The Sixteenth through Twenty-First
Amendments: 1913-1933

Amendment XVI
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.

Proposed by Congress July 12, 1909; ratification completed February 3 and declared
February 25, 1913.

Amendment XVII
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State,
elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The
electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most
numerous branch of the State legislatures.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive
authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the
legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments
until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator
chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution. Proposed by Congress
May 13, 1912; ratification completed April 8 and declared May 31, 1913.

Amendment XVIII
SECTION 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or
transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation
thereof from the United States and all territory subject to jurisdiction thereof for beverage
purposes is hereby prohibited.

SECTION 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this
article by appropriate legislation.

SECTION 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an
amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the
Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the
Congress.

Proposed by Congress December 18, 1917; ratification completed January 16 and declared
January 29, 1919.

Amendment XIX
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 shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Proposed by Congress June 4, 1919; ratification completed August 18 and declared
August 26, 1920.

Amendment XX
SECTION 1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day
of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January,
of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and
the terms of their successors shall then begin.

SECTION 2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall
begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.

SECTION 3. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the
President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President. If a
President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or
if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as
President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the
case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified,
declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be
selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have
qualified.

SECTION 4. The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the
persons for whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever the right of
choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the death of any of the persons
from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President whenever the right of choice shall have
devolved upon them.

SECTION 5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October following the
ratification of this article.

SECTION 6. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an
amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several, States
within seven years from the date of its submission. Proposed by Congress March 2, 1932;
ratification completed January 23 and declared February 6, 1933.

Amendment XXI
SECTION 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is
hereby repealed.

SECTION 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the
United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws
thereof, is hereby prohibited.

SECTION 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an
amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the
Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the
Congress.

Proposed by Congress February 20, 1933; ratification completed and declared
December 5, 1933