THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
1787
WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
ARTICLE ONE
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 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,
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 defence and general welfare of the United States; but all duties,
imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; To borrow
money on the credit of the United States; To regulate commerce with foreign
nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes; To establish
an uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of
bankruptcies throughout the United States; To coin money, regulate the value
thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;
To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current
Coin of the United States; To establish post-offices and post-roads; To promote
the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to
authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and
discoveries; To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
To define and punish piracies and felonies committed
on the high seas, and 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 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.
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 TWO
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 lie 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 VicePresident, 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 THREE
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.
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.
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 FOUR
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 FIVE
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 it’s equal suffrage in the Senate.
ìARTICLE SIX
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
8ARTICLE SEVEN 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,
8Go. Washington - President 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 Brearley
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 Tho 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
Attest William Jackson Secretary