THE
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
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.
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 chuse 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
