Last Name. Share this page. Follow Ballotpedia. Click here to follow election results! This page is a running summary of the number of times each of the current versions of the state constitutions in the 50 states have been amended. It was last updated following the December election in History of initiative and referendum in the U. Ballotpedia features , encyclopedic articles written and curated by our professional staff of editors, writers, and researchers.
Click here to contact our editorial staff, and click here to report an error. Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Harvard University Press, The Heritage Guide to the Constitution. Heritage Foundation. Interactive Constitution. Constitution Center. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present.
It was signed on September 17, , by delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. The First Amendment to the U. Constitution protects the freedom of speech, religion and the press. It also protects the right to peaceful protest and to petition the government. The amendment was adopted in along with nine other amendments that make up the Bill of The Second Amendment, often referred to as the right to bear arms, is one of 10 amendments that form the Bill of Rights, ratified in by the U.
Differing interpretations of the amendment have fueled a long-running debate over gun control legislation and the The 25th Amendment to the U. Passed by Congress on July 6, , the 25th Amendment was ratified by the states The 26 Amendment lowered the legal voting age in the United States from 21 to The long debate over lowering the voting age began during World War II and intensified during the Vietnam War, when young men denied the right to vote were being conscripted to fight for their By the late s, prohibition movements had sprung up across the United States, driven by religious groups who considered alcohol, specifically drunkenness, a threat to the nation.
The movement reached its apex in when Congress ratified the 18th Amendment, prohibiting the The 15th Amendment, which sought to protect the voting rights of African American men after the Civil War, was adopted into the U. Constitution in Despite the amendment, by the late s discriminatory practices were used to prevent Black citizens from exercising their The 14th Amendment to the U.
The 19th Amendment to the U. Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Here is a summary of the 27 amendments to the Constitution: First Amendment ratified In order to secure support for the Constitution among Anti- Federalists , who feared it gave too much power to the national government at the expense of individual states, James Madison agreed to draft a Bill of Rights during the first session of Congress.
Third Amendment ratified Recommended for you. History Shorts: Who Wrote the U. The Second Amendment. Fifteenth Amendment. According to the National Constitution Center , jury trials for civil cases were an important way to protect against biased or corrupt judges.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. The Eighth Amendment prevents the federal government from imposing excessive bail and inflicting cruel or unusual punishment on criminal defendants.
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. One of the supporters of the US Constitution, James Wilson , worried that by naming or enumerating specific rights, any powers not mentioned would be assumed to belong to the federal government, so the Ninth Amendment makes it clear that is not the case.
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. The 10th Amendment leaves any powers not specifically assigned to the federal government to each state or to the people.
This amendment protects against the possibility of the national government assuming powers that have not already been assigned to it and is greatly important to keep the federal government limited as the US Constitution framers intended. 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. It was passed by Congress on March 4, , and ratified on February 7, The proposal for this amendment was introduced one day after the Supreme Court ruled that an individual could sue a state in federal court in the case of Chisholm v Georgia Today, these lawsuits are tried in state courts.
This is also the only amendment related to the judicial branch of the government. 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.
The 12th Amendment — which was passed by Congress on December 9, , and ratified on June 15, — changed the presidential election process as laid out in Article II, Section 1 of the US Constitution and fixed several problems that came up because of the development of political parties and how that affected the electoral college. The 12th Amendment was passed in response to a tie vote in the election between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr.
However, the 20th Amendment, ratified in , changed the dates of presidential terms and Congressional sessions. 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. The 13th Amendment — passed by Congress on January 31, , and ratified on December 6, — abolished slavery and superseded a part of Article 4, Section 2 of the US Constitution, which set out that fugitive slaves be returned to their owners.
President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which was issued on January 1, , only freed slaves from the Confederate states that had seceded.
The 13th Amendment was able to free all slaves and indentured servants throughout the country. It did not, however, grant black Americans the right to vote. Realizing the 13th Amendment didn't go far enough, the 14th Amendment was passed by Congress on June 13, , and ratified on July 9, 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.
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.
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. 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.
The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. The 14th Amendment has five sections that include: defining citizenship rights, apportionment of representatives, denying public office to those who have participated in insurrection, invalidating Confederate debt, and giving Congress the power to enforce the amendment.
Section 1 is one of the most important parts of this amendment because it grants former slaves citizenship in the United States and guarantees former slaves equal protection and due process. In one of the most notable cases related to this amendment, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that racial segregation in public schools violated the 14th Amendment. It was also used in landmark cases like Roe v. Wade , about abortion, and Obergefell v.
Hodges , about same-sex marriage. 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.
The 15th Amendment — which was passed by Congress on February 26, , and ratified on February 3, — guarantees the right to vote and guarantees that right cannot be denied based on race.
Despite this amendment, discriminatory practices continued in voting booths, including literacy tests and poll taxes , to prevent black Americans from voting until the Voting Rights Act of Voter suppression remains an issue to this day.
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.
The 16th Amendment was passed by Congress on July 2, , and ratified on February 3, This amendment reversed the Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Company Supreme Court decision that made a national income tax almost impossible. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. 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. Ratified February 7, 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.
Ratified June 15, 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.
But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States. Ratified December 6, 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. Ratified July 9, Note: Article I, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by section 2 of the 14th amendment.
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.
0コメント