AP Gov Required Amendments 2026

1st Amendment

Protects five fundamental freedoms: freedom of religion (free exercise and establishment clause), freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of peaceful assembly, and the right to petition the government.

2nd Amendment

Protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms; often debated in the context of individual rights vs. state militias.

3rd Amendment

Prohibits the government from forcing citizens to quarter (house) soldiers in their homes without consent during peacetime.

4th Amendment

Protects against unreasonable searches and seizures; requires law enforcement to obtain a warrant supported by probable cause before searching persons or property.

5th Amendment

Guarantees the right to a grand jury for serious crimes, protects against double jeopardy (being tried twice for the same crime), protects against self-incrimination ("pleading the fifth"), guarantees due process of law, and protects against government taking private property without just compensation (eminent domain).

6th Amendment

Guarantees the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury, the right to be informed of charges, the right to confront witnesses, and the right to an attorney (right to counsel).

7th Amendment

Guarantees the right to a jury trial in federal civil cases involving more than $20 in controversy.

8th Amendment

Prohibits excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishment.

9th Amendment

States that the enumeration of certain rights in the Constitution does not mean that other rights retained by the people are denied or disparaged; protects unenumerated rights.

10th Amendment

Reserves all powers not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution, nor prohibited to the states, to the states or to the people (federalism / reserved powers).

13th Amendment

Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime, throughout the United States (ratified 1865 after the Civil War).

14th Amendment

Granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. (overturning Dred Scott); includes the Due Process Clause and Equal Protection Clause, which apply the Bill of Rights to the states through incorporation (ratified 1868).

15th Amendment

Prohibited the federal government and states from denying a citizen the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude (ratified 1870; part of Reconstruction Amendments).

16th Amendment

Granted Congress the power to levy a federal income tax without apportioning it among the states based on population (ratified 1913).

17th Amendment

Established the direct election of U.S. Senators by popular vote of each state's citizens, replacing the previous system of election by state legislatures (ratified 1913).

19th Amendment

Prohibited the federal government and states from denying the right to vote to citizens on the basis of sex, effectively granting women's suffrage (ratified 1920).

24th Amendment

Abolished the poll tax as a requirement for voting in federal elections, removing a barrier that had disenfranchised many poor and Black voters (ratified 1964).

26th Amendment

Lowered the national voting age from 21 to 18 years old, partly in response to Vietnam War-era arguments that those old enough to be drafted should be allowed to vote (ratified 1971).