AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION.
ARTICLES IN ADDITION TO, AND AMENDMENT OF, THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.[4]
Proposed by Congress and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth article of the original Constitution.
Article I.—Freedom of Religion, etc.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Article II.—Right to Bear Arms.
"A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
Article III.—Quartering Soldiers on Citizens.
"No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner; nor, in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law."
Article IV.—Search-Warrants.
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
Article V.—Trial for Crime, etc.
"No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service, in time of war, or public danger; nor shall any person be subject, for the same offence, to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case, to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."
Article VI.—Rights of Accused Persons.
"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence."
Article VII.—Suits at Common Law.
"In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved; and no fact, tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law."
Article VIII.—Excessive Bail.
"Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."
Article IX.—Rights Retained by the People.
"The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."
Article X.—-Reserved Powers of the States.
"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."
Article XI.
"The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another State, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign State."[5]
Article XII.—Mode of Choosing the President and Vice-president.
1. "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 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, and in case of the death, or other constitutional disability, of the President."
2. "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."
3. "But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President, shall be eligible to that of Vice-president of the United States."
Article XIII.—Abolition of Slavery.
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."
2. "Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."
Article XIV.—Right of Citizenship, etc.
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."
2. "Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of Electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens, twenty-one years of age, in such State."
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."
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."
5. "The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article."
Article XV.—Right of Suffrage.
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."
2. "The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."
[1]The Articles of Confederation proved by experience inadequate to the wants of the people of the United States, and they were supplanted by the Constitution.
"The American Constitution, with its manifest defects, still remains one of the most abiding monuments of human wisdom, and it has received a tribute to its general excellence such as no other political system was ever honored with."—FREEMAN.
[2]This clause has been superseded by Amendment XIV., Sect. 2.
[3]This clause has been amended and superseded by the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution. By the provisions of the original clause the person in the electoral college having the greatest number of votes (provided he had a majority of the whole number of electors appointed) became President, and the person having the next greatest number of votes became Vice-president, thus giving the Presidency to one political party and the Vice-Presidency to another. In the year 1800 the Democratic Republicans determined to elect Thomas Jefferson President and Aaron Burr Vice-president. The result was that each secured an equal number of votes, and neither was elected. The Constitution then, as now, provided that in case the electoral college failed to elect a President, the House of Representatives, voting as States, should elect. The Federalists distrusted and disliked Jefferson; the Democratic Republicans and some of the Federalists distrusted and disliked Burr. The vote in the House on the thirty-sixth ballot gave the Presidency to Jefferson and the Vice-Presidency to Burr. In order to prevent a repetition of so dangerous a struggle, the Twelfth Amendment, by which the electoral votes are cast separately for the candidates for President and for Vice-President, was proposed by Congress Dec. 12, 1803, and declared in force Sept. 25, 1804.
[4]More than seven hundred amendments to the Constitution have been proposed since it was adopted. Several are usually proposed at each session of Congress.
The first twelve articles of amendment to the Federal Constitution were adopted so soon after the original organization of the Government under it in 1789 as to justify the statement that they were practically contemporaneous with the adoption of the original (JUSTICE MILLER, U. S. Supreme Court).
[5]In the case of Chisholm vs. The State of Georgia, the Supreme Court decided that under Article III., Section 2, of the Constitution a private citizen of a State might bring suit against a State other than the one of which he was a citizen. This decision, by which a State might be brought as defendant before the bar of a Federal court, was highly displeasing to the majority of the States in 1794. On the 5th of March of that year the Eleventh Amendment was passed by two-thirds of both houses of Congress, and declared in force January 8, 1798. Practically, the amendment has been the authority for the repudiation of debts by several States.