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  • 2017-01-31 (xsd:date)
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  • Did President Trump Alter the United States Constitution? (en)
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  • On 30 January 2017, a rumor started circulating on social media that United States President Donald Trump had rewritten the United States Constitution, changing the words people or persons to the word citizens: As evidence of this change, two images were presented. One purported to show the text of the Constitution as it appears on WhiteHouse.gov, and the other showed the text as it appears on ConstitutionUS.com: The images are both real, but the conclusion that Trump and his administration have changed the text of the Bill of Rights is false. The text on the left from WhiteHouse.gov is not a reproduction of the Bill of Rights; it is a summary. The White House did use informal language to explain the purpose of each amendment. but it did not simply swap the word person for citizen. Rather, they summarized each amendment, making them easier to read and understand. For example, here is the text of the Fourth Amendment: By comparison, here is how it appeared on WhiteHouse.gov (changes bolded): These summaries are not new, and are not a creation of the Trump administration; they first appeared on WhiteHouse.gov during President Obama's administration. Here is a comparison of how the Constitution appeared on WhiteHouse.gov with Trump in office, and how it appeared on the web site (archived at ObamaWhiteHouse.gov) when Obama was in office: It is true that the White House web site uses the word citizens instead of persons on its page summarizing the Constitution. However, this page contains a summary of the Bill of Rights, not a verbatim reproduction, and appeared on the government web site during President Obama's administration. (en)
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