The Constitution is the foundation of American government.
Here we explain its parts in plain language — what each section actually says, how the courts have interpreted it, and why it still matters today.
Twelfth Amendment
Text
(Condensed formatting, full substance preserved.) Electors meet in their states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, naming persons for each office; they make separate lists signed and certified to the President of the Senate. The House chooses the President from the top three (one vote per state) if no majority; the Senate chooses the Vice-President from the top two if no majority. No person constitutionally ineligible to be President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President.
Thirteenth Amendment
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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.” Section 2. “Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
Plain English
Abolishes slavery and allows Congress to enforce that ban.
Fourteenth Amendment
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Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the U.S. are citizens; no state shall abridge the privileges or immunities of U.S. citizens; nor deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Section 2. (Apportionment rules).
Section 3. (Bars certain former rebels from office unless Congress removes the disability).
Section 4. (Public debt validity; no payment for rebellion or loss of slaves).
Section 5. Congress may enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Fifteenth Amendment
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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.” Section 2. Congress may enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Plain English
Bans voting discrimination based on race, and lets Congress enforce that.
Sixteenth Amendment
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“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.”
Plain English
Authorizes the federal income tax.
Seventeenth Amendment
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(Condensed formatting, full substance preserved.) Establishes direct election of U.S. Senators by the people of each State; provides for vacancies by special election or temporary appointments as state law directs.
Plain English
People elect Senators directly; states can set temporary appointments and specials for vacancies.
Eighteenth Amendment (Repealed)
Text
Prohibited manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors (later repealed by the Twenty-First Amendment).
Plain English
Started national Prohibition; later undone by the 21st Amendment.
Nineteenth Amendment
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“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 may enforce by legislation.
Plain English
Guarantees women’s right to vote.
Twentieth Amendment
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(Condensed formatting, full substance preserved.) Moves Presidential and Vice-Presidential terms to January 20, and Congressional terms to January 3; provides rules for when a President-elect dies or fails to qualify; addresses “lame duck” sessions.
Plain English
Changes start dates for terms and sets backup rules for President-elect problems.
Twenty-First Amendment
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Section 1. Repeals the Eighteenth Amendment.
Section 2. Allows states to regulate alcohol importation.
Section 3. Ratification details.
Plain English
Ends Prohibition and lets states control alcohol rules.
Twenty-Second Amendment
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“No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice…” (also limits a successor who serves more than two years of another’s term to one election).
Plain English
Limits Presidents to two elections (with a partial-term rule).
Twenty-Third Amendment
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Gives the District of Columbia electors for President and Vice-President as if it were a state (but no more than the least populous state).
Plain English
DC gets Electoral College votes.