Article XVI

This article exists because some of the most significant injustices in American history were created or enforced by government itself, and many of their effects continue to be felt today. Rather than assigning blame to individuals for actions taken by previous generations, this article recognizes that the nation has an ongoing responsibility to address lasting harms caused by policies such as slavery, the dispossession of Indigenous peoples, segregation, and other forms of systemic injustice. 

It requires governments to identify and repair enduring structural disadvantages through practical, transparent, and forward-looking solutions while respecting constitutional principles and equal dignity for all people. The article also reaffirms Indigenous sovereignty and treaty obligations, helping ensure that historical commitments made by the United States are honored in good faith.

Section 1 — Constitutional Recognition and Institutional Responsibility

The United States acknowledges that grave injustices have at times been committed under color of law and governmental authority against individuals, communities, and peoples through slavery, dispossession, exclusion, internment, discrimination, forced removal, suppression of rights, and other forms of systemic governmental injustice. 

Among these injustices were the dispossession of Indigenous peoples and the institution of chattel slavery and its legacy of racial subjugation, both of which produced enduring consequences that remain measurable across generations.

The recognition of these historical wrongs does not impose moral guilt or personal culpability upon individuals living in the present. No person shall be deemed individually responsible for acts committed prior to their birth.

The purpose of this Article is not to assign inherited blame, but to strengthen the legitimacy, unity, and moral integrity of the Republic by addressing enduring harms resulting from governmental action.

However, a constitutional rep

ublic bears an ongoing institutional responsibility to confront and address enduring harms resulting from its own historical actions.

The People of the United States, acting through this Constitution, affirm a collective civic duty to pursue good-faith measures designed to repair such harms to the greatest extent reasonably practicable.

Section 2 — Duty of Structural Repair

Congress and the States shall enact and maintain laws reasonably necessary to identify, evaluate, and address enduring structural harms resulting from systemic governmental injustice.

Such efforts shall be guided by principles of good faith, proportionality, practicality, constitutional integrity, transparency, and long-term sustainability.

Measures undertaken pursuant to this Article shall be designed to restore opportunity, strengthen self-determination, repair institutional trust, and promote the equal civic participation of affected communities.

Section 3 — Indigenous Sovereignty and Treaty Obligations

The United States recognizes the continuing sovereignty of federally recognized Indigenous nations and the enduring force and significance of treaty obligations lawfully entered into with them.

Congress and the States shall act in good faith to honor, uphold, and fulfill such obligations consistent with this Constitution.

Nothing in this Article shall be construed to diminish, waive, subordinate, or extinguish Indigenous sovereignty, treaty rights, jurisdictional authority, or rights otherwise recognized under federal law, treaty, or this Constitution.

All actions undertaken pursuant to this Article affecting Indigenous nations shall be conducted consistent with principles of government-to-government consultation and respect for tribal self-determination.

Section 4 — Principles of Remediation

Measures undertaken pursuant to this Article shall be directed toward the repair of enduring structural harms and the restoration of opportunity, dignity, sovereignty, and equitable participation in civic, political, social, and economic life.

Such measures shall be developed through meaningful consultation with affected communities and shall be guided by principles of proportionality, practicality, constitutional integrity, transparency, and long-term sustainability.

Nothing in this Article shall require any particular form of remedy, provided that actions undertaken pursuant to this Article are reasonably directed toward the purposes recognized herein.

Section 5 — Rule of Construction

Nothing in this Article shall be construed to create criminal or civil liability for any individual based solely upon ancestral conduct or historical conditions.

Nothing in this Article shall be construed to impose punitive obligations upon individuals who did not personally participate in unlawful acts or to authorize collective punishment of any population.

Remedial measures undertaken pursuant to this Article shall be forward-looking in character and designed to repair structural conditions rather than assign personal blame.

The provisions of this Article shall be liberally construed to secure their full and meaningful purpose consistent with the principles of justice, equal dignity, national unity, and constitutional self-government.