Amendments

Everyone knows the first ten amendments, starting with the basic freedoms, but what about the rest? There are 27 amendments in all, 17 have been added since the first 10.

The following amendments are 17-27:

11th - Makes states immune from suits from out-of-state citizens and foreigners not living within the state borders; lays the foundation for sovereign immunity.

12th - Revises presidential election procedures.

13th - Abolishes slavery, and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.

14th - Defines citizenship, contains the Privileges or Immunities Clause, the Due Process Clause, the Equal Protection Clause, and deals with post-Civil War issues.

15th - Prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

16th - Allows the federal government to collect income tax.

17th - Establishes the direct election of United States Senators by popular vote.

18th - Prohibited the manufacturing or sale of alcohol within the United States.

19th - Prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on sex.

20th - Changes the date on which the terms of the President and Vice President (January 20) and Senators and Representatives (January 3) end and begin.

21st - Repeals the 18th Amendment and prohibits the transportation or importation into the United States of alcohol for delivery or use in violation of applicable laws.

22nd - Limits the number of times that a person can be elected president: a person cannot be elected president more than twice, and a person who has served more than two years of a term to which someone else was elected cannot be elected more than once.

23rd - Grants the District of Columbia electors (the number of electors being equal to the least populous state) in the Electoral College.

24th - Prohibits the revocation of voting rights due to the non-payment of a poll tax.

25th - Addresses succession to the Presidency and establishes procedures both for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, as well as responding to Presidential disabilities.

26th - Prohibits the denial of the right of US citizens, eighteen years of age or older, to vote on account of age.

27th - Delays laws affecting Congressional salary from taking effect until after the next election of representatives.