Constitution Annotated

The Constitution of the United States Page 1

Constitution of the United States Full Text

https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution Full Text | Preamble | Articles of the Constitution | Article I Legislative Branch | Article II Executive Branch | Article III Judicial Branch | Article IV Relationships Between the States | Article V Amending the Constitution | Article VI Prior Debts, National Supremacy Clause, and Oaths of Office | Article VII Ratification

Articles of the Constitution

Article I - Legislative Branch

Article II - Executive Branch

Article III - Judicial Branch

Article IV - Relationships Between the States

Article V - Amending the Constitution

Article VI - Prior Debts, National Supremacy, and Oaths of Office

Article VII - Ratification

Amendments to the Constitution

First Amendment - Freedom of Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly, and Petition

Second Amendment - Bearing and Keeping Arms

Third Amendment - Quartering Soldiers

Fourth Amendment - Search and Seizure

Fifth Amendment - Grand Jury, Double Jeopardy, Self Incrimination, Due Process, Takings

Sixth Amendment - Rights of Those Charged in Criminal Prosecutions

Seventh Amendment - Civil Trial Rights

Eighth Amendment - Excessive Bail and Fines, and Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Ninth Amendment - Unenumerated Rights

Tenth Amendment - Rights Reserved to the States and to the People

Eleventh Amendment - Suits Against States

Twelfth Amendment - Election of President

Thirteenth Amendment - Abolition of Slavery

Fourteenth Amendment - Citizenship, Equal Protection, and Other Post-Civil War Provisions

Fifteenth Amendment - Right of Citizens to Vote

Sixteenth Amendment - Income Tax

Seventeenth Amendment - Popular Election of Senators

Eighteenth Amendment - Prohibition of Liquor

Nineteenth Amendment - Women's Suffrage Rights

Twentieth Amendment - Presidential Term and Succession

Twenty-First Amendment - Repeal of Prohibition

Twenty-Second Amendment - Presidential Term Limits

Twenty-Third Amendment - Presidential Electors for District of Columbia

Twenty-Fourth Amendment - Abolition of the Poll Taxes

Twenty-Fifth Amendment - Presidential Vacancy and Disability

Twenty-Sixth Amendment - Reduction of Voting Age

Twenty-Seventh Amendment - Congressional Compensation

The Constitution: What Does it Say?

The Constitution of the United States contains a preamble and seven articles that describe the way the government is structured and how it operates. The first three articles establish the three branches of government and their powers: Legislative (Congress), Executive (office of the President,) and Judicial (Federal court system). A system of checks and balances prevents any one of these separate powers from becoming dominant. Articles four through seven describe the relationship of the states to the Federal Government, establish the Constitution as the supreme law of the land, and define the amendment and ratification processes.

Article I

Article I assigns the responsibility for making laws to the Legislative Branch (Congress). Congress is divided into two parts, or “Houses,” the House of Representatives and the Senate. The bicameral Congress was a compromise between the large states, which wanted representation based on population, and the small ones, which wanted the states to have equal representation.

Article II

Article II details the Executive Branch and the offices of the President and Vice President. It lays down rules for electing the President (through the Electoral College), eligibility (must be a natural-born citizen at least 35 years old), and term length. The 12th and 25th Amendments modified some of these rules.

Article III

Article III establishes the Judicial Branch with the U.S. Supreme Court as the federal court system’s highest court. It specifies that Federal judges be appointed for life unless they commit a serious crime. This article is shorter than Articles I and II. The Federal Convention left much of the work of planning the court system to the First Congress. The 1789 Judiciary Act created the three-tiered court system in place today.

Article IV

Article IV outlines states’ powers in relationship to each other. States have the authority to create and enforce their own laws but must respect and help enforce the laws of other states. Congress may pass Federal laws regarding how states honor other states’ laws and records.

Article V

Article V explains the amendment process, which is different and more difficult than the process for making laws. When two-thirds of the Senate and two-thirds of the House of Representatives vote to change the Constitution, an amendment goes to the state legislatures for a vote. Alternatively, two-thirds of the state legislatures can submit an application to Congress, and then Congress calls a national convention at which states propose amendments. Three-fourths of the state legislatures or state conventions must vote in favor of an amendment to ratify it.