[The fourteenth amendment, which follows, was proposed to the legislatures of the several states by the thirty-ninth Congress on June 16, 1866, and was declared in force July 28, 1868.] ARTICLE XIV. SECTION 1. Citizenship defined; privileges of citizens. 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. Apportionment of Representatives. - 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 twentyone 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. ARTICLE XIV - Continued. SECTION 3. Disqualification for office; removal of disability.- 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 taking 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. Public debt not to be questioned; payment of debts and claims incurred in aid of rebellion forbidden.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. Congress given power to enforce this article. - The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. [The fifteenth amendment, which follows, was proposed to the legislatures of the several states by the fortieth Congress on February 27, 1869, and was declared in force March 30, 1870.] ARTICLE XV. Right of certain citizens to vote established.- 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. Congress given power to enforce this article.- The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. [The sixteenth amendment, which follows, was proposed to the legislatures of the several states by the sixty-first Congress on July 12, 1909, and was declared in force February 25, 1913.] ARTICLE XVI. Taxes on income; Congress given power to lay and collect. 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 seventeenth amendment, which follows, was proposed to the legislatures of the several states by the sixty-second Congress on May 16, 1912, and was declared in force May 31, 1913.] ARTICLE XVII. Election of United States Senators; filling of vacancies; qualifications of electors. - 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 ARTICLE XVII - Continued. shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures. 2. 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 appointment until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct. 3. 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. [The eighteenth amendment, which follows, was proposed to the legislatures of the several states by the sixty-fifth Congress, and was declared on January 29, 1919, as going into full force and effect on January 16, 1920.] ARTICLE XVIII. Manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors, for beverage purposes, prohibited.- 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited. Congress and the several States given concurrent power to pass appropriate legislation to enforce this article. 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. ARTICLE XVIII - Continued. Provisions of article to become operative, when adopted by three-fourths of the States. - 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress. [The nineteenth amendment, which follows, was proposed to the legislatures of the several states by the sixty-sixth Congress on May 19, 1919, and declared in force August 26, 1920.] ARTICLE XIX. The right of citizens to vote shall not be denied because of sex. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. |