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 honour, 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.


_Section IV. Both Houses._

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.


_Section V. The Houses Separately._

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 behaviour, and with the concurrence of two
thirds, expel a member. 3. Each house shall keep a journal of its
proceedings, and from 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.

_Section VI. Privileges and Disabilities of Members._

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.

_Section VII. Mode of Passing Laws._

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.

_Section VIII. Powers granted to Congress.[3]_

[Footnote 3: Compare Sections viii. and ix. with Confed. Art. IX.;
clause 1 of Section viii with Confed. Art. VIII; and clause 12 of
Section viii. with Confed. Art. VII.]

The Congress shall have, power:

1. 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;

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 offenses 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, dockyards, and other needful buildings;

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.[4]

[Footnote 4: This is the Elastic Clause in the interpretation of which
arose the original and fundamental division of political parties.
See above, pp. 245, 259.]


_Section IX. Powers denied to the United States._

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 hereinbefore directed to be taken.

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

6. 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.

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.


_Section X. Powers denied to the States._[5]

[Footnote 5: Compare Section X with Confed. Art. VI]

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

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

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



ARTICLE II. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.[6]

[Footnote 6: Compare Art. II. with Confed. Art. X.]

_Section I. President and Vice-President_.

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

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

3. 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. [7]


[Footnote 7: This clause of the Constitution has been amended. See
Amendments, Art. XII.]

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

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

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

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


8. Before he enter on the execution of his office he shall take the
following oath or affirmation:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the
office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my
ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United
States."


_Section II. Powers of the President._

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

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

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


_Section III. Duties of the President._

He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the
state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures
as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary
occasions, convene both houses, or either of them, and in case of
disagreement between them with respect to the time of adjournment,
he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall
receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care
that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the
officers of the United States.


_Section IV. Impeachment._

The President, Vice-President, and all civil officers of the United
States shall be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction
of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.


ARTICLE III. JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT.[8]

[Footnote 8: Compare Art. III. with the first three paragraphs of
Confed. Art. IX.]

_Section I. United States Courts._

The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme
Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time
to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and
inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behaviour, and
shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation
which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.


_Section II. Jurisdiction of the United States Courts._

1. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity,
arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and
treaties made, or which shall he 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.[9]

[Footnote 9: This clause has been amended. See Amendments, Art. XI.]

2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and
consuls, and those in which a State shall be a party, the Supreme
Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before
mentioned the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as
to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as
the Congress shall make.


3. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be
by jury; and such trial shall be held in the State where the said
crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any
State, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may
by law have directed.


_Section III. Treason._

1. Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war
against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and
comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the
testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in
open court.

2. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason,
but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood or
forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted.


ARTICLE IV. THE STATES AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.[10]

[Footnote 10: Compare Art. IV. with Confed. Art. IV.]


_Section I. State Records._

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



_Section II. Privileges of Citizens, etc._

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.[11]



[Footnote 11: This clause has been cancelled by Amendment XIII., which
abolishes slavery.]


_Section III. New States and Territories._[12]

[Footnote 12: Compare section iii. with Confed. Art. XI.]



1. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no
new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any
other State; nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more
States or parts of States, without the consent of the legislatures of
the States concerned as well as of the Congress.

2. The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful
rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property
belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall
be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States or of
any particular State.


_Section IV. Guarantee to the States._

The United States shall 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. POWER OF AMENDMENT.[13]

[Footnote 13: Compare Art. V. with Confed. Art. XIII.]

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 amendments which may be made prior to the year one
thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first
and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that
no State, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage
in the Senate.

ARTICLE VI. PUBLIC DEBT, SUPREMACY OF THE CONSTITUTION, OATH OF
OFFICE, RELIGIOUS TEST.

1. All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the
adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United
States under this Constitution as under the confederation.[14]

[Footnote 14: Compare clause I with Confed. Art. XII.]

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

3. The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members
of the several State legislatures, and all executive and judicial
officers both of the United States and of the several States, shall
be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution; but no
religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office
or public trust under the United States.[15]

[Footnote 15: Compare clauses 2 and 3 with Confed. Art. XIII. and
addendum, "And whereas," etc.]

ARTICLE VII. RATIFICATION OF THE CONSTITUTION.

The ratification of the conventions of nine States shall be
sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the States so
ratifying the same.

Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the States
present,[16] 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.

[Footnote 16: Rhode Island sent no delegates to the Federal
Convention.]

George Washington, President, and Deputy from VIRGINIA.
NEW HAMPSHIRE--John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman.
MASSACHUSETTS--Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King.
CONNECTICUT--William Samuel Johnson, Roger Sherman.
NEW YORK--Alexander Hamilton.
NEW JERSEY--William Livingston, David Brearly, William
Patterson, 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, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer,
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.
Attest: William Jackson, Secretary.

*       *       *       *       *

AMENDMENTS.[17]

ARTICLE I.

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.


[Footnote 17: Amendments I. to X. were proposed by Congress, Sept. 25,
1789, and declared in force Dec. 15, 1791.]

ARTICLE II.

A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free
state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be
infringed.

ARTICLE III.

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

ARTICLE IV.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers,
and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not
be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause,
supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the
place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

ARTICLE V.

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