
  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
tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote
the general welfare, and secure the blessings of
liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and
establish this Constitution for the United States of
America.

Article 1.Section 1.

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

Article 1.Section 2.

1. The House of Representatives shall be composed of
members chosen every second year by the people of the
several States, and the electors in each State shall
have the qualifications requisite for electors of the
most numerous branch of the State Legislature.

2. No person shall be a Representative who shall not
have attained to the age of twenty five years, and
been seven years a citizen of the United States, and
who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that
State in which he shall be chosen.

3. Representatives and direct taxes shall be
apportioned among the several States which may be
included within this Union, according to their
respective numbers, which shall be determined by
adding to the whole number of free persons, including
those bound to service for a term of years, and
excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other
persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within
three years after the first meeting of 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.

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

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

Article 1.Section 3.

1. The Senate of the United States shall be composed
of two Senators from each State, chosen by the
Legislature thereof, for six years; and each Senator
shall have one vote.

2. 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.

3. No person shall be a Senator who shall not have
attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine
years a citizen of the United States, and who shall
not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State for
which he shall be chosen.

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

5. 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.

6. The Senate shall have the sole power to try all
impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they
shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President of
the United States is tried the Chief Justice shall
preside: And no person shall be convicted without the
concurrence of two thirds of the members present.

7. Judgment 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.

Article 1.Section 4.

1. 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.

2. 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.

Article 1.Section 5.

1. 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.

2. Each House may determine the rules of its
Proceedings, punish its members for disorderly
behavior, and, with the concurrence of two thirds,
expel a member.

3. 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 on the journal.

4. 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.

Article 1.Section 6.

1. 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.

2. 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.

Artical 1.Section 7.

1. 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.

2. 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 it 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.

3. 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.

Article 1.Section 8.

The Congress shall have power

  1. 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; 2.  To borrow money on the
     credit of the United States; 3. To regulate
  commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several
     States, and with the Indian Tribes; 4. To
     establish an uniform rule of Naturalization, and
     uniform laws on the
     subject of bankruptcies throughout the United
     States; 5. To coin money, regulate the value
     thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix
     the Standard of weights and measures; 6. To
     provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the
     securities and
     current coin of the United States; 7. To
     establish post offices and post roads; 8. 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; 9.  To constitute tribunals inferior
     to the supreme Court; 10. To define and punish
  piracies and felonies committed on the high seas,
     and offences against the law of Nations; 11. To
     declare war, grant letters of marque and
     reprisal, and make rules
     concerning captures on land and water; 12. To
     raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of
     money to that Use
     shall be for a longer term than two years; 13. To
     provide and maintain a Navy; 14. To make rules
     for the government and regulation of the land and
 naval
     forces; 15. To provide for calling forth the
     militia to execute the laws of the Union,
     suppress insurrections and repel invasions; 16.
     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; 17. 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 State in which
     the same shall be, for the erection of forts,
     magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other
     needful buildings;And 18. To make all laws which
     shall be necessary and proper for carrying into
     execution the foregoing powers, and all other
     powers vested by this Constitution in the
     government of the United States, or in any
     department or officer thereof.

Article 1.Section 9.

1. 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.

2. The privilege of the writ of Habeas Corpus shall
not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or
invasion the public safety may require it.

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

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

5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported
from any State.

6. No reference 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

Article 1.Section 10.

1. 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.

2. No State shall, without the consent of the
Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or
exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for
executing it's inspection laws: and the net produce of
all duties and imposts, laid by any State on imports
or exports, shall be for the use of the treasury of
the United States; and all such laws shall be subject
to the revision and control of the Congress.

3. No State shall, without the consent of Congress,
lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war
in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact
with another State, or with a foreign power, or engage
in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent
danger as will not admit of delay.

Article 2.Section 1.

1. The executive power shall be vested in a President
of the United States of America. He shall hold his
office during the term of four years, and, together
with the Vice President, chosen for the same term, be
elected, as follows:

2. Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the
Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors,
equal to the whole number of Senators and
Representatives to which the State may be entitled in
the Congress:  but no Senator or Representative, or
person holding an office of trust or profit under the
United States, shall be appointed an elector.

3. 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 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 an equal number of votes, then the House of
Representatives shall immediately choose by ballot one
of them for President; and if no person have a
majority, then from the five highest on the list the
said House shall in like manner choose the President.
But in choosing the President, the votes shall be
taken by States, the representation from each State
having one vote; A quorum for this purpose shall
consist of a member or members from two thirds of the
States, and a majority of all the States shall be
necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice
of the President, the person having the greatest
number of votes of the electors shall be the Vice
President.  But if there should remain two or more who
have equal votes, the Senate shall choose from them by
ballot the Vice President.

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

5. No person except a natural born citizen, or a
citizen of the United States, at the time of the
adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to
the office of President; neither shall any person be
eligible to that office who shall not have attained to
the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen years
a resident within the United States. (note:
qualification of the Vice President Amendment 12)

6. In case of the removal of the President from
office, or of his death, resignation, or Inability to
discharge the powers and duties of the said office,
the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the
Congress may by law provide for the case of removal,
death, resignation or Inability, both of the President
and Vice President declaring what officer shall then
act as President, and such officer shall act
accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a
President shall be elected. (Modified by:  Amendment
20 & Amendment 25)

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

8. Before he enter on the execution of his office, he
shall take the following oath or affirmation: I do
solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully
execute the office of President of the United States,
and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect
and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Article 2.Section 2.

1. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the
Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia
of the several States, when called into the actual
service of the United States; he may require the
opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each
of the executive departments, upon any subject
relating to the duties of their respective offices,
and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons
for offences against the United States, except in
cases of impeachment.

2. He shall have power, by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two
thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall
nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of
the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public
ministers and consuls, judges of the supreme Court,
and all other officers of the United States, whose
appointments are not herein otherwise provided for,
and which shall be established by law: but the
Congress may by law vest the appointment of such
inferior officers, as they think proper, in the
President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads
of departments.

3. The President shall have power to fill up all
vacancies that may happen during the recess of the
Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at
the end of their next session.

Artical 2.Section 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.

Article 2.Section 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 3.Section 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 times, receive for
their services, a compensation which shall not be
diminished during their continuance in office.

Article 3.Section 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 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.

Article 3.Section 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 attainted.

Article 4.Section 1.

Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to
the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of
every other State. And the Congress may by general
laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, records
and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect
thereof.

Article 4.Section 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 labour 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 labour, but shall be
delivered up on claim of the party to whom such
service or labour may be due.

Article 4.Section 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.

Article 4.Section 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 Houses shall deem it necessary,
shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on
the application of the Legislatures of two thirds of
the several States, shall call a convention for
proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be
valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this
Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of
three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions
in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode
of ratification may be proposed by the Congress;
provided that no amendment which may be made prior to
the year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in
any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the
ninth section of the first article; and that no State,
without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal
suffrage in the Senate.

Article 5

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall
deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this
Constitution, or, on the application of the
Legislatures of two thirds of the several States,
shall call a convention for proposing amendments,
which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents
and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when
ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the
several States, or by Conventions in three fourths
thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification
may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no
amendment which may be made prior to the year One
thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner
affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth
section of the first article; and that no State,
without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal
suffrage in the Senate.

Article 6.

1. All debts contracted and engagements entered into,
before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be as
valid against the United States under this
Constitution, as under the Confederation.

2. This Constitution, and the laws of the United
States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and
all treaties made or which shall be made, under the
authority of the United States, shall be the supreme
law of the land; and the Judges in every State shall
be bound thereby, any thing in the Constitution or
laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

3. The Senators and Representatives before mentioned,
and the members of the several State Legislatures, and
all executive and judicial officers, both of the
United States and of the several States, shall be
bound by oath or affirmation, to support this
Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be
required as a qualification to any office or public
trust under the United States.

Article 7.

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,

George Washington, President and Deputy from Virginia

from:

New Hampshire Langdon, Nicholas Gilman.

Massachusetts Gorham, Rufus King.

Connecticut Samual Johnson, Rodger Sherman.

New York Hamilton.

New Jersey Livingston, David Brearley, William
Paterson, Jonathan Dayton.

Pennsylvania Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robert Morris,
Geofrey Clymer, Thomas FitzSimons, Jared Ingersoll,
James Wilson, Gouv. Morris.

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

Maryland McHenry, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer,
Daniel, Carroll.

Virginia Blair, James Madison Jr.

North Carolina Blount, Richard Dobbs Spaight, Hugh
Williamson.

South Carolina. Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth
Pinckney,Charles Pinckney, Pierce Butler.

Georgia Few, Arbraham Baldwin.

Attest: William Jackson, Secretary.
