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 blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do
ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Article I
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.
Section 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.
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.
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 their
speaker and other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment.
Section 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 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 and 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.
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.
Section 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.
Section 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 behavior, 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 on the journal.
Neither House, during the session of Congress,
shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor
to any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.
Section 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.
Section 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 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.
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 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 offenses 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 state 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 this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any
department or officer thereof.
Section 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 may 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 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.
Section 10. 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.
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.
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
Section 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 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 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 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.
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."
Section 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 offenses 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 next session.
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.
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 III
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 behaviour, and shall, at stated times, receive for
their services, a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their
continuance in office.
Section 2. 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.
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.
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 3. 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.
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
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.
Section 2. The
citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of
citizens in the several states.
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.
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.
Section 3. New
states may be admitted by the Congress into this union; but no new states 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.
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 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 VI
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.
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.
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,
G. Washington-Presidt. and deputy from Virginia
New Hampshire: John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman
Massachusetts: Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King
Connecticut: Wm: Saml. Johnson, Roger Sherman
New York: Alexander Hamilton
New Jersey: Wil. Livingston, David Brearly, Wm.
Paterson, Jona: Dayton
Pennsylvania: B. Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robt.
Morris, Geo. Clymer, Thos. FitzSimons, Jared Ingersoll, James Wilson, Gouv
Morris
Delaware: Geo. Read, Gunning Bedford jun, John
Dickinson, Richard Bassett, Jaco. Broom
Maryland: James McHenry, Dan of St Thos. Jenifer,
Danl Carroll
Virginia: John Blair, James Madison Jr.
North Carolina: Wm. Blount, Richd. Dobbs Spaight,
Hu Williamson
South Carolina: J. Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth
Pinckney, Charles Pinckney, Pierce Butler
Georgia: William Few, Abr Baldwin
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