified presidential succession and how to handle presidential disability.

The President is paid for the job at set times, and that pay cannot be raised or lowered during the term for which he was elected. During that term he may not receive any other payment from the federal government or from any state.

Before taking office, the President must swear or affirm the following oath: “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.”

The President is the top commander of the Army and Navy, and of the state militias when they are called into federal service. The President may require the head of each executive department to give a written opinion on any matter relating to that department’s duties. The President may also grant reprieves and pardons for federal crimes, except in cases of impeachment.

With the advice and consent of the Senate, the President may make treaties, but only if two thirds of the Senators present agree. The President also nominates and, with the Senate’s advice and consent, appoints ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, Supreme Court justices, and all other federal officers whose appointments are not otherwise covered in the Constitution and that are created by law. Congress may pass laws letting the President alone, the courts, or the heads of departments appoint lower level officers.

The President may fill vacancies that happen during the Senate’s recess by granting temporary commissions, which expire at the end of the Senate’s next session.

The President must from time to time report to Congress on the state of the nation and recommend measures he thinks are needed and wise. In unusual situations he may call both houses of Congress, or either one, into session, and if the two houses cannot agree on when to adjourn, he may adjourn them to a time he thinks proper. He receives ambassadors and other foreign officials, must make sure the laws are carried out faithfully, and grants commissions to all federal officers.

The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States must be removed from office if they are impeached and then convicted of treason, bribery, or other serious crimes and offenses.

The federal courts’ power is held by one Supreme Court and by any lower courts Congress chooses to create. Judges of these courts keep their positions as long as they behave well. Their pay cannot be reduced while they remain in office.

This lists the kinds of cases federal courts can decide. It covers cases that involve the Constitution, federal laws, or treaties; cases involving ambassadors and other foreign officials; cases about ships and the sea; and disputes where the United States is a party. It also covers disputes between states; between a state and a citizen of another state; between citizens of different states; between citizens of the same state who claim land under grants from different states; and between a state or its citizens and a foreign country or its citizens.

The 11th Amendment later limited federal jurisdiction over lawsuits brought against a state by citizens of another state or of a foreign state.

In cases involving ambassadors and other foreign officials, and in cases where a state is a party, the Supreme Court hears the case first, before any other court. In all the other cases listed above, the Supreme Court hears appeals, reviewing both the legal questions and the facts, subject to any limits and rules Congress sets.

Every criminal trial, except for impeachment cases, must be decided by a jury. The trial must take place in the state where the crime happened. If the crime did not happen within any state, Congress decides by law where the trial will be held.

Treason against the United States means only two things: making war against the country, or helping its enemies by giving them aid and support. To convict someone of treason, there must be either two witnesses to the same specific act or a confession given in open court.

Congress decides the punishment for treason. However, the punishment cannot pass guilt or penalties on to the convicted person’s family or descendants. Any loss of property tied to the conviction can last only for the convicted person’s lifetime and cannot strip their heirs of their inheritance.

Each state must recognize and honor the official laws, records, and court decisions of every other state. Congress may pass general laws setting out how these laws, records, and court decisions are to be proven and what legal effect they carry in other states.

A citizen of one state is entitled to the same basic rights and protections as the citizens of any other state they visit or move to. A state generally cannot treat citizens of other states worse than it treats its own.

If a person is charged with a crime in one state and then flees to another state, the state where the crime happened can demand their return. When the governor of that state makes the request, the person is to be handed over and sent back to face the charges where the crime was committed.

This clause dealt with enslaved people and others bound to forced labor. It said that if such a person escaped from one state into another, the laws of the second state could not free them. Instead, they had to be returned to the person who claimed ownership of their labor. In practice this required that an enslaved person who escaped to a free state be sent back to the person claiming them.

This clause, known as the Fugitive Slave Clause, was made obsolete by the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery.

Congress can admit new states into the Union. But a new state cannot be carved out of an existing state, and no state can be created by joining two or more states, or parts of states, together, unless the legislatures of every state involved agree and Congress agrees as well.

Congress has the power to sell, manage, and make all necessary rules for the territory and other property owned by the United States. Nothing in the Constitution should be read in a way that harms any property claims held by the United States or by any individual state.

The federal government promises every state a republican form of government, meaning one where the people govern through elected representatives. It also promises to defend each state against invasion. And if a state’s legislature, or its governor when the legislature cannot meet, asks for help, the federal government will protect the state against serious internal violence or rebellion.

There are two ways to propose changes to the Constitution. Congress can propose amendments when two thirds of both the House and the Senate agree they are needed, or Congress must call a convention to propose amendments if the legislatures of two thirds of the states ask for one. Either way, a proposed amendment becomes part of the Constitution only after three fourths of the states approve it, either through their legislatures or through state conventions, whichever method Congress chooses.

This power to amend came with two limits. First, no amendment made before the year 1808 could change the two clauses in Article I, Section 9 dealing with the slave trade and direct taxes. Second, no state can be denied its equal number of votes in the Senate without that state’s agreement.

The first limit protected the slave-trade and direct-tax clauses until 1808 and is now obsolete; the equal Senate representation guarantee remains in force.

All debts owed and commitments made by the government before this Constitution took effect remain just as binding on the United States now as they were under the earlier Articles of Confederation.

This Constitution, the federal laws passed under it, and the treaties made by the United States are the highest law in the country. Judges in every state must follow them, even if their own state’s constitution or laws say something different.

Members of Congress, state lawmakers, and all executive and judicial officials at both the federal and state levels must swear or affirm an oath to support this Constitution. However, no one can ever be required to pass a religious test in order to hold any federal office or position of public trust.

Once nine states approve this Constitution through their ratifying conventions, that is enough to put it into effect among the states that have approved it.

This document was completed at the Convention with the unanimous agreement of the states present on September 17, 1787, the twelfth year of American independence. To confirm it, the delegates signed their names below.

Congress cannot set up an official religion, and it cannot stop people from practicing their faith freely.

Congress cannot limit your freedom to speak or to publish, your right to gather peacefully, or your right to ask the government to fix problems.

Because a well regulated militia is necessary to the security of a free state, the people’s right to own and carry weapons cannot be limited.

In peacetime, soldiers cannot be housed in your home without your permission. In wartime, they can only be housed there in the way the law allows.

The government cannot search you, your home, or your belongings, or take your property, without a good reason. To get a warrant, officials must show solid cause under oath and must clearly state the place to be searched and the people or things to be taken.

You cannot be tried for a serious crime unless a grand jury formally charges you. This protection does not apply to cases in the military, or in the militia when it is called into actual service in war or public danger. You cannot be tried twice for the same crime, and you cannot be forced to testify against yourself. The government cannot take your life, freedom, or property without fair legal procedures, and it cannot take your private property for public use without paying you a fair price.

If you are charged with a crime, you have the right to a quick and public trial by a fair jury from the area where the crime happened. You must be told what you are accused of and why, you can question the witnesses against you, you can require witnesses in your favor to appear, and you have the right to a lawyer for your defense.

In most private lawsuits worth more than twenty dollars, you have the right to have the case decided by a jury, and no court can overturn the jury’s findings of fact except as the law allows.

The government cannot demand unreasonably high bail, charge excessive fines, or impose cruel and unusual punishments.

The fact that the Constitution lists certain rights cannot be used to deny or downplay other rights that the people keep.

Any powers the Constitution does not give to the federal government, and does not forbid to the states, belong to the states or to the people.

Federal courts cannot hear lawsuits brought against one of the states by citizens of a different state, or by citizens or subjects of a foreign country.

Ratified in 1795, it limited the federal courts’ jurisdiction set out in Article III, Section 2.

The presidential electors meet in their own states and cast separate ballots for President and Vice President, and at least one of those two people must be from a different state than the electors. They list everyone who got votes for each office, sign and certify the lists, and send them sealed to the President of the Senate. He opens all the certificates in front of both houses of Congress, and the votes are counted. Whoever gets the most votes for President wins, as long as that is a majority of all the electors. If no one has a majority, the House of Representatives immediately picks the President from the top three vote-getters. In that vote each state delegation gets one vote, a quorum needs members from two-thirds of the states, and a candidate needs a majority of all the states to win. If the House has not chosen a President by the next March 4, the Vice President acts as President, just as if the President had died or could not serve.

The 20th Amendment, ratified in 1933, moved the start of presidential terms from March 4 to January 20 and now governs the case where no President has been chosen in time.

Whoever gets the most votes for Vice President wins, as long as that is a majority of all the electors. If no one has a majority, the Senate chooses the Vice President from the top two vote-getters, with a quorum of two-thirds of all senators and a majority of all senators needed to win. Anyone who is not constitutionally eligible to be President is also not eligible to be Vice President.

Ratified in 1804, it replaced the original presidential-elector procedure in Article II, Section 1.

Slavery and forced labor are banned everywhere in the United States and in any place it controls. The only exception is forced labor imposed as punishment after a person has been properly convicted of a crime.

Ratified in 1865, it abolished slavery and made the Constitution’s earlier slavery provisions obsolete.

Congress has the power to pass laws to enforce this amendment.

Everyone born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to its laws, is a citizen of the country and of the state where they live. No state may pass or enforce a law that limits the privileges or protections of U.S. citizens. No state may take away anyone’s life, liberty, or property without fair legal procedures, and no state may deny anyone within its borders the equal protection of the laws.

Ratified in 1868, this established birthright citizenship and overturned the Dred Scott decision.

Seats in the House of Representatives are divided among the states based on each state’s total population, not counting Indians who are not taxed. If a state denies or limits the right to vote in federal or state elections for any male citizens who are at least twenty-one years old, that state loses House seats in proportion to how many such men are blocked. This penalty does not apply when voting is denied because a person took part in rebellion or committed another crime.

This replaced the three-fifths counting rule in Article I, Section 2.

No one may serve in Congress, as a presidential elector, or in any federal or state office, civil or military, if they once swore an oath to support the Constitution and then took part in an insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or helped its enemies. This applies to people who took that oath as members of Congress, as federal officers, as state legislators, or as state executive or judicial officers. Congress can lift this ban by a two-thirds vote of each house.

The lawful public debt of the United States must be honored, including money owed for pensions and rewards for service in putting down rebellion. But neither the federal government nor any state may take on or pay any debt incurred to support rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or freeing of an enslaved person. All such debts and claims are illegal and have no effect.

Congress has the power to pass laws to enforce this amendment.

No citizen of the United States may be denied or limited in the right to vote by the federal government or any state because of their race, their color, or the fact that they were once enslaved.

Ratified in 1870.

Congress has the power to pass laws to enforce this amendment.

Congress may impose and collect a tax on income from any source. It does not have to divide this tax among the states by population or base it on any census count.

Ratified in 1913, it let Congress tax incomes without apportioning the tax among the states, modifying Article I, Section 9.

Each state has two senators, elected directly by the state’s voters for six-year terms, and each senator gets one vote. Anyone qualified to vote for the larger house of the state legislature is also qualified to vote for senator.

Ratified in 1913, it replaced the choosing of Senators by state legislatures in Article I, Section 3.

When a Senate seat for a state becomes empty, the state’s governor calls a special election to fill it. A state legislature may also let the governor appoint someone temporarily until voters choose a replacement in an election held as the legislature directs.

This amendment does not change the election or term of any senator already chosen before it took effect.

Starting one year after this amendment is ratified, it is illegal to make, sell, or transport alcohol for use as a drink anywhere in the United States. It is also illegal to bring such drinks into the country or send them out of it for use as beverages.

Ratified in 1919, it was repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933.

Both Congress and the individual states share the power to pass laws to enforce this amendment.

This amendment will have no effect unless the state legislatures approve it within seven years from the date Congress sends it to the states.

The right of United States citizens to vote cannot be denied or limited by the federal government or any state because of a person’s sex.

Ratified in 1920.

Congress has the power to pass laws to enforce this amendment.

The terms of the President and Vice President end at noon on January 20, and the terms of Senators and Representatives end at noon on January 3, of the years when those terms would otherwise have ended. The terms of the people replacing them begin at those same times.

Ratified in 1933, it moved the start of presidential and congressional terms earlier, changing dates set in Article I and Article II.

Congress must meet at least once each year. That meeting begins at noon on January 3, unless Congress sets a different day by law.

If the President-elect dies before the term begins, the Vice President-elect becomes President. If no President has been chosen by the time the term begins, or if the President-elect does not meet the requirements to serve, the Vice President-elect acts as President until a qualified President is available. Congress may pass a law to decide who acts as President, or how that person is chosen, if neither the President-elect nor the Vice President-elect is qualified, and that person serves until a qualified President or Vice President is available.

Congress may pass laws to handle situations where one of the people the House of Representatives could choose as President dies, in cases where the House has the power to make that choice. Congress may do the same for situations where one of the people the Senate could choose as Vice President dies, in cases where the Senate has that power.

Sections 1 and 2 take effect on October 15 following the ratification of this amendment.

This amendment will have no effect unless three-fourths of the state legislatures approve it within seven years from the date it is sent to them.

The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution is repealed.

Ratified in 1933, it repealed the 18th Amendment.

It is illegal to transport or bring alcoholic drinks into any state, territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use there if doing so breaks that place’s own laws.

This amendment will have no effect unless state conventions approve it, as the Constitution allows, within seven years from the date Congress sends it to the states.

No one can be elected President more than twice. A person who has served as President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term that someone else was elected to can be elected President only once. This rule does not apply to the person who was President when Congress proposed this amendment, and it does not stop the person serving as President while the amendment takes effect from finishing that term.

Ratified in 1951.

This amendment will have no effect unless three-fourths of the state legislatures approve it within seven years from the date Congress sends it to the states.

The District of Columbia, the seat of the national government, will choose presidential electors in the way Congress directs. It gets a number of electors equal to the total number of Senators and Representatives it would have if it were a state, but never more than the least populated state. These electors are added to those chosen by the states, are treated as if chosen by a state for the purpose of electing the President and Vice President, and meet in the District to carry out the duties set by the Twelfth Amendment.

Ratified in 1961, it gave the District of Columbia votes in the Electoral College.

Congress has the power to pass laws to enforce this amendment.

The right of United States citizens to vote in any primary or other election for President, Vice President, presidential electors, Senator, or Representative cannot be denied or limited by the federal government or any state because a person did not pay a poll tax or any other tax.

Ratified in 1964.

Congress has the power to pass laws to enforce this amendment.

If the President is removed from office, dies, or resigns, the Vice President becomes President.

Ratified in 1967, it clarified the succession and disability provisions of Article II, Section 1.

Whenever the office of Vice President is empty, the President nominates a new Vice President, who takes office after a majority of both houses of Congress approve the choice.

Whenever the President sends a written statement to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House saying he cannot carry out the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President takes over those powers and duties as Acting President until the President sends a written statement saying he can resume them.

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the heads of the executive departments or another body Congress sets up by law send a written statement to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House saying the President cannot carry out his duties, the Vice President immediately takes over as Acting President. After that, if the President sends a written statement saying he is able to serve, he resumes his duties, unless the Vice President and a majority of that same group send a written statement within four days saying the President still cannot serve. In that case, Congress decides the question, meeting within forty-eight hours if it is not already in session. If Congress, within twenty-one days of receiving that second statement, or within twenty-one days after it is required to meet if it was not in session, decides by a two-thirds vote of both houses that the President cannot serve, the Vice President continues as Acting President; otherwise, the President resumes his duties.

The right of United States citizens who are eighteen years old or older to vote cannot be denied or limited by the federal government or any state because of their age.

Ratified in 1971.

Congress has the power to pass laws to enforce this amendment.

Any law that changes the pay of Senators and Representatives cannot take effect until after the next election of Representatives has occurred.

Proposed in 1789 as part of the original Bill of Rights package, it was not ratified until 1992.