COMMENTARY:
The first three articles of the Constitution divide the powers of the United States government among three separate branches: (1) the legislative branch, represented by Congress; (2) the executive branch, represented by the President; and (3) the judicial branch, represented by the Supreme Court. This constitutional division, called the separation of powers, is designed to prevent any branch of the government from becoming too powerful. In addition, the Constitution creates checks and balances by providing the means by which each branch is required to work with the other branches in order to carry out its functions. For example, the President nominates federal judges but the Senate must confirm them.
      The two-house -- bicameral -- Congress was one of the most important compromises of the Constitutional Convention. The small states at the Convention supported the New Jersey Plan, under which each state would have had the same number of Representatives. The large states wanted the Virginia Plan, which provided representation based on population. As a compromise, one house was chosen according to each plan.

COMMENTARY:
Members of the House of Representatives are elected to two-year terms. If a person is eligible to vote for the "most numerous branch" of his or her state legislature, he or she also is eligible to vote for members of Congress. (All states except Nebraska have a two-house state legislature.) The question of who can vote for state legislators is up to the state, subject to the restrictions of the Constitution and federal law, such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The 15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th Amendments forbid the states to deny or restrict a citizens right to vote because of race, sex, or failure to pay a tax; or age if the person is at least 18 years old.

COMMENTARY:
Each state decides for itself the requirements for legal residence, subject to Constitutional limits. Most Representatives live not only in the state but also in the district from which they are chosen.

COMMENTARY:
The effect of this paragraph has been greatly altered both by amendments and by new conditions. It now provides only three things: (1) the number of Representatives given each state shall be based on its population; (2) Congress must see that the people of the United States are counted every 10 years; and (3) each state gets at least one Representative.
      The words "and direct taxes" mean poll taxes. The 16th Amendment gives Congress the right to tax persons according to the size of their own income, rather than according to the population of the state in which they happen to live.
      In the reference to "three-fifths of all others persons," the "other persons" meant slaves. Since there are no longer any slaves, this part of the paragraph no longer has any meaning.
      The requirement that there shall be no more than one Representative for every 30,000 persons no longer has any practical force. In 1929, Congress fixed the total number of Representatives at 435 and it has remained there ever since.

COMMENTARY:
If a vacancy occurs in a House seat, the state governor must call a special election to fill it. However, if the next regularly scheduled election is to be held soon, the governor may allow the seat to remain empty rather than call a special election.

COMMENTARY:
The House chooses an officer called the Speaker to lead meetings. The House alone has the power to bring impeachment charges against a federal official. It has impeached 16 federal officers, including two presidents, Andrew Johnson in 1868 and William Jefferson Clinton in 1998. The Senate tries impeachment cases.

COMMENTARY:
The Constitution at first provided that each state legislature should pick the state's two Senators. The 17th Amendment changes this by providing for the voters of each state to choose their own Senators.

COMMENTARY:
Senators are elected to six-year terms. Every two years, one-third of the Senators are elected and two-thirds are holdovers. This arrangement makes the Senate a continuing body, unlike the other House, whose entire membership is elected every two years. The 17th Amendment changed the method of filling vacancies. The governor chooses a Senator until the people elect one.

COMMENTARY:
In 1806, Henry Clay of Kentucky was appointed to fill an unexpired term in the Senate. He was only 29, a few months younger than the minimum age, but no one challenged the appointment. In 1793, Albert Gallatin was elected to the Senate from Pennsylvania. He was barred from taking office because he had not been a citizen for nine years.

COMMENTARY:
The Vice President serves as president of the Senate. He votes only when a tie vote occurs. The Vice President's power to break ties can be important. In 1789, for example, Vice President John Adams cast the vote that decided the President could remove Cabinet members without Senate approval.

COMMENTARY:
The Senate elects an officer called the president pro tempore to lead meetings when the Vice President is absent.

COMMENTARY:
The provision that the Chief Justice, rather than the Vice President, shall preside over the Senate when a President is on trial probably grows out of the fact that a Senate conviction of a President would make the Vice President the President. The phrase "on oath or affirmation" means that Senators are placed under oath when trying impeachment cases, just as jurors are in a regular court trial.

COMMENTARY:
If an impeached person is found guilty, she or he can be removed from office and forbidden to hold federal office again. The Senate cannot impose any other punishment, but the person may also be tried in regular courts. The Senate has convicted seven persons, all of them judges. All these men were removed from office, but only two of them were disqualified from holding any federal office.

COMMENTARY:
As long as state legislatures chose the Senators, it would not do to let Congress fix the place of choosing. This would have amounted to giving Congress the power to tell each state where to locate its capital. The words "except as to the places of choosing Senators" were set aside by the 17th Amendment.

COMMENTARY:
In Europe, monarchs could keep parliaments from meeting, sometimes for many years, simply by not calling them together. This is the reason for the requirement that the Congress of the United States must meet at least once a year. The 20th Amendment changed the date of the opening day of the session to January 3, unless Congress sets another date by law.

COMMENTARY:
Each house determines if its members are constitutionally qualified and have been properly elected. In judging the qualifications of its members, each house may consider only the age, citizenship, and residence requirements set forth in the Constitution. In acting on motions to expel a member, however, either house of Congress may consider other matters bearing on that member's fitness for office. Discussion and debate can go on whether a quorum is present or not, as long as a quorum is present for the final vote.

COMMENTARY:
Each house makes its own rules. For example, the House of Representatives puts strict time limits on debate to speed up business. It is much more difficult to end debate in the Senate. By Senate rules, a Senator may speak as long as he or she wishes unless the Senate votes for cloture, a motion to end debate. On most matters, cloture requires a vote of 60 Senators, or three-fifths of the total Senate membership. Either house can expel one of its members by a two-thirds vote.

COMMENTARY:
The House Journal and the Senate Journal are published at the end of each session of Congress. They list all the bills and resolutions considered during the session, as well as every vote. All messages from the President to Congress also are included.
      Of more importance, the Congressional Record is published daily and includes verbatim transcripts of the debates.

COMMENTARY:
The privilege of immunity (freedom from arrest) while going to and from congressional business has little importance today. Members of Congress, like anyone else, may be arrested for breaking the law. They may be tried, convicted, and sent to prison.
      Congressional immunity from charges of libel and slander remains important. Libel is an untrue written statement that damages a person's reputation. Slander is a spoken statement that does so. Immunity under the speech and debate clause means that members of Congress may say whatever they wish in connection with congressional business without fear of being sued. This immunity extends to anything said by members during debate, in an official report, or while voting.

COMMENTARY:
These provisions keep members of Congress from creating jobs to which they can later be appointed, or while serving in Congress from raising salaries of jobs they hope to hold in the future, and from holding office in the other branches of the government.
      In 1909, Senator Philander C. Knox resigned from the Senate to become Secretary of State. But the salary of the Secretary of State had been increased during Knox's term as Senator. In order that Knox might accept the post, Congress withdrew the salary increase for the period of Knox's unfinished term.

COMMENTARY:
Tax bills must originate in the House. The tradition that tax laws should originate in the lower house of the legislature comes from England. There, the lower house -- the House of Commons -- is more likely to reflect the people's wishes because the people elect its members. They do not elect the upper house, the House of Lords. In the United States, since the adoption of the 17th Amendment, this rule has little importance because the people elect both the Senate and the House. In addition, the Senate can amend a tax bill to such an extent that, in effect, it rewrites the whole measure.

COMMENTARY:
A bill passed by Congress goes to the President for the President's signature. If the President disapproves the bill, he has 10 days not counting Sundays to return it to the chamber which originated it with a statement of the objections. This action is called a veto. Congress can pass a law over the President's veto by a two-thirds vote of each house of those members present. The President can also let a bill become a law without signing it merely by letting 10 days pass. But a bill sent to the President during the last 10 days of a session of Congress cannot become a law unless it is signed. If a bill the President dislikes reaches the President near the end of the session, the bill may simply be held unsigned. When Congress adjourns, the bill is killed. This practice is known as a pocket veto.

The Congress shall have Power
(1) To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

COMMENTARY:
Duties are taxes on goods coming into the United States. Excises are taxes on sales, use, or production, and sometimes on business procedures or privileges. For example, corporation taxes, cigarette taxes, and amusement taxes are excises. Imposts is a general tax term that includes both duties and excises.

COMMENTARY:
This section, called the commerce clause, gives Congress some of its most important powers. The Supreme Court has interpreted commerce to mean not only trade but also all kinds of commercial activity. The Supreme Court has ruled that "commerce among the several states" -- interstate commerce -- includes not only transactions across state boundaries but also any activity that affects commerce in more than one state. The power to regulate this commerce is the power to encourage, promote, protect, prohibit, or restrain it. As a result, Congress can pass laws and provide funds to improve waterways, to enforce air safety measures, and to forbid interstate shipment of certain goods. It can regulate the movement of people, of trains, of stocks and bonds, and television signals, as well as the Internet. Congress has made it a federal crime to flee across state lines from state or local police to use interstate commerce for a wide variety of crimes. It also has forbidden people who operate interstate facilities or who serve interstate passengers to treat customers unfairly because of race, gender, national origins, old age, or physical disability.

COMMENTARY:
From this section, along with the section that allows the Congress to regulate commerce and to borrow money, Congress gets its right to charter national banks and to establish the Federal Reserve System.

COMMENTARY:
Securities are government bonds.

COMMENTARY:
Books, music, photographs, videotape, digital video discs (DVD), and films may be copyrighted under this rule.

COMMENTARY:
Examples of federal courts "inferior to the Supreme Court" include the United States district courts and United States Courts of Appeals.

COMMENTARY:
Congress, rather than the states, has jurisdiction over crimes committed at sea.

COMMENTARY:
Only Congress can declare war. However, the President, as Commander-in-Chief, has engaged the United States in wars without a formal declaration of war by Congress. Undeclared wars include the Korean War (1950-1953), the Vietnam War (1957-1975), and the Gulf Wars (1991, 2003).
      Letters of marque and reprisal are documents that authorize private vessels to attack enemy shipping. They are no longer issued.

COMMENTARY:
Congress has given the President power to decide when a state of invasion or insurrection (uprising) exists. At such times, the President can call out the state militia, now known as the National Guard, as well as the regular armed forces.

COMMENTARY:
The federal government helps the states maintain the militia, also known as the National Guard. Until 1916, the states controlled the militia entirely. That year, the National Defense Act provided for federal funding of the Guard and for drafting the Guard into national service under certain circumstances.

COMMENTARY:
This section makes Congress the legislative body not only for the District of Columbia, but for federal property on which forts, naval bases, arsenals, and other federal works or buildings are located.

COMMENTARY:
This section, the famous "necessary and proper" clause, allows Congress to deal with many matters not specifically mentioned in the Constitution. This flexibility helps explain why the Constitution is one of the oldest written constitutions and why it has needed so few formal amendments.

COMMENTARY:
This paragraph refers to the slave trade. Dealers in slaves, as well as some slaveholders, wanted to make sure that Congress could not stop anyone from bringing African slaves into the country before the year 1808. That year, Congress did ban the importation of slaves.

COMMENTARY:
A writ of habeas corpus is a court order that commands officials who have a person in custody to bring the person into court. The officials must explain to the judge why the person is being restrained. If their explanation is unsatisfactory, the judge can order the prisoner released.

COMMENTARY:
A bill of attainder is an act passed by a legislature to punish a person without trial. An ex post facto law is one that makes criminal an act that was not illegal when the act was committed. This also includes an act that retroactively increases the punishment for a criminal act.

COMMENTARY:
A capitation is a tax collected equally from everyone. It is also called a head tax or poll tax. The Supreme Court held that this section prohibits an income tax, but the 16th Amendment set aside the effect of the court's decision.

COMMENTARY:
In this sentence, exported means sent to other states or to foreign countries. The Southern states feared that the new government would tax their exports and that their economies would suffer as a result. This sentence forbids such a tax. However, Congress can prohibit shipment of certain items, as well as regulate the conditions of their shipment.

COMMENTARY:
Congress cannot make laws concerning trade that favor one state over another. Ships going from one state to another need not pay taxes to do so.

COMMENTARY:
Government money cannot be spent without the consent of Congress. Congress must provide for the issuance of financial statements from time to time.

COMMENTARY:
Congress cannot give anyone a title of nobility, such as countess or duke. Federal officials may not accept a gift, office, payment, or title from a foreign country without the consent of Congress.

COMMENTARY:
Without the consent of Congress, a state cannot tax goods entering or leaving the state except for small fees to cover the cost of inspection.

COMMENTARY:
Only the federal government has the power to make treaties or negotiate with foreign countries.

COMMENTARY:
This section establishes the Electoral College, a group of people chosen in each state in a manner that the state legislature decides. All states now provide that the voters choose these electors. These electors in turn elect the President and Vice President.

COMMENTARY:
The 12th Amendment changed this procedure for electing the President and Vice President.

COMMENTARY:
On August 9, 1974, President Richard M. Nixon resigned as Chief Executive and was succeeded by Vice President Gerald R. Ford. Until then, only death had ever cut short the term of a President of the United States. The 25th Amendment provides that the Vice President succeeds to the presidency if the President becomes disabled, and specifies the conditions applying to succession.

COMMENTARY:
The Constitution made it possible for a poor person to become President by providing a salary for that office. The President's salary cannot be raised or lowered during his or her term of office. The Chief Executive may not receive any other pay from the federal government or the states, but of course is provided with many services.

COMMENTARY:
The Constitution does not say who shall administer the oath to the newly elected President. President George Washington was sworn in by Robert R. Livingston, then a state official in New York. After that it became customary for the Chief Justice of the United States to administer the oath. Calvin Coolidge was sworn in by his father, a justice of the peace, at his home in Vermont. Coolidge took the oath again before Justice Adolph A. Hoehling of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia.

COMMENTARY:
The President's powers as Commander-in-Chief are far-reaching. But even in wartime, the President must obey the law of the land.

COMMENTARY:
The framers of the Constitution intended that in some matters the Senate should serve as an advisory body for the President, somewhat as the House of Lords advised the monarch in Great Britain.
      The President can make treaties and appoint various government officials. But two-thirds of the Senators present must approve before a treaty is confirmed. Also, high appointments require approval of more than half the Senators present.

COMMENTARY:
When the Senate is not in session, the President can make temporary appointments to offices that require Senate confirmation.

COMMENTARY:
The President gives a State of the Union message to Congress each year. Presidents George Washington and John Adams delivered their messages in person. For more than 100 years after that, most Presidents sent a written message, which was read in Congress. President Woodrow Wilson delivered his message in person, as did Franklin D. Roosevelt and all Presidents after Roosevelt. Famous messages to Congress include the Monroe Doctrine and President Wilson's "Fourteen Points."
      During the 1800s, Presidents often called Congress into session. Today, Congress is in session most of the time. No President has ever had to adjourn Congress.
      The responsibility to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed" puts the President at the head of law enforcement for the national government. Every federal official, civilian or military, gets his or her authority from the President.

COMMENTARY:
The Constitution gives federal courts considerable independence from both the Congress and the President. The guarantee that judges shall hold office during "good behavior" means that, unless they are impeached and convicted, they can hold office for life. This protects judges from any threat of dismissal by the President who appointed them, or by any other President during their lifetime. The rule that a judge's salary may not be reduced protects the judge against pressure from Congress, which could otherwise threaten to fix the salary so low that the judge could be forced to resign.

COMMENTARY:
The right of the federal courts to handle "cases arising under this Constitution" is the basis of the Supreme Court's right to declare laws of Congress unconstitutional. This right of "judicial review" was established by Chief Justice John Marshall's historic decision in the case of Marbury v. Madison in 1803.
      The 11th Amendment set aside the phrase "between a state and citizens of another state" and removes from federal courts suits by citizens against a state.

COMMENTARY:
The statement that the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in cases affecting foreign governments and their representatives and in cases to which a state government is one of the parties means that cases of this kind go directly to the Supreme Court. In other cases, the Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction. This means that the cases are tried first in a lower court and may come up to the Supreme Court for review if Congress has authorized an appeal for such kinds of cases. Congress cannot take away or modify the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, but it can take away the right to appeal to that Court or fix the conditions one must meet to present an appeal.

COMMENTARY:
No person can be convicted of treason against the United States unless he or she confesses in open court, or unless two witnesses testify that he or she has committed a treasonable act. Talking or thinking about committing a treasonable act is not treason.

COMMENTARY:
The phrase "no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood" means that the family of a traitor does not share the guilt. Formerly, an offender's family could also be punished.

COMMENTARY:
This section requires the states to honor one another's laws, records, and court rulings.

ARTICLE IV
Section 2

COMMENTARY:
This means that citizens traveling from state to state are entitled to all the privileges and immunities that automatically go to citizens of those states. Some privileges, such as the right to vote, do not automatically go with citizenship, but require a period of residence and perhaps other qualifications. The word "citizen" in this provision does not include corporations.

COMMENTARY:
If a person commits a crime in one state and flees to another state, the governor of the state in which the crime was committed can demand that the fugitive be handed over. The process of returning an accused person is called extradition. In a few cases, a governor has refused to extradite. The governor might do so because the crime was committed many years ago, or because he or she believes the accused would not get a fair trial in the other state.

COMMENTARY:
A "person held to service or labor" was a slave or an indentured servant (a person bound by contract to serve someone for several years). No one is now bound to servitude in the United States, so this part of the Constitution, being superseded by the 13th Amendment, no longer has any force.

COMMENTARY:
New states cannot be formed by dividing or joining existing states without the consent of the state legislatures and Congress. During the Civil War (1861-1865), Virginia fought for the Confederacy, but people in the western part of the state supported the Union. After West Virginia split from Virginia, Congress accepted the new state on the ground that Virginia had rebelled.

COMMENTARY:
This section requires the federal government to make sure that every state has a "republican form of government." A republican government is one in which the people elect representatives to govern. The Supreme Court ruled that Congress, not the courts, must decide whether a state government is republican. If Congress admits a state's Senators and Representatives, that action indicates that Congress considers the state's government republican.
      The legislature or governor of a state can request federal aid in dealing with riots or other internal violence. But the President does not need a state's consent to send federal forces, including military ones, to enforce federal laws. During the Pullman strike of 1894, the federal government sent troops to Illinois even though the state governor did not want them. In 1957 President Eisenhower nationalized the Arkansas National Guard in order to remove it from the command of Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus and sent in the United States Army to help implement the orders of a federal district judge that the Little Rock schools be racially desegregated.

COMMENTARY:
Amendments may be proposed by a two-thirds vote of each house of Congress or by a national convention called by Congress at the request of two-thirds of the states. To become part of the Constitution, amendments must be ratified (approved) by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states or by conventions in three-fourths of the states.
      The framers of the Constitution purposely made it hard to put through an amendment. Congress has considered more than 9,000 amendments, but it has proposed only 33 and submitted them to the states. Of these, only 27 have been ratified. Only one amendment, the 21st, was ratified by state conventions. All the others were ratified by state legislatures.
      The Constitution sets no time limit during which the states must ratify a proposed amendment. But the courts have held that amendments must be ratified within a "reasonable time" and that Congress decides what is reasonable, as it did when it allowed the promulgation of the 27th Amendment on May 7,1992 -- more than 202 years after it was proposed. Since the early 1900s, most proposed amendments have included a requirement that the necessary ratification be obtained within seven years.

COMMENTARY:
This section promises that all debts and obligations made by the United States before the adoption of the Constitution would be honored.

COMMENTARY:
This section, known as the supremacy clause, has been called the linchpin of the Constitution -- that is, the part that keeps the entire structure from falling apart. It means simply that when state laws conflict with national laws, the national laws are superior. It also means that, to be valid, a national law must be in conformity with the Constitution.

COMMENTARY:
This section requires that both federal and state officials give supreme allegiance to the Constitution of the United States rather than to the constitution of any state. This section also forbids any kind of religious test for holding federal office. This provision applies only to the national government, but the 14th Amendment applies the same rule to state and local governments.

Massachusetts
Nathaniel Gorham
Rufus KingConnecticut
Wm. Saml. Johnson
Roger Sherman

New York
Alexander Hamilton New Jersey
Wil: Livingston
David Brearley.
Wm. Paterson.
Jona: Dayton

Pennsylvania
B Franklin
Thomas Mifflin
Robt Morris
Geo. Clymer
Thos. FitzSimons
Jared Ingersoll
James Wilson
Gouv Morris

As shown here, the Bill of Rights originally contained 12 articles, but the states ratified only 10 of them. An original copy of the Bill of Rights is preserved in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Web version: http://www.archives.gov/ national_archives_experience/ charters/bill_of_rights.html (The National Archives)

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

The Bill of Rights
Amendment 1
 
FREEDOM OF RELIGION, SPEECH, AND THE PRESS; RIGHTS OF ASSEMBLY AND PETITION

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.

The Bill of Rights
Amendment 2
 
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.

The Bill of Rights
Amendment 3
 
HOUSING OF SOLDIERS

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.

The Bill of Rights
Amendment 4
 
SEARCH AND ARREST 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.

The Bill of Rights
Amendment 5
 
RIGHTS IN CRIMINAL CASES

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.

The Bill of Rights
Amendment 6
 
RIGHTS TO A FAIR TRIAL

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.

The Bill of Rights
Amendment 7
 
RIGHTS IN CIVIL CASES

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.

The Bill of Rights
Amendment 8
 
BAILS, FINES, AND PUNISHMENTS

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

The Bill of Rights
Amendment 9
 
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.

The Bill of Rights
Amendment 10
 
POWERS RETAINED BY THE STATES AND THE PEOPLE

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 11
 
LAWSUITS AGAINST STATES
 
This amendment was proposed on March 4, 1794, and ratified on February 7, 1795.

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 12
 
ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT
 
This amendment was proposed on December 9, 1803, and ratified on 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 13
 
ABOLITION OF SLAVERY
 
This amendment was proposed on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865.
 
SECTION 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.

Amendment 13
SECTION 2

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

Amendment 14
 
CIVIL RIGHTS
 
This amendment was proposed on June 13,1866, and ratified on 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.

Amendment 14
SECTION 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.

Amendment 14
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.

Amendment 14
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.

Amendment 14
SECTION 5

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

Amendment 15
 
AFRICAN AMERICAN SUFFRAGE
 
This amendment was proposed on February 26, 1869, and ratified on 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.

Amendment 15
SECTION 2

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

Amendment 16
 
INCOME TAXES
 
This amendment was proposed on July 12,1909, and ratified on February 3, 1913.

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

Amendment 17
 
DIRECT ELECTION OF SENATORS
 
This amendment was proposed on May 13, 1912, and ratified on April 8, 1913.

The United States Constitution is unusually difficult to amend.  As spelled out in Article V, the Constitution can be amended in one of two ways.  First, amendment can take place by a vote of two-thirds of both the House of Representatives and the Senate followed by a ratification of three-fourths of the various state legislatures (ratification by thirty-eight states would be required to ratify an amendment today).  This first method of amendment is the only one used to date.  Second, the Constitution might be amended by a Convention called for this purpose by two-thirds of the state legislatures, if the Convention's proposed amendments are later ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures. 

Because any amendment can be blocked by a mere thirteen states withholding approval (in either of their two houses), amendments don't come easy.  In fact, only 27 amendments have been ratified since the Constitution became effective, and ten of those ratifications occurred almost immediately--as the Bill of Rights.  The very difficulty of amending the Constitution greatly increases the importance of Supreme Court decisions interpreting the Constitution, because reversal of the Court's decision by amendment is unlikely except in cases when the public's disagreement is intense and close to unanimous.  Even unpopular Court decisions (such as the Court's protection of flagburning) are likely to stand unless the Court itself changes its collective mind.

The Court has at various times considered the validity of constitutional amendments.  Importantly, the Court has considered the method of proposal and ratification, as well as the constitutionality of the subject matter of the amendment, to be a justiciable--and, therefore, not a "political"--question.  In the Hawke v Smith (1920), for example, the Court upheld Ohio's ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment over objections that the Ohio Constitution provided for a referendum on the issue by voters that might have overridden the Ohio legislature's ratification of the amendment.  The Court concluded that the federal law set for in Article V providing specifically for ratification by state legislatures preempted conflicting state procedures for ratification.  Also, in the National Prohibition Cases (1920), the Court generally upheld the validity of the Eighteenth Amendment, rejecting arguments that a prohibition on the distribution and possession of alcohol was a constitutionally impermissible subject matter for a constitutional amendment.

Two more recent cases included in our readings consider the effect of the Twenty-First Amendment repealing the Eighteenth Amendment.  In the first case, LaRue v California (1972), the Court concludes that the Twenty-First Amendment qualifies the First Amendment, thus allowing states to regulate expression in establishments that serve alcohol, even when such restrictions might violate the First Amendment if applied elsewhere.  In 1996, however, in the 44 Liquormart, Inc. v Rhode Island, the Court disavows its earlier conclusion and makes clear that the Twenty-First Amendment, while it may allow restrictions on alcohol that would otherwise violate the Commerce Clause, in no way qualifies the reach of the First Amendment.  The Court therefore concludes that Rhode Island's restrictions on advertising the price of alcohol violate the First Amendment.

In 2005, in Granholm v Heald, the Court held that Section 2 of the 21st Amendment did not give states the power to discriminate against out-of-state wine sellers in ways that would otherwise violate the Commerce Clause.  Ruling 5 to 4, the Court struck down a Michigan law banning out-of-state wineries from selling wine to Michigan residents over the Internet.  Michigan allowed Michigan wineries to directly ship to consumers, but prohibited non-Michigan wineries from doing the same.  The Court noted, however, that the 21st Amendment clearly gave the state the power to ban ALL direct shipments of wine (or other alcoholic beverages) to consumers if it chose to do so.  Four dissenters argued that the history of the 21st Amendment proved that it was meant to exclude regulation of alcoholic beverages from the normal prohibitions on state discrimination under the Commerce Clause--however misguided that policy might seem today.
 
http://www.usconstitution.net/constam.html