M MARQUE AND REPRISAL, Congress has Power to grant Letters of, MILITIA, when to be called out, To be Officered by the States, To be Commanded by the President, Their right to keep and bear Arms Secured (Amendments), MONEY, Congress shall have Power to Borrow, Congress to Coin and Regulate Value of, Shall be Drawn from the Treasury only by Appropriate Laws, N NATURALIZATION, Uniform Rules of, 1 1 NOBILITY, Titles of, shall not be Granted by the United States, 8 4 331 8 13-14 332 333 338 The Senators when Sitting to try Impeachment shall be on, OBLIGATION OF CONTRACTS. No State shall pass any Law Impairing the, OFFICERS of the House of Representatives shall be Chosen by the House, ORDERS of one House Requiring the Concurrence of the Other to undergo the P PARDONS, President may Grant, Except in Cases of Impeachment, PERSONS HELD to Service or Labor, their Importation or Immigration into the Escaping from one State to Another shall be Delivered up to those Entitled to Service, PORTS of one State over those of Another, no Preference shall be Given the, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, Vested with the Executive Power, Duties of Electors of, and Manner of Counting Votes for (Amendments), May Appoint to Office with Consent of the Senate, Shall Fill Vacancies Happening during the Recess, Shall Give Information to Congress and Recommend Measures, May Convene both Houses, or Either House, May Adjourn them in Case of Disagreement, Shall Receive Ambassadors and Public Ministers, Shall Take Care that the Laws be Faithfully Executed, PRESS, Fredom of (Amendments), PRIVILEGES and Immunities of Members of Congress, PROHIBITION-(See Liquor.) PROPERTY, Congress to Provide for Care of Public, Shali not be Taken for Public Use without Just Compensation (Amendments). PUNISHMENTS, Cruel and Unusual, Prohibited (Amendments). ......... 68781 834 334 384 334 334 1 334 11228 1 334 334 334 834 334 334 334 334 334 334 334 338 QUALIFICATION FOR OFFICE, no Religious Test shall ever be Required Of the House of Representatives, when Choosing a President (Amend- 12 1 330 339 RACE, Color or Previous Condition of Servitude. The Right of any Citizen to ments), Disability of Persons who have Engaged in (Amendments), RELIGION, or Prohioiting the Free Exercise Thereof, Congress shall make no REPRESENTATIVES, Qualifications of Electors of, Qualifications of, Apportionment of, Compensation of, to be Ascertained by law, Privileged from Arrest, Except in certain Cases, Shall not be Questioned for Speech or Debate in the House, 1 1 1 1 Shall not Serve as Electors of President, 2 338 3 336 334 32S 329 329 341 330 House of, shall be the Judge of the Election and Qualifications of its House of, what shall be a Quorum of the, 5 1 1 330 330 House of, any number of the, may adjourn and Compel the Attendance House of, shall not Adjourn for more than Three Days nor to any Other REPRESENTATION of a State, Vacancies in, Supplied until a new Election by Executive Authority, 1 2 4 329 Undergo the Formalities of Bills, RESOLUTION, Order, or Vote Requiring the Concurrence of both Houses, to REVENUE BILLS to Originate in the House of Representatives, RIGHT of the People to Keep and Bear Arms shall not be Infringed (Amend- RIGHTS of People Reserved (Amendments), Of Petition, Congress shall make no Law Abridging (Amendments). SCIENCE and the Useful Arts to be Encouraged, SEARCHES AND SEIZURES, Security Against (Amendments), SEAT OF GOVERNMENT, Congress shall Exercise Exclusive Legislation over SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES Composed of Two Senators from each 1 3 Vice-President to be President of the, 1 3 Shall Choose its Officers, 1 3 Shall be the Judge of the Election and Qualifications of its Members, 1 1 1 5 5 1 5 May Punish or Expel a Member, 1 Shall Keep a Journal, and Publish the Same, Except Parts Requiring 5 3 330 Shall not Adjourn for more than Three Days, nor to any other place, 1 One-fifth of the, may Require the Yeas and Nays, 1 May Propose Amendments to Bills for Raising Revenue, but such Bill 830 5 3 830 330 330 342 329 330 330 330 333 841 330 SLAVES, their Importation may be Prohibited after 1808, Escaping from one State to Another may be Reclaimed, SLAVERY, Except as a Punishment for Crime, Prohibited (Amendments), ments), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE, how Chosen, STATE, the United States shall Guarantee a Republican Form of Government STATE JUDGES Bound to Consider Treaties, the Constitution and the Laws under it as Supreme, STATES, NEW, may be Admitted into the Union, May be formed within the Jurisdiction of Others, or by the Junction of STATES PROHIBITED FROM Entering into Treaty, Alliance or Confederation. Granting Letters of Marque, Coining Money, ... Emitting Bills of Credit, Making Anything a Tender but Gold and Silver Coin, Passing Bills of Attainder, Ex-Post Facto Laws, or Laws Impairing Con- Entering into any Agreement or Contract with Another State or Foreign Engaging in War, Abridging Right of Citizens of United States to Vote, on Account of SUFFRAGE, Extending the Right of, to Women (Amendments), TAXES, Duties, Imposts and Excises, Congress shall have Power to Lay, TERRITORY, or Other Public Property, Congress may make Rules Concerning,. TONNAGE, no State shall Lay any Duty of, without the Consent of Congress, 13 10 3 31 12172 333 335 Bribery, or Other High Crimes and Misdemeanors. The President and Punishment of, may be prescribed by Congress, Two Witnesses, or Confession Necessary for Conviction of, TREASURY, Money Drawn from, only by Appropriation, And the Constitution the Supreme Law, States Cannot make, V VACANCIES_Happening during the Recess may be Filled Temporarily by the In the Representation of a State. How Filled, VETO OF THE PRESIDENT, Effect of, and proceedings on, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES to be President of the Senate, Shall be Chosen for Four Years, How Elected (Amendments), Right of Citizens to, not to be Abridged on Account of Race or Color Shall in Certain Cases Discharge the Duties of President, VOTE of One House Requiring the Concurrence of the Other, WAR, Congress shall have Power to Declare, No State shall Engage in, without the Consent of Congress, WARRANTS for Searches and Seizures, When and how they shall Issue (Amendments), WITNESS in Criminal Cases, no one Compelled to be a, Against Himself (Amendments), In all Criminal Prosecutions the Accused shall be (This Constitution went into operation on the first Wednesday in March, 1789, 5, Wheat, 420 and is identical, as to spelling, punctuation, and capitalization, with the original document on file at Washington. PREAMBLE. WE THE PEOPLE of the United States. in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this CONSTITUTION for the United States of America. ARTICLE. 1. Legislative Powers Vested in Congress. Section. 1. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. Composition of the House of Representatives. Section. 2. 1. The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerons Branch of the State Legislature. *In May, 1785, a committee of Congress made a report recommending an alteration in the Articles of Confederation, but no action was taken on it, and it was left to the State Legislatures to proceed in the matter. In January, 1786, the Legislature of Virginia passed a resolution providing for the appointment of five commissioners, who, or any three of them, should meet such commissioners as might be appointed in other States of the Union, at a time and place to be agreed upon, to take into consideration the trade of the United States; to consider how far a uniform system in their commercial regulations may be necessary to their common interest and their permanent harmony; and to report to the several States such an act, relative to this great object, as, when ratified by them, will enable the United States in Congress effectually to provide for the same. The Virginia commissioners, after some correspondence, fixed the first Monday in September as the time, and the city of Annapolis as the place for the meeting, but only four States were represented, viz: Delaware, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania; the commissioners appointed by Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Rhode Island failed to attend. Under the circumstances of so partial a representation, the commissioners present agreed upon a report (drawn by Mr. Hamilton, of New York), expressing their unanimous conviction that it might essentially tend to advance the interests of the Union if the States by which they were respectively delegated would concur, and use their endeavors to procure the concurrence of the other States, in the appointment of commissioners to meet at Philadelphia on the second Monday of May following, to take into consideration the situation of the United States; to devise such further provisions as should appear to them necessary to render the Constitution of the Federal Government adequate as the exigencies of the Union, and to report such an act for that purpose to the United States in Congress assembled as, when agreed to by them and afterwards confirmed by the Legislatures of every State, would effectively provide for the same. Congress, on the 21st of February, 1887, adopted a resolution in favor of a convention, and the Legislatures of those States which had not already done so (with the exception of Rhode Island), promptly appointed delegates. On the 25th of May, seven States having convened. George Washington, of Virginia, was unanimously elected President, and the consideration of the proposed constitution was commenced. On the 17th of September, 1787, the Constitution as engrossed and agreed upon was signed by all the members present, except Mr. Gerry, of Massachusetts, and Messrs. Mason and Randolf, of Virginia. The President of the convention transmitted it to Congress, with a resolution stating how the proposed Federal Government should be put in operation, and an explanatory letter. Congress, on the 28th of September, 1787, directed the Constitution so framed, with the resolutions and letter concerning the same, to "he transmitted to the several Legislatures in order to be submitted to a convention of dele gates chosen in each State by the people thereof, in conformity to the resolves of the convention." On the 4th of March, 1789, the day which had been fixed for commencing the operations of Government under the new Constitution, it had been ratified by the convention chosen in each State, to consider it, as follows: Delaware, December 7, 1787; Pennsylvania, December 12. 1787; New Jersey, December 18, 1787; Georgia, January 2, 1788; Connecticut, January 9, 1788; Massachusetts, February 6, 1788; Maryland, April 28, 1788; South Carolina, May 23, 1788: New Hampshire, June 21, 1788; Virginia, June 26, 1788; and New York, July 26, 1788. The President informed Congress, on the 28th of January, 1790, that North Carolina had ratified the Constitution November 21, 1789; and he informed Congress on the 1st of June, 1790, that Rhode Island had ratified the Constitution May 29, 1789. Vermont in convention, ratified the Constitution January 10, 1789, and was, by an act of Congress Approved February 19, 1791, "received and admitted into this Union as a new and entire member of the United States." Qualifications of Representatives. 2. No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty-five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen. Apportionment of Representatives and Direct Taxes-Census. 3. [Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.] The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three. Filling of Vacancies in Representation. 4. When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies. Selection of Officers-Power of Impeachment. 5. The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment. Of the Senate. Section. 3. 1. [The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.] Classification of Senators-Filling of Vacancies. 2. Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shail be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth year, so that one-third may be chosen every second year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies.] Qualifications of Senators. 3. No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen. Vice President to be President of Senate. 4. The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided. Selection of Senate Officers-President pro tempore. 5. The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the office of President of the United States. Senate to Try Impeachments. 6. The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present. The clause included in brackets is amended by the fourteenth amendment, second section. The first paragraph of Section 3, of Article I. and that part of the second paragraph of Section 3, of Article I, included in brackets have been superseded by the seventeenth amendment. (Article XVII.) |