HamCall (October 1991)/HamCall (Whitehall Publishing)(1991).bin/constit/constit.txt

Text File | 1990-10-14 | 46KB | 870 lines

               THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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 blessing of liberty to ourselves
and our posterity, do o rdain and establish the Constitution of the United
States of America.

Article I.

Sect. 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of
the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of
Representatives.

Sect. 2. 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 numerous
branch of the state l egislature.

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.

Representative 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 o 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 the Congress of the United States, and
within every subsequent term of t en years in such manner as they shall be law
direct.  The number of representative 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
choose 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, a nd
Georgia three.

When vacancies happen in the representation from any state, the Executive
authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.

The House of Representatives shall choose the Speaker and other officers; and
shall have the sole power of impeachment.

Sect. 3. 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.

Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first election,
they hall 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 t nd 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.

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, who shall not, when
elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he shall be chosen.

The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but
shall have no vote unless they be equally divided.

The Senate shall choose 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.

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
convicte ut the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present.

Judgement in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from
office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or
profit under the United States; but the party convicted shall nevertheless be
liable and su o indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law.

Sect. 4. The times, places and manner of holding elections for senators and
representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof:
but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except
as to the places of c hoosing Senators.

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall
be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall be law appoint a
different day.

Sect. 5. Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns and
qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a
quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and
may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner,
and under such penalties as each house may provide.

Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for
disorderly behaviour, and with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member.

Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time
publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment require
secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members either house on any question
shall, at the desire of on of those present be entered on the journal.

Neither house, during the session of Congress shall, without the consent of the
other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in
which the two houses shall be sitting.

Sect. 6. The senators and representatives shall receive a compensation for
their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the
United States.  They shall in all cases, except treason, felony and breach of
the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of
their respective houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for
any speech or debate in either house, they shall not be questioned in any other
place.

No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he was elected,
be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States,
which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been
increased during such and no person holding any office under the United States,
shall be a member of either house during his continuance in office.

Sect. 7. All bill for raising revenue shall originate in the house of
representative; but the senate may propose or concur with amendments as on
other bills.

Every bill which shall have passed the house of representatives and the senate,
shall, before it become a law, be presented to the president of the United
States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his
objections t house in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the
objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it.  If after
such reconsideration two-thirds of that house shall agree to pass the bill, it
shall be sent, together with the obje ctions, to the other house, by which is
shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that house, it
shall become a law.  But in all such cases the votes of both houses shall be
determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and
against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively.
If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays
excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law,
in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their adjournment
prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law.

Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the Senate and
House of Representative may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment)
shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the same
shall take eff all be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be
repassed by two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to
the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.


Sect. 8. The Congress shall have power

To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and
provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States; but
all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and
with the Indian tribes;

To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject
of bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the
standard of weights and measures;

To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin
of the United States;

To establish post offices and post roads;

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited
times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings
and discoveries;

To constitute tribunals inferior to the supreme court;

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and
offences against the law of nations;

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning
captures on land and water;

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be
for a longer term than two years;

To provide and maintain a navy;

To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;

To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union,
suppress insurrections and repel invasions.;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for
governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United
States, reserving to the States respectively, the appointment of the officers,
and the authority ning the militia according to the discipline prescribed by
Congress;

To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such district
(not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular States, and
the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United
States, and to e like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the
legislature of the states in which the same shall be, for the erection of
forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings; -And

To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into
execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by the Constitution
in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer
thereof.


Sect. 9. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now
existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress
prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may
be imposed on such i mportation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.

The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when
in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety require it.

No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed.

No capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the
census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.

No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state.  No
preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports
of one state over those of another: nor shall vessels bound to, or from, one
state, be obliged to clear, or pay duties in another.

No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations
made by law; and a regular statement and account of the receipts and
expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time.

No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States:--And no person
holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of
the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind
whatever, from ng, prince, or foreign state.

Sect. 10.  No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation;
grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make
any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill
of attainder, ex post f acto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts,
or grant any title of nobility.

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 im r exports, shall be for the use of the Treasury of the United
States; all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the
Congress.  No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of
tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war in ti me 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.

Sect. 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.

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, o n holding an office of trust or profit under the United
States, shall be appointed an elector.

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 s for each; which list they shall 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 representat ives, 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 su ch majority, and
have am equal number of electors appointed; and if there be more than one who
have such 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 elec tors 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.

The Congress may determine the time of the choosing the electors, and the day
on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout
the United States.

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 atta the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident
within the United States.

In case of the removal of the president from office, or 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 r 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
be elected.

The president shall, at stated times, receive for his services, a compensation,
which shall neither be encreased nor diminished during the period for which he
shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that period any other
emolument he United States, or any of them.

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."


Sect. 2. 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 offic er 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.

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, ot lic 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.

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 session.

Sect. 3. 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 eithe r 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 faithfull y executed, and shall
commission all the officers of the United States.


Sect. 4. 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.

Sect. 1. 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 time, receive for
their services a compensation which shall not be diminished during their
continuance in office.

Sect. 2. 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 rs, 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 S tates, 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 appe urisdiction, 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 pl the Congress may by law have directed.

Sect. 3. 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 r 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 attained.

Article IV

Sect. 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public act,
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 prove d, and the effect thereof.

Sect. 2. 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 S ving 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 uch service or labor may be due.

Sect. 3. 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 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 United States, or of any particular State.

Sect. 4. The United States shall guarantee 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.

The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both House 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 amendment h, 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 ratificatio n 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.

Sect. 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.

Sect. 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 ever y State shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution
or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

Sect. 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 suppor t 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.

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.  In Wit ereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names.

Attest:  William Jackson, Secretary
         George Washington
         PRESIDENT AND DEPUTY FROM VIRGINIA

NEW HAMPSHIRE
John Langdon
Nicholas Gilman

MASSACHUSETTS
Nathaniel Gorham
Rufus King

NEW YORK
Alexander Hamilton

NEW JERSEY
William Livingston
David Brearley
William Paterson
Jonathan Dayton

PENNSYLVANIA
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Mifflin
Robert Morris
George Clymer
Thomas Fitzsimons
Jared Ingersoll
James Wilson
Gouverneur Morris

DELAWARE
George Read
Gunning Bedford, Jr.
John Dickinson
Richard Bassett
Jacob Broom

MARYLAND
James McHenry
Dan of St. Thomas Jennifer
Daniel Carroll

VIRGINIA
John Blair
James Madison, Jr.

NORTH CAROLINA
William Blount
Richard Dobbs Spaight
Hugh Williamson

SOUTH CAROLINA
John Rutledge
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
Charles Pinckney
Pierce Butler

GEORGIA
William Few
Abraham Baldwin

AMENDMENTS

1st Amendment 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 ess of grievances.

2nd Amendment 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.

3rd Amendment No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quarters in any house,
without the consent of the owner; nor in time of war, but in a manner to be
prescribed by law.

4th Amendment 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 part y describing the place to be searched and the
persons or things to be seized.

5th Amendment 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, o c 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.

6th Amendment 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; 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.

7th Amendment 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 of the common law.

8th Amendment Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines
imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted.

9th Amendment The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not
be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

10th Amendment The powers not delegated to 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.

11th Amendment 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.

12th Amendment 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 nt, 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 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 the 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 a majority, then, from
the persons having the highest numbers, not exceeding three, on the list of
those voted for a President, the House of Representative shall choose
immediately, by ballot, the President.  But in choosing the President, the
votes shall be taken by States, the represent ation 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 P
resident, whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, [before the
fourth day of March next following] the Vice President shall act as President,
as in case of death, or other constitutional disability of the President.  The
person having the gre atest 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, form the two highest numbers
on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vic e President; a quorum for the
purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators; a majority
of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice.  But no person
constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to th
at of Vice-President of the United States.

13th Amendment Sect. 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.

Sect. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.

14th Amendment

Sect. 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 privile 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 any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the
laws.

Sect. 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 choi lectors 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.

Sect. 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 ress, 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.

Sect. 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 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.

Sect. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation,
the provisions of this article.

15th Amendment Sect. 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.

Sect. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.

16th Amendment The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on
incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several
States and without regard to any census or enumeration.

17th Amendment The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two
Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for sex years; and
each Senator shall have one vote.  The electors in each State shall have the
qualifications requisite for electors most numerous branch of the State
legislatures.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the
executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such
vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the
executive thereof to ma orary appointment until the people fill the vacancies
by election as the legislature may direct.

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of
any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.

18th Amendment Sect. 1. After one year from the ratification of this article
the manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the
importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and
all territory subject to the ction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby
prohibited.

Sect. 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to
enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Sect. 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified
as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States,
as provided in the Constitution, within seven years of the date of the
submission hereof t tates by Congress.

19th Amendment 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 sex.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

20th Amendment

Sect. 1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the
20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on
the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if
this article been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.

Sect. 2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every years, and such
meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law
appoint a different day.

Sect. 3. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President,
the President-elect shall have died, the Vice President-elect shall become
President.  If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for
the beginnin s term, or if the President-elect shall have failed to qualify,
then the Vice President-elect shall act as President until a President shall
have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein
neither a President-elect nor a Vice Pres ident-elect shall have qualified,
declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to
act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President
or Vice President shall have qualified.

Sect. 4. The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of
the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President
whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of
the death of any persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President
whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.

Sect. 5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October
following the ratification of this article.

Sect. 6. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified
as an amendment to the Constitution by three-fourths of the several States
within seven years from the date of its submission.


21st Amendment

Sect. 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United
States is hereby repealed.

Sect. 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or
possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating
liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

Sect. 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified
as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as
provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the
submission hereof to t es by the Congress.

22d Amendment

Sect. 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than
twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as
President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was
elected President shall cted to the office of the President more than once.
But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President
when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any
person who may be holding the office of President , or acting as President,
during the term within which his Article becomes operative from holding the
office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

Sect. 2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified
as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the
several states within seven years from the date of its submission to the States
by the Co

23rd Amendment

Sect. 1. The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States
shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct:

A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number
of Senators and Representative in Congress to which the District would be
entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least populous
State; they shall be ered, for the purposes of the election of President and
Vice President, to be electors appointed by a State; and they shall meet in the
District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of
amendment.

Sect. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.

24th Amendment

Sect. 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or
other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or
Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be
denied or abridg he United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any
poll tax or other tax.

Sect. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.

25th Amendment

Sect. 1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or
resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

Sect. 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the
President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon
confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

Sect. 3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the
Senate and the Speakers of the House of Representatives his written declaration
that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until
he transmit em a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties
shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.

Sect. 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal
officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by
law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the
Speaker of the Hous presentatives their written declaration that the President
is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President
shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting
President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the
Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration
that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office
unless the Vi ident and a majority of either the principal officers of the
executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide,
transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the
Speaker of the House of Representatives th eir written declaration that the
President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.
Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours
for that purpose if not in session.  If the Congress, within twenty-one days
after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both
Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his
office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting
President; otherwise , the President shall resume the powers and duties of his
office.

26th Amendment

Sect. 1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of
age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or
by any State on account of age.

Sect. 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.