NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #1/NN_1993_1.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/9914

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From: [e-mail] (Brad Pierce)
Subject: Declaration of Independence and US Constitution
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US Declaration of Independence and US Constitution

Declaration of Independence

(Adopted in Congress 4 July 1776)

The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America

   When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one
   people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with
   another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate
   and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God
   entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that
   they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

   We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
   equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
   rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
   That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men,
   deriving their just powers form the consent of the governed. That
   whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is
   the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new
   government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its
   powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their
   safety and happiness.  Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments
   long established should not be changed for light and transient causes;
   and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more
   disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by
   abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.  But when a long
   train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object
   evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their
   right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new
   guards for their future security.  --Such has been the patient sufferance
   of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them
   to alter their former systems of government.  The history of the present
   King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations,
   all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over
   these states.  To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

   He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary
   for the public good.

   He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and
   pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent
   should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to
   attend to them.

   He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large
   districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of
   representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and
   formidable to tyrants only.

   He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortabe,
   and distant from the depository of their public records, for the
   sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

   He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with
   manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

   He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others
   to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation,
   have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state
   remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from
   without, and convulsions within.

   He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that
   purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing
   to pass others to encourage their migration hither,  and rasising the
   conditions of new appropriations of lands.

   He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent
   to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

   He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of
   their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

   He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of
   officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

   He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the
   consent of our legislature.

   He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to
   civil power.

   He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to
   our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to
   their acts of pretended legislation:

   For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

   For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders
   which  they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:

   For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

   For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

   For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:

   For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:

   For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring
   province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging
   its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for
   introducing the same absolute rule in these colonies:

   For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and
   altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:

   For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves
   invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

   He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his
   protection and waging war against us.

   He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns,
   and destroyed the lives of our people.

   He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to
   complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun
   with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the
   most barbarous ages, and totaly unworth the head of a civilized
   nation.

   He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas
   to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their
   friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

   He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored
   to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian
   savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction
   of all ages, sexes and conditions.

   In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in
   the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered
   only by repeated injury.  A prince, whose character is thus marked by
   every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free
   people.

   Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren.  We
   have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to
   extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us.  We have reminded them
   of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here.  We have
   appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have
   conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these
   usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and
   correspondence.  We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which
   denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of
   mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

   We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in
   General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the
   world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the
   authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and
   declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and
   independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the
   British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the
   state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolbed; and that as
   free and independent states, they have full power to levey war, conclude
   peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts
   and things which independent states may of right do.  And for the support
   of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine
   Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes
   and our sacred honor.

---------

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 defense, promote the general welfare, and
   secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do
   ordain 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 legislature.
   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 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 the 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 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, and
   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 shall 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.


   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 convicted
   without 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 subject to
   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
   choosing 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 by 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 of
   either house on any question shall, at the desire of one-fifth of
   those present be entered in 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 time; 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 bills for raising revenue shall originate in the house
   of representatives; 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 to that 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 objections, 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 Representatives 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 effect, shall 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 defense 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 a 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
   of training 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 exercise 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
   importation, 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 enter, 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 any king,
   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
   facto 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
   imports or 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
   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.

   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, or
   person 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 of votes
   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
   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 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 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.

   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 attained to
   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 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 be elected.

   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.

   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 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.

   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.

   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 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.

   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
   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.

   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 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
   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
   proved, 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 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.

   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
   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.

   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 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.

   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 every
   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 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.

   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
   Witness whereof, 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
   a redress 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 quartered 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
   particularly 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, 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.

   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; 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.

   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
   rules 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 by the Constitution,
   nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states
   respectively, or to the people.

   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
   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 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 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] the Vice President shall act as President,
   as in case of death, or other constitutional disability of the
   President.  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, form 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; 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 that 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 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 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 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.
   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 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.
   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
   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.
   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 six years;
   and each Senator shall have one vote.  The electors in each State
   shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the 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
   make temporary 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
   jurisdiction 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 to the States 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 had not 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 beginning of his
   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 President-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 of the
   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 the States
   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 be
   elected 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
   this 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
   Congress.

   23rd Amendment
   Sect. 1. The District constituting the seat of Government of the
   United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may
   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 considered, 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 abridged by the
   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
   transmits to them 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 House of
   Representatives 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
   Vice President 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 their 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.