|United States of America|
This article is part of the series:
|Original text of the Constitution|
|Amendments to the Constitution|
|Bill of Rights
I · II · III · IV · V · VI · VII · VIII · IX · X
This is a complete full list of all the ratified and unratified amendments to the United States Constitution which have received the approval of the Congress. The procedure for amending the Constitution is governed by Article V of the original text. There have been many other proposals for amendments to the United States Constitution introduced in Congress, but not submitted to the states.
|#||Amendments||Proposal date||Enactment date||Full text|
|1st||Freedom of religion, of speech, of the press, to assemble, and to petition||September 25, 1789||December 15, 1791||Full text|
|2nd||Enumerates the right to keep and bear arms||September 25, 1789||December 15, 1791||Full text|
|3rd||No quartering of soldiers in private houses during peacetime.
In a time of war, Congress can pass a law stating that soldiers should be quartered.
|September 25, 1789||December 15, 1791||Full text|
|4th||Interdiction of unreasonable searches and seizures; search warrant is required to search persons or property.||September 25, 1789||December 15, 1791||Full text|
|5th||Indictments; due process; self-incrimination; double jeopardy, and rules for eminent domain.||September 25, 1789||December 15, 1791||Full text|
|6th||Rights to a fair and speedy public trial, to notice of accusations, to confront the accuser, to subpoenas, to counsel||September 25, 1789||December 15, 1791||Full text|
|7th||Right to trial by jury in civil cases||September 25, 1789||December 15, 1791||Full text|
|8th||No excessive bail or fines, or cruel and unusual punishment||September 25, 1789||December 15, 1791||Full text|
|9th||Unenumerated rights||September 25, 1789||December 15, 1791||Full text|
|10th||Limits the powers of the federal government to only those specifically granted to it by the constitution.||September 25, 1789||December 15, 1791||Full text|
|11th||Immunity of states from suits from out-of-state citizens and foreigners not living within the state borders. Lays the foundation for sovereign immunity.||March 4, 1794||February 7, 1795||Full text|
|12th||Revises presidential election procedures||December 9, 1803||June 15, 1804||Full text|
|13th||Abolishes slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.||January 31, 1865||December 6, 1865||Full text|
|14th||Defines citizenship and deals with post-Civil-War issues.||June 13, 1866||July 9, 1868||Full text|
|15th||Prohibits the denial of suffrage based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude||February 26, 1869||February 3, 1870||Full text|
|16th||Allows federal income tax||July 12, 1909||February 3, 1913||Full text|
|17th||Direct election of senators||May 13, 1912||April 8, 1913||Full text|
|18th||Prohibition of alcohol (Repealed by Twenty-first Amendment)||December 18, 1917||January 16, 1919||Full text|
|19th||Federal recognition of women's suffrage||June 4, 1919||August 18, 1920||Full text|
|20th||Term commencements for Congress (January 3) and the President (January 20).
This amendment is also known as the "lame duck amendment".
|March 2, 1932||January 23, 1933||Full text|
|21st||Repeals the Eighteenth Amendment||February 20, 1933||December 5, 1933||Full text|
|22nd||Limits the president to two terms.||March 24, 1947||February 27, 1951||Full text|
|23rd||Representation of Washington, D.C. in the Electoral College||June 16, 1960||March 29, 1961||Full text|
|24th||Prohibition of the restriction of voting rights due to the non-payment of poll taxes||September 14, 1962||January 23, 1964||Full text|
|25th||Presidential succession||July 6, 1965||February 10, 1967||Full text|
|26th||Voting age nationally established at 18 (see suffrage)||March 23, 1971||July 1, 1971||Full text|
|27th||Variance of congressional compensation||September 25, 1789||May 7, 1992||Full text|
Before an amendment can take effect, it must be proposed to the states by a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress or by a convention called by two-thirds of the states, and ratified by three-fourths of the states or by three-fourths of conventions thereof, the method of ratification being determined by Congress at the time of proposal. To date, no convention for proposing amendments has been called by the states, and only once has the convention method of ratification been employed.
Six amendments proposed by Congress have failed to be ratified by the appropriate number of states' legislatures. Four of these amendments are still technically pending before state lawmakers—the other two have expired by their own terms.
|Congressional Apportionment Amendment||September 25, 1789||Still pending before state lawmakers||Apportionment of U.S. Representatives|
|Titles of Nobility Amendment||May 1, 1810||Still pending before state lawmakers||Prohibition of titles of nobility|
|Corwin Amendment||March 2, 1861||Still pending before state lawmakers, but rendered moot by the 13th Amendment||Preservation of slavery|
|Child Labor Amendment||June 2, 1924||Still pending before state lawmakers||Congressional power to regulate child labor|
|Equal Rights Amendment||March 22, 1972||Expired 1979 or 1982 (some scholars disagree -- see main article), though possibly still able to be ratified as deadline has previously been extended and deadline was not placed in the Amendment's text.||Prohibition of inequality of men and women|
|District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment||August 22, 1978||Expired 1987||D.C. voting rights|