From: lwb@cs.utexas.edu (Lance W. Bledsoe)
Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy,alt.activism,talk.religion.misc,talk.politics.guns,alt.politics.usa.constitution,talk.politics.theory
Subject: US Constition - Full Text - Know Your Rights
Followup-To: alt.conspiracy
Date: 12 Jan 1993 12:05:07 -0600
Organization: CS Dept, University of Texas at Austin
NNTP-Posting-Host: im4u.cs.utexas.edu

What follows is the full text of the US Constition and all amendments (except
for the last one that was ratified in 1992).  The text was scanned in via
the Caere scanner and OCR system.  If you find any errors, please report
them to me.

In light of the fact that our rights are rapidly being removed from us, I
suggest that we all should read, learn and know this document.

Lance Bledsoe

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                   CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES

               Proposed by Convention September 17, 1787
                        Effective March 4, 1789

    We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect
    union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, 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.

    1. 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.

    2. 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.

    3. 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 choose 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.

    4. When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the
    executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill
    such vacancies.

    5. The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and
    other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment.

    SECTION 3.

    1. 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.

    2. 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 of 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.

    3. 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.

    4. The Vice President of the United States shall be President of
    the Senate, but shall nave no vote, unless they be equally divided.

    5. 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 the President of the United
    States.

    6. 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.

    7. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than
    to removal from office, and disqualifications 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.

    1. 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.

    2. 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.

    1. 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.

    2. 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.

    3. 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.

    4. 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.

    1. 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.

    2. 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.

    1. 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.

    2. Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives
    and the Senate, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the
    President of the United States; if he approves 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.

    3. Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the
    Senate and the 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 the power

    1. 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;

    2. To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

    3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several
    States, and with the Indian tribes;

    4. To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws
    on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;

    5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin,
    and fix the standard of weights and measures;

    6. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities
    and current coin of the United States;

    7. To establish post offices and post roads:

    8. 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;

    9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;

    10. To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the
    high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;

    11. To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make
    rules concerning captures on land and water;

    12. To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to
    that use shall be for a longer term than two years;

    13. To provide and maintain a navy;

    14. To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and
    naval forces;

    15. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of
    the Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;

    16. 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;

    17. 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

    18. 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.

    1. 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.

    2. 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.

    3. No bill of attainder or ex postfacto law shall be passed.

    4. No capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid unless in
    proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be
    taken.

    5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any
    State.

    6. 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.

    7. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence
    of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account
    of the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be
    published from time to time.

    8. 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 postfacto law, or law
    impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of
    nobility.

    2. 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 its 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.

    3. No State shall, without the consent of the 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.

    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:

    2. 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.

    3. 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.

    4. 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.

    5. 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.

    6. 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.

    7. 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.

    8. 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.

    1. 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.

    2. 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.

    3. 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 behavior,
    and shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a
    compensation, which shall not be diminished during their
    continuance in office.

    SECTION 2.

    1. 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.

    2. 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 to fact, with such exceptions, and
    under such regulations as the Congress shall make.

    3. 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.

    1. 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.

    2. 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 attained.


                              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.

    1. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges
    and immunities of citizens in the several States.

    2. 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.

    3. 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.

    1. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but
    no new State 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.

    2. 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

    1. 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.

    2. 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.

    3. 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.

    Done in Convention by the unanimous consent of the States present
    the seventeenth day of September in the year of our Lord one
    thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the independence of
    the United States of America the twelfth. In witness whereof we
    have hereunto subscribed our names. [Names omitted]

    Articles in addition to, and amendment of, the Constitution of the
    United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the
    legislatures of the several States pursuant to the fifth article of
    the original Constitution.


                              AMENDMENT I

    First Ten Amendments passed by Congress Sept. 25, 1789.  Ratified
    by three-fourths of the States December 15, 1791.

    Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
    or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom
    of speech, or of the press; or the right of 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

    Passed by Congress March 4, 1794. Ratified February 7, 1798.

    The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to
    extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted
    against one of the United States by citizens of another State, or
    by citizens or subjects of any foreign State.


                             AMENDMENT XII

    Passed by Congress December 9, 1803. Ratified July 27, 1804.

    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

    Passed by Congress January 31,1865. Ratified December 6,1865.

    SECTION 1.

    Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for
    crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist
    within the United States, or any place subject to their
    jurisdiction.

    SECTION 2.

    Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
    legislation.


                             AMENDMENT XIV

    Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July 9, 1868.

    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 he 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

    Passed by Congress February 26, 1869. Ratified February 3, 1870.

    SECTION 1.

    The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be
    denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account
    of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

    SECTION 2.

    The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
    appropriate legislation.


                             AMENDMENT XVI

    Passed by Congress July 2, 1909. Ratified February 3, 1913.

    The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes,
    from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the
    several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.


                            AMENDMENT XVII

    Passed by Congress May 13, 1912. Ratified April 8, 1913.

    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 legislature.

    When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the
    Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of
    election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of
    any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary
    appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the
    legislature may direct.

    This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election
    or term of any senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of
    the Constitution.


                            AMENDMENT XVIII

    Passed by Congress December 18, 1917. Ratified January 16, 1919.

    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.

    The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to
    enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

    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
    Congress.


                             AMENDMENT XIX

    Passed by Congress June 4, 1919. Ratified August 18, 1920.

    The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be
    denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account
    of sex.

    The Congress shall have power by appropriate legislation to enforce
    the provisions of this article.


                             AMENDMENT XX

    Passed by Congress March 2, 1932. Ratified January 23, 1933.

    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 I and 2 shall take effect on  the 15th day of October
    following the ratification of this article.

    SECTION 6.

    This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been
    ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of
    three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the
    date of its submission.


                             AMENDMENT XXI

    Passed by Congress February 20, 1933. Ratified December 5, 1933.

    SECTION 1.

    The Eighteenth Article of amendment to the Constitution of the
    United States is hereby repealed.

    SECTION 2.

    The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or
    possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of
    intoxicating liquors in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby
    prohibited.

    SECTION 3.

    This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been
    ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the
    several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years
    from the date of the submission thereof to the States by the
    Congress.


                            AMENDMENT XXII

    Passed by Congress March 21,1947. Ratified February 27, 1951.

    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.

    This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been
    ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of
    three-fourths of the several states within seven years from the
    date of its submission to the states by the Congress.


                            AMENDMENT XXIII

    Passed by Congress June 16, 1960. Ratified March 29, 1961.

    SECTION 1.

    The District constituting the seat of Government of the United
    States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct:

    A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the
    whole number of  Senators and Representatives in Congress to which
    the District would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event
    more than the least populous state; they shall be in addition to
    those appointed by the states, but shall be considered, for the
    purpose of the election of President and Vice President, to be
    electors appointed by a state; and they shall meet in the District
    and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of
    amendment.

    SECTION 2.

    The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
    appropriate legislation.


                            AMENDMENT XXIV

    Passed by Congress August 27, 1962. Ratified January 23, 1964.

    SECTION 1.

    The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary
    or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for
    President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in
    Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or
    any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.

    SECTION 2.

    The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by
    appropriate legislation.


                             AMENDMENT XXV

    Passed by Congress July 6, 1965. Ratified February 10, 1967.

    SECTION 1.

    In case of the removal of the President from office or 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 the
    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 of 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 48 hours for that purpose if not in
    session. If the Congress, within 21 days after receipt of the
    latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session,
    within 21 days after Congress is required to assemble, determines
    by two-thirds vote of both houses that the President is unable to
    discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President
    shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President;
    otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his
    office.

                            AMENDMENT XXVI

    Passed by Congress March 23, 1971. Ratified June 30, 1971.

    SECTION 1.

    The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years
    of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the
    United States or any state on account of age.

    SECTION 2.

    The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by
    appropriate legislation.

-- 
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  Lance W. Bledsoe        lwb@im4u.cs.utexas.edu        (512) 258-0112  |
|  "Ye shall know the TRUTH, and the TRUTH shall make you free."         |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
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