1. "No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation;
grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit;
make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts,
pass any bill of attainder, _ex post facto_ law, or law impairing the
obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility."
2. "No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any
imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely
necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net produce of all
duties and imposts, laid by any State on imports or exports, shall be
for the use of the treasury of the United States; and all such laws
shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress."
3. "No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of
tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war, in time of peace, enter into any
agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign power, or
engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as
will not admit of delay."
ARTICLE II.
THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.
Section I.--President and Vice-President.
1. "The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United
States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four
years, and together with the Vice-President, chosen for the same term,
be elected as follows:
2. "Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof
may direct, a number of Electors, equal to the whole number of Senators
and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress:
but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust
or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector."
3. "[3]The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by
ballot for two persons, of whom one, at least, shall not be an
inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a
list of all the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each;
which list they sign and certify, and transmit, sealed, to the seat of
the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the
Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the
Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the
votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of
votes shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole
number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have
such a majority, and have an equal number of votes, then the House of
Representatives shall immediately choose, by ballot, one of them for
President; and if no person have a majority, then, from the five
highest on the list, the said House shall, in like manner, choose the
President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by
States, the representation from each State having one vote; a quorum
for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds
of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a
choice. In every case, after the choice of the President, the person
having the greatest number of votes of the Electors shall be the
Vice-President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal
votes, the Senate shall choose from them, by ballot, the
Vice-president."
4. "The Congress may determine the time of choosing the Electors, and
the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the
same throughout the United States."
5. "No person, except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the
United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall
be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be
eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of
thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United
States."
6. "In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his
death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of
the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-president, and the
Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death,
resignation, or inability both of the President and Vice-president,
declaring what officer shall then act as President, and such officer
shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President
shall be elected."
7. "The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services, a
compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during
the period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not
receive within that period any other emolument from the United States,
or any of them."
8. "Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the
following oath or affirmation: 'I do solemnly swear (or affirm), that I
will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States,
and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the
Constitution of the United States.'"
Section II.--Powers of the President.
1. "The President shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of
the United States, and of the militia of the several States, when
called into the actual service of the United States; he may require the
opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive
departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their
respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and
pardons for offences against the United States, except in cases of
impeachment."
2. "He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present
concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent
of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers, and
consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the
United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided
for, and which shall be established by law: but the Congress may by law
vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper,
in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of
Departments."
3. "The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may
happen, during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions, which
shall expire at the end of their next session."
Section III.--Duties of the President.
"He shall, from time to time, give to the Congress information of the
state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures
as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary
occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in case of
disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he
may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall
receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that
the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers
of the United States."
Section IV.--Impeachment of the President.
"The President, Vice-president, and all civil officers of the United
States, shall be removed from office, on impeachment for, and
conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."
ARTICLE III.
JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT.
Section I.--United States Courts.
"The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme
Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may, from time to
time, ordain and establish. The judges, both of the Supreme and
inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and
shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation,
which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office."
Section II.--Jurisdiction of the United States Courts.
1. "The Judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity,
arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and
treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority; to all
cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls; to
all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to
which the United States shall be a party; to controversies between two
or more States; between a State and citizens of another State, between
citizens of different States, between citizens of the same State,
claiming lands under grants of different States, and between a State,
or the citizens thereof, and foreign States, citizens, or subjects."
2. "In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and
consuls, and those in which a State shall be a party, the Supreme Court
shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before
mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as
to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations, as
the Congress shall make."
3. "The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be
by jury; and such trial shall be held in the State where the said
crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any
State, the trial shall be at such place, or places, as the Congress may
by law have directed."
Section III.--Treason.
1. "Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war
against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and
Comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the
testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in
open court."
2. "The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason,
but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or
forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted."
ARTICLE IV.
Section I.--State Records.
"Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public acts,
records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. And the
Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts,
records, and proceedings shall be proved and the effect thereof."
Section II.--Privileges of Citizens.
1. "The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and
immunities of citizens in the several States."
2. "A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime,
who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State, shall, on
demand of the executive authority of the State from which he fled, be
delivered up, to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the
crime."
3. "No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws
thereof, escaping into another, shall in consequence of any law or
regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall
be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may
be due."
Section III.--New States and Territories.
1. "New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no
new State shall be formed, or erected, within the jurisdiction of any
other State; nor any State be formed, by the junction of two or more
States, or parts of States, without the consent of the Legislatures of
the States concerned, as well as of the Congress."
2. "The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful
rules and regulations respecting the territory, or other property,
belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall
be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of
any particular State."
Section IV.--Guarantee to the States.
"The United States shall guaranty to every State in this Union a
republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against
invasion; and, on application of the Legislature, or of the executive
(when the Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic violence."
ARTICLE V.
POWER OF AMENDMENT.
"The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it
necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the
application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States,
shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either
case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this
Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the
several States, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one
or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress;
Provided, that no amendment, which may be made prior to the year one
thousand eight hundred and eight, shall, in any manner, affect the
first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and
that no State, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal
suffrage in the Senate."
ARTICLE VI.
PUBLIC DEBT, SUPREMACY OF THE CONSTITUTION, OATH OF OFFICE, RELIGIOUS
TEST.
1. "All debts contracted, and engagements entered into, before the
adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United
States, under this Constitution, as under the Confederation."
2. "This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be
made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be
made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme
law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby,
anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary
notwithstanding."
3. "The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members
of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial
officers, both of the United States, and of the several States, shall
be bound, by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no
religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office
or public trust under the United States."
ARTICLE VII.
RATIFICATION OF THE CONSTITUTION.
"The ratification of the Conventions of nine States shall be sufficient
for the establishment of this Constitution between the States so
ratifying the same."
Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the States present, the
seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord, one thousand
seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the twelfth.
AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION.
ARTICLES IN ADDITION TO, AND AMENDMENT OF, THE CONSTITUTION OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.[4]
_Proposed by Congress and ratified by the Legislatures of the several
States, pursuant to the fifth article of the original Constitution_.
Article I.--Freedom of Religion, etc.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to
assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Article II.--Right to Bear Arms.
"A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free
State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be
infringed."
Article III.--Quartering Soldiers on Citizens.
"No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house, without
the consent of the owner; nor, in time of war, but in a manner to be
prescribed by law."
Article IV.--Search-Warrants.
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers,
and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be
violated; and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause,
supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place
to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
Article V.--Trial for Crime, etc.
"No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous
crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in
cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in
actual service, in time of war, or public danger; nor shall any person
be subject, for the same offence, to be twice put in jeopardy of life
or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case, to be a witness
against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without
due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use,
without just compensation."
Article VI.--Rights of Accused Persons.
"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a
speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district
wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have
been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature
and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses
against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his
favor; and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence."
Article VII.--Suits at Common Law.
"In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed
twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved; and no
fact, tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of
the United States, than according to the rules of the common law."
Article VIII.--Excessive Bail.
"Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor
cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."
Article IX.--Rights Retained by the People.
"The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be
construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."
Article X.---Reserved Powers of the States.
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States
respectively, or to the people."
Article XI.
"The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to
extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against
one of the United States by citizens of another State, or by citizens
or subjects of any foreign State."[5]
Article XII.--Mode of Choosing the President and Vice-president.
1. "The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by
ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall
not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves; they shall name
in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct
ballots the person voted for as Vice-president; and they shall make
distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all
persons voted for as Vice-president, and of the number of votes for
each, which lists they shall sign, and certify, and transmit, sealed,
to the seat of government of the United States, directed to the
President of the Senate; the President of the Senate shall, in the
presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the
certificates, and the votes shall then be counted; the person having
the greatest number of votes for President shall be the President, if
such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed;
and if no person have such majority, then, from the persons having the
highest numbers, not exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as
President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by
ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall
be taken by States, the representation from each State having one vote;
a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from
two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be
necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not
choose a President, whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon
them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the
Vice-president shall act as President, and in case of the death, or
other constitutional disability, of the President."
2. "The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-president
shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole
number of Electors appointed; and if no person have a majority, then,
from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the
Vice-president; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of
the whole number of Senators; and a majority of the whole number shall
be necessary to a choice."
3. "But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of
President, shall be eligible to that of Vice-president of the United
States."
Article XIII.--Abolition of Slavery.
1. "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment
for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall
exist within the United States or any place subject to their
jurisdiction."
2. "Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation."
Article XIV.--Right of Citizenship, etc.
1. "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject
to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of
the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law
which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the
United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty,
or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within
its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
2. "Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States
according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of
persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right
to vote at any election for the choice of Electors for President and
Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the
executive and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the
Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such
State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United
States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion
or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in
the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the
whole number of male citizens, twenty-one years of age, in such State."
3. "No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or
Elector of President and Vice-president, or hold any office, civil or
military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having
previously taken an oath as a member of Congress, or as an officer of
the United States, or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an
executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution
of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion
against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But
Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such
disability."
4. "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by
law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for
services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be
questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume
or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or
rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or
emancipation of any slave, but all such debts, obligations, and claims
shall be held illegal and void."
5. "The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate
legislation, the provisions of this article."
Article XV.--Right of Suffrage.
1. "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
race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
2. "The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation."
[1]The Articles of Confederation proved by experience inadequate to the
wants of the people of the United States, and they were supplanted by
the Constitution.
"The American Constitution, with its manifest defects, still remains
one of the most abiding monuments of human wisdom, and it has received
a tribute to its general excellence such as no other political system
was ever honored with."--FREEMAN.
[2]This clause has been superseded by Amendment XIV., Sect. 2.
[3]This clause has been amended and superseded by the Twelfth Amendment
to the Constitution. By the provisions of the original clause the
person in the electoral college having the greatest number of votes
(provided he had a majority of the whole number of electors appointed)
became President, and the person having the next greatest number of
votes became Vice-president, thus giving the Presidency to one
political party and the Vice-Presidency to another. In the year 1800
the Democratic Republicans determined to elect Thomas Jefferson
President and Aaron Burr Vice-president. The result was that each
secured an equal number of votes, and neither was elected. The
Constitution then, as now, provided that in case the electoral college
failed to elect a President, the House of Representatives, voting as
States, should elect. The Federalists distrusted and disliked
Jefferson; the Democratic Republicans and some of the Federalists
distrusted and disliked Burr. The vote in the House on the
thirty-sixth ballot gave the Presidency to Jefferson and the
Vice-Presidency to Burr. In order to prevent a repetition of so
dangerous a struggle, the Twelfth Amendment, by which the electoral
votes are cast separately for the candidates for President and for
Vice-President, was proposed by Congress Dec. 12, 1803, and declared in
force Sept. 25, 1804.
[4]More than seven hundred amendments to the Constitution have been
proposed since it was adopted. Several are usually proposed at each
session of Congress.
The first twelve articles of amendment to the Federal Constitution were
adopted so soon after the original organization of the Government under
it in 1789 as to justify the statement that they were practically
contemporaneous with the adoption of the original (JUSTICE MILLER, _U.
S. Supreme Court_).
[5]In the case of Chisholm _vs_. The State of Georgia, the Supreme
Court decided that under Article III., Section 2, of the Constitution a
private citizen of a State might bring suit against a State other than
the one of which he was a citizen. This decision, by which a State
might be brought as defendant before the bar of a Federal court, was
highly displeasing to the majority of the States in 1794. On the 5th
of March of that year the Eleventh Amendment was passed by two-thirds
of both houses of Congress, and declared in force January 8, 1798.
Practically, the amendment has been the authority for the repudiation
of debts by several States.