The U.S. Constitution has been amended 27 times since it was ratified in 1788. The first ten amendments, known collectively as the Bill of Rights, were ratified together in 1791 and protect individual freedoms like speech, religion, and fair trials. The remaining seventeen, adopted between 1795 and 1992, cover subjects ranging from abolishing slavery and expanding voting rights to authorizing the federal income tax and limiting presidential terms. What follows is a complete list of all the amendments to the U.S. Constitution, in order, with what each one does.
The Bill of Rights (Amendments 1–10)
All ten were ratified on December 15, 1791, in response to concerns that the original Constitution did not do enough to protect individual liberties from federal overreach.1National Archives. Bill of Rights (1791)
First Amendment
Bars the government from establishing an official religion or interfering with religious practice. Protects freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to assemble peacefully, and the right to petition the government.2Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – First Amendment
Second Amendment
Protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms, framed alongside a reference to a well-regulated militia.3Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Second Amendment In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the Supreme Court confirmed this as an individual right, and in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen (2022) it held that firearm regulations must be consistent with the historical tradition of firearm regulation in the United States.
Third Amendment
Prohibits the government from housing soldiers in private homes during peacetime without the owner’s consent. In wartime, quartering is permitted only as prescribed by law.4Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Third Amendment
Fourth Amendment
Protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. Law enforcement generally needs a warrant backed by probable cause.5Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Fourth Amendment The Court extended this to digital life in Riley v. California (2014), which required a warrant to search a cell phone, and Carpenter v. United States (2018), which required a warrant to access weeks of historical cell-tower location data.
Fifth Amendment
Requires a grand jury indictment before someone can be tried for a serious federal crime, bans trying a person twice for the same offense, and protects against forced self-incrimination.6Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Fifth Amendment It also guarantees that no one loses life, liberty, or property without due process, and that private property taken for public use comes with fair compensation. The Miranda warning flows from this amendment’s self-incrimination clause combined with the Sixth Amendment’s right to counsel.
Sixth Amendment
Guarantees rights for criminal defendants: a speedy and public trial before an impartial jury, notice of the charges, the right to confront witnesses, and the right to a lawyer.7Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Sixth Amendment In Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), the Supreme Court ruled that states must provide a free attorney to defendants who cannot afford one.
Seventh Amendment
Preserves the right to a jury trial in federal civil cases where the amount in dispute exceeds twenty dollars, a threshold that has never been adjusted for inflation. It also prevents courts from overturning a jury’s factual findings except through the established rules of common law.8Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Seventh Amendment
Eighth Amendment
Forbids excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishments.9Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Eighth Amendment Courts use it to evaluate whether a sentence is disproportionate to the crime, and it is central to legal challenges involving the death penalty and prison conditions.
Ninth Amendment
Makes clear that the rights listed in the Constitution are not the only rights people hold. A right not spelled out is not therefore denied.10Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Ninth Amendment
Tenth Amendment
Reserves all powers not granted to the federal government to the states or to the people.11Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Tenth Amendment The Supreme Court’s “anti-commandeering doctrine,” which prevents the federal government from forcing state officials to carry out federal law, rests on this amendment.
Amendments 11 and 12
Eleventh Amendment (1795)
Bars federal courts from hearing lawsuits brought against a state by citizens of a different state or by citizens of a foreign country.12Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Eleventh Amendment It was a direct reaction to Chisholm v. Georgia (1793), in which the Supreme Court allowed a South Carolina citizen to sue Georgia in federal court.
Twelfth Amendment (1804)
Fixed a flaw in the original Electoral College. Under the original rules, each elector cast two votes without distinguishing between president and vice president, which produced a tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr in 1800 and threw the election to the House for a 36-ballot tiebreaker.13Library of Congress. Creating the United States – Election of 1800 The Twelfth Amendment now requires electors to cast separate ballots for president and vice president.14Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Twelfth Amendment
The Reconstruction Amendments (13–15)
Ratified between 1865 and 1870, these amendments dismantled the legal framework of slavery, redefined citizenship, and extended voting rights regardless of race.15Congress.gov. Civil War Amendments (Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth)
Thirteenth Amendment (1865)
Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude throughout the United States, with one exception: forced labor is still permitted as punishment for a crime after conviction.16Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Thirteenth Amendment
Fourteenth Amendment (1868)
Grants citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States and prohibits states from denying anyone equal protection of the laws or depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process.17Congress.gov. Fourteenth Amendment The due process clause is the vehicle the Supreme Court has used to apply most of the Bill of Rights to state governments. Section 3 also bars anyone who previously swore an oath to support the Constitution and then engaged in insurrection from holding federal or state office, unless two-thirds of both chambers of Congress vote to remove the disqualification.18Congress.gov. Section 3 – Disqualification from Holding Office
Fifteenth Amendment (1870)
Prohibits denying or restricting the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.19Congress.gov. Fifteenth Amendment Many states circumvented it for nearly a century through poll taxes, literacy tests, and other barriers, and it took later amendments and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to make the promise real for many citizens.
The Progressive Era Amendments (16–19)
Sixteenth Amendment (1913)
Gave Congress the power to tax income without dividing the tax proportionally among the states based on population.20Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Sixteenth Amendment Before this amendment, the Supreme Court had struck down a federal income tax as unconstitutional.
Seventeenth Amendment (1913)
Handed the election of U.S. senators to voters through direct popular election. State legislatures had chosen senators until then.21Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Seventeenth Amendment
Eighteenth Amendment (1919)
Banned the production, sale, and transportation of alcohol nationwide.22Congress.gov. Eighteenth Amendment Prohibition lasted 14 years and is the only amendment ever repealed by a later amendment.
Nineteenth Amendment (1920)
Prohibits the government from denying the right to vote on the basis of sex, securing women’s suffrage nationwide.23Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Nineteenth Amendment
Amendments 20–27
Twentieth Amendment (1933)
Moved Inauguration Day from March 4 to January 20 and set January 3 as the start date for new congressional terms.24Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Twentieth Amendment The prior four-month gap between election and swearing-in had produced long “lame duck” periods.
Twenty-First Amendment (1933)
Repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, ending national Prohibition, and gave individual states the authority to regulate alcohol within their borders.25Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Twenty-First Amendment It is the only amendment ratified through state conventions rather than state legislatures.
Twenty-Second Amendment (1951)
Limits the presidency to two elected terms. A person who serves more than two years of another president’s remaining term can be elected only once on their own, putting the theoretical maximum at roughly ten years in office.26Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Twenty-Second Amendment It was a reaction to Franklin D. Roosevelt winning four consecutive elections.
Twenty-Third Amendment (1961)
Gave residents of Washington, D.C. the right to vote in presidential elections. The District receives a number of Electoral College votes equal to what it would get as a state, but no more than the least populous state, which in practice means three.27Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Twenty-Third Amendment D.C. residents still have no voting representation in Congress.
Twenty-Fourth Amendment (1964)
Banned poll taxes in federal elections. These fees had been used, primarily in southern states, to keep low-income citizens and Black voters from the polls.28Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Twenty-Fourth Amendment
Twenty-Fifth Amendment (1967)
Spells out what happens when a president dies, resigns, or becomes unable to serve. Section 1 confirms that the vice president becomes president (not merely acting president) upon the president’s death or resignation. Section 2 allows the president to fill a vice-presidential vacancy by nominating someone who must be confirmed by a majority of both chambers of Congress. Section 3 lets a president voluntarily hand powers to the vice president by written notice to congressional leaders, a provision presidents have used during medical procedures. Section 4 allows the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare the president unable to serve, transferring power immediately; if the president disputes the declaration, Congress has 21 days to decide the matter by a two-thirds vote of both chambers.29Congress.gov. Overview of Twenty-Fifth Amendment, Presidential Vacancy and Disability Section 4 has never been invoked.30Congress.gov. The Twenty-Fifth Amendment: Sections 3 and 4
Twenty-Sixth Amendment (1971)
Lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 for all elections.31Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Twenty-Sixth Amendment The Vietnam War draft drove the change: 18-year-olds could be sent to war but could not vote.
Twenty-Seventh Amendment (1992)
Prevents members of Congress from giving themselves an immediate pay raise. Any change to congressional compensation cannot take effect until after the next election of Representatives.32Congress.gov. Twenty-Seventh Amendment It was originally proposed in 1789 alongside what became the Bill of Rights and sat pending for 203 years before enough states ratified it.33Congress.gov. Congressional Deadlines for Ratification of an Amendment
How an Amendment Gets Added
Article V of the Constitution lays out two paths. The common method requires two-thirds of both the House and Senate to approve a proposal.34Congress.gov. ArtV.1 Overview of Article V, Amending the Constitution The second, never successfully used, allows two-thirds of state legislatures to call a convention for proposing amendments.35National Archives. Article V, U.S. Constitution
After a proposal clears one of those steps, three-fourths of the states must ratify it. Congress decides whether ratification runs through state legislatures or special state conventions, and Congress can set a deadline. The Supreme Court upheld that power in Dillon v. Gloss (1921).33Congress.gov. Congressional Deadlines for Ratification of an Amendment When Congress sets no deadline, a proposal can sit pending indefinitely, which is how the Twenty-Seventh Amendment was ratified more than 200 years after it was first proposed.
How the Bill of Rights Reaches State Governments
When the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791, it restricted only the federal government. A state could, in theory, limit speech or conduct searches without probable cause without violating the Constitution. That changed with the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee that no state can deprive anyone of liberty without due process.17Congress.gov. Fourteenth Amendment
Starting in the 1920s, the Supreme Court began using that clause to apply individual Bill of Rights protections to state governments one provision at a time, a process legal scholars call selective incorporation. Landmark cases along the way include Gitlow v. New York (1925) for free speech, Near v. Minnesota (1931) for freedom of the press, Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940) for free exercise of religion, Mapp v. Ohio (1961) for search and seizure, Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) for the right to counsel, Malloy v. Hogan (1964) for the protection against self-incrimination, and McDonald v. Chicago (2010) for the right to bear arms.
Almost every protection in the Bill of Rights now applies to state and local governments. The main holdouts are the Third Amendment’s quartering restriction, the Seventh Amendment’s right to a civil jury trial, and the Fifth Amendment’s grand jury requirement.36Legal Information Institute. Incorporation Doctrine Most states independently provide these protections through their own constitutions.