Citizens Rule Book
RIGHTS COME FROM GOD, NOT
THE STATE!
"You have rights antecedent to all earthly governments; rights that cannot
be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the Great
Legislator of the Universe."
-John Adams, Second President of the United States
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SEC. I A HANDBOOK FOR JURORS
Jury Duty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
You are above the Law! . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Jury Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Law of the Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Ten Commandments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Communist Manifesto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Give Up Rights? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Jury Tampering? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
SEC. II GIVE ME LIBERTY ...
Patrick Henry Shocked . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Jury of Peers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Freedom for William Penn . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Jefferson's Warnings! . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
SEC. III ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
Index to the documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
The Declaration of Independence . . . . . . . . . . . 26
(Original Title -- Page 26)
The Constitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
The Bill of Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Page 1
SEC. 1 A HANDBOOK FOR JURORS
"...That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of
Freedom..."
-Abraham Lincoln
JURY DUTY!
The purpose of this booklet is to revive, as Jefferson put it, "The
Ancient Principles." It is not designed to promote lawlessness or a return
to the jungle. The "Ancient Principles" refer to the Ten Commandments
and the Common Law. The Common Law is, in simple terms, just plain common sense
and has its roots in the Ten Commandments.
In 1776 we came out of BONDAGE with FAITH, UNDERSTANDING and COURAGE. Even
against great odds, and with much bloodshed, we battled our way to achieve
LIBERTY. LIBERTY is that delicate balance between the force of government and
FREEWILL of man. LIBERTY brings FREEDOM of choice to work, to trade, to go and
live where one wishes; it leads to ABUNDANCE. ABUNDANCE, if made an end to
itself, will result in COMPLACENCY which leads to APATHY. APATHY is the
"let George do it" philosophy. This always brings DEPENDENCY. For a
period of time, dependents are often not aware they are dependent. They delude
themselves by thinking that they are still free -- "We never had it so
good." -- "We can still vote, can't we?" Eventually abundance
diminishes and DEPENDENCY becomes known by its true nature: BONDAGE!!!
There are few ways out of bondage. Bloodshed and war often result, but our
founding fathers learned of a better way. Realizing that a CREATOR is always
above and greater than that which He creates, they established a three vote
system by which an informed citizenry can control those acting in the name
of the government. To be a good master you must always remember the true
"pecking order" or chain of command in this nation:
1. GOD created man . . .
2. Man (that's you) created the Constitution . . .
3. Constitution created government . . .
4. Government created corporations . .
etc.
The base of power was to remain in WE THE PEOPLE but unfortunately, it was lost
to those leaders acting in the name of the government, such as politicians,
bureaucrats, judges, lawyers, etc.
As a result America began to function like a democracy instead of a REPUBLIC. A democracy is
dangerous because it is a one-vote system as opposed to a Republic, which is a
three-vote system: Three votes to check tyranny, not just one. American
citizens have not been informed of their other two votes.
Our first vote is at the polls on election day when we pick those who are to
represent us in the seats of government. But what can be done if those elected
officials just don't perform as promised or expected? Well, the second two
votes are the most effective means by which the common people of any nation on
earth have even had in controlling those appointed to serve them in government.
The second vote comes when you serve on a Grand Jury. Before anyone can be
brought to trial for a capital or infamous crime by those acting in the name of
the government, permission must be obtained from people serving on the Grand
Jury! The Minneapolis Star and Tribune in March 27, 1987, edition noted a
purpose of the grand Jury in this way:
"A Grand Jury's purpose is to protect the public from an overzealous
prosecutor."
The third is the most powerful vote: this is when you are acting as a jury
member during a courtroom trial. At this point, "the buck stops" with
you!It is in this setting that each JUROR has MORE POWER than the President,
all of Congress, and all of the judges combined! Congress can legislate (make
law), the President or some other bureaucrat can make an order or issue
regulations, and judges may instruct or make a decision, but no JUROR can ever
be punished for voting "Not Guilty!" Any juror can, with impunity,
choose to disregard the instructions of any judge or attorney in rendering his
vote. If only one JUROR should vote "Not Guilty" for any reason,
there is no conviction and no punishment at the end of the trial. THus, those
acting in the name of government must come before the common man to get
permission to enforce law.
YOU ARE ABOVE THE LAW!
As a JUROR in a trial setting, when it comes to your individual vote of
innocent or guilty, you are truly answerable to GOD ALMIGHTY. The First
Amendment to the Constitution was born out of this great concept. However,
judges of today refuse to inform JURORS of their RIGHTS. The Minneapolis Star
and Tribune in a news paper article appearing in its November 30, 1984 edition,
entitled: "What Judges Don't Tell Juries" stated:
"At the time of adoption of the Constitution, the jury's role as a defense
against political oppression was unquestioned in American jurisprudence. This
nation survived until the 1850's, when prosecutions under the Fugitive Slave
Act were largely unsuccessful because juries refused to convict"
"Then judges began to erode the institution of free juries, leading to the
absurd compromise that is the current state of the law. While our courts
uniformly state juries have the power to return a verdict of not guilty
whatever the facts, they routinely tell jurors the opposite."
"Further, the courts will not allow the defendants or their counsel to
inform the jurors of their true power. A lawyer who made . . . Hamilton's
argument would face professional discipline and charges of contempt of
court."
"By what logic should juries have the power to acquit a defendant but no
right to know about that power? The court decisions that have suppressed the
notion of jury nullification cannot resolve this paradox."
"More than logic has suffered. As originally conceived, juries were to be
made a safety valve way to soften the bureaucratic rigidity of the judicial
system by introducing the common sense of the community. If they are to
function effectively as the `conscience of the community," jurors must be
told that they have the power and the right to say no to a prosecution in order
to achieve a greater good. To cut jurors off from this information is to
undermine one of our most important institutions."
"Perhaps the community should educate itself. Then citizens called for
jury duty could teach the judges a needed lesson in civics."
This booklet is designed to bring to your attention one important way our
nation's founders provided to insure that you, (not the growing army of
politicians, judges, lawyers, and bureaucrats) rule this nation. it will focus
on the rule of power you possess as a JUROR, how you got it, why you have it,
and remind you of the basis on which you must decide not only the facts placed
in evidence but also the validity or applicability of every law, rule,
regulation, ordinance, or instruction given by any man seated as a judge or
attorney when you serve as a JUROR.
One JUROR can stop tyranny with a "NOT GUILTILY VOTE!" He can nullify
bad law in any case, by "HANGING THE JURY!"
"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do
something. What I can do, I should do and, with the help of God, I will
do!"
-Everett Hale
The only power the judge has over the JURY is their
ignorance!
JURY RIGHTS
"The jury has the right to judge both the law as well as the fact in
controversy."
-John Jay, 1st Chief Justice
U.S. supreme Court, 1789
"The jury has the right to determine both the law and the facts."
-Samuel Chase, U.S. supreme Court Justice, 1796,Signor of the unanimous
Declaration
"The jury has the power to bring a verdict in the teeth of both law and
fact."
-Oliver Wendell Holmes, U.S. supreme Court Justice, 1902
"The law itself is on trial quite as much as the cause which is to be
decided."
-Harlan F. Stone, 12th Chief Justice U.S. supreme Court, 1941
"The pages of history shine on instances of the jury's exercise of its
prerogative to disregard instructions of the judge..."
-U.S. vs.Dougherty, 473F 2nd 1113, 1139. (1972)
LAW OF THE LAND
The general misconception is that any statute passed by legislators bearing the
appearance of law constitutes the law of the land. The U.S. Constitution is the
supreme law of the land, and any statute, to be valid, must be in agreement. It
is impossible for a law which violates the Constitution to be valid. This is
succinctly stated as follows:
"All laws which are repugnant to the Constitution are null and void."
Marbury vs. Madison, 5 US (2 Cranch) 137, 174, 176, (1803)
"When rights secured by the Constitution are involved, there can be no
rule making or legislation which would abrogate them."
Miranda vs. Arizona, 384 US 436 p. 491.
"An unconstitutional act is not law; it confers no rights; it imposes no
duties; affords no protection; it creates no office; it is in legal
contemplation, as inoperative as though it had never been passed." Norton
vs. Shelby County 118 US 425 p. 442
"The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though having the
form and name of law, is in reality no law, but is wholly void, and ineffective
for any purpose; since unconstitutionality dates from the time of its
enactment, and not merely from the date of the decision so branding it.
"No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound
to enforce it." 16 Am Jur 2nd, Sec 177 late 2d, Sec 256
A SUMMARY OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
The TEN COMMANDMENTS represent GOD'S GOVERNMENT OVER MAN! GOD commands us
for our own good to give up wrongs and not rights! HIS system always results in
LIBERTY and FREEDOM! The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are built on this
foundation, which provides for punitive justice. It is not until one damages
another person’s property that he can be punished. The Marxist system leads
to bondage and GOD'S system leads to LIBERTY! Read very carefully:
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath to keep it Holy.
5. Honor thy father and thy mother.
6. Thou shalt not murder.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness.
10. Thou shalt not covet.
Directly above the Chief Justice's chair is a tablet signifying the TEN
COMMANDMENTS. When the Speaker of the House in the U.S. Congress looks up,
his eyes look into the face of Moses.
"The Bible is the Book upon which this Republic rests."
-Andrew Jackson, Seventh
President of the United States
"The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to
form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws. All the miseries and
evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression,
slavery, and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts of
the Bible."
-Noah Webster
A SUMMARY OF THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO
The Communist Manifesto represents a misguided philosophy, which teaches the
citizens to give up their RIGHTS for the sake of the "common good,"
but it always ends in a police state. This is called preventive justice.
Control is the key concept. Read carefully:
1. Abolition of private property.
2. Heavy progressive income tax.
3. Abolition of all rights on inheritance.
4. Confiscation of property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Central bank.
6. Government control of Communications & Transportation.
7. Government ownership of factories and agriculture.
8. Government control of labor.
9. Corporate farms, regional planning.
10. Government control of education.
GIVE UP RIGHTS FOR THE "COMMON GOOD"?
Where people fear the government you have tyranny;
where the government fears the people, you have liberty.
Politicians, bureaucrats and especially judges would have you believe that too
much freedom will result in chaos. Therefore, we should gladly give up some of
our RIGHTS for the good of the community. In other words, people acting
in the name of the government, say we need more laws and more JURORS to enforce
these laws -- even if we have to give up some RIGHTS in the process.
They believe the more laws we have, the more control, thus a better society. This
theory may sound good on paper, and apparently many of our leaders think this
way, as evidenced by the thousands of new laws that are added to the books each
year in this country. But, no matter how cleverly this Marxist argument is
made, the hard fact is that whenever you give up a RIGHT you lose a
"FREE CHOICE"!
This adds another control. Control's real name is BONDAGE! The logical
conclusion would be, if giving up some RIGHTS produces a better society,
then by giving up all RIGHTS we could produce a perfect society. We
could chain everybody to a tree, for lack of TRUST. This may prevent crime, but
it would destroy PRIVACY, which is the heartbeat of FREEDOM! It would also
destroy TRUST which is the foundation for DIGNITY. Rather than giving up RIGHTS,
we should be giving up wrongs! The opposite of control is not chaos. More laws
do not make less criminals! We must give up wrongs, not rights, for a
better society! William Pitt of the British House of Commons once proclaimed,
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human liberty; it is the
argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
INALIENABLE, [UNALIENABLE] OR NATURAL RIGHTS!
NATURAL RIGHTS ARE THOSE RIGHTS such as life (from conception), LIBERTY and the
PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS eg. FREEDOM of RELIGION, SPEECH, LEARNING, TRAVEL,
SELF-DEFENSE, ETC. Hence laws and statutes which violate NATURAL RIGHTS, though
they may have the color of law, are not law but impostors! The U.S.
Constitution was written to protect these NATURAL RIGHTS from being tampered
with by legislators. * Further, our forefathers also wisely knew that the U.S.
Constitution would be utterly worthless to restrain government legislators
unless it was clearly understood that the people had the right to compel the
government to keep within the Constitutional limits.
In a jury trial the real judges are the JURORS! Surprisingly,
judges are actually just referees bound by the Constitution!
*Lysander Spooner wrote as follows:
"Government is established for the protection of the weak against the
strong. This is the principal, if not the sole motive for the establishment of
all legitimate government. It is only the weaker party that loses their
liberties, when a government becomes oppressive. The stronger party, in all
governments are free by virtue of their superior strength. They never oppress
themselves. Legislation is the work of the stronger party; and if, in addition
to the sole power of legislation, they have the sole power of determining what
legislation shall be enforced, they have all power in their hands, and the
weaker party are the subjects of an absolute government. Unless the weaker
party have veto, they have no power whatever in the government . . . no
liberties . . . The trial by jury is the only institution that gives the weaker
party any veto upon the power of the stronger. Consequently it is the only
institution that gives them any effective voice in the government, or any
guaranty against oppression.
ESSAY on the TRIAL by Jury
JURY TAMPERING?
A JURY's Rights, Powers and Duties:
The Charge to the JURY in the First JURY Trial before the supreme* Court of the
U.S. Illustrates the TRUE POWER OF THE JURY. In the February term of 1794, the
supreme Court conducted a JURY trial and said ". . . it is presumed, that
the juries are the best judges of facts; it is, on the other hand, presumed
that the courts are the best judges of law. But still both objects are within
our power of decision."
"You have a right to take upon yourselves to judge of both, and to
determine the law as well as the fact in controversy."
-(State of Georgia vs.
Brailsford, et al, 3 Dall. 1)
"The JURY has an unreviewable and unreversible power . . . to acquit in disregard
of the instructions on the law given by the trial judge . . ."
(emphasis added)
-U.S. vs. Dougherty, 473 F 2nd 1113, 1139 (1972)
Hence, JURY disregard of the limited and generally conviction-oriented evidence
presented for its consideration, and JURY disregard for what the trial judge
wants them to believe is the controlling law in particular case (sometimes
referred to as "JURY lawlessness")* is not something to be
scrupulously avoided, but rather encouraged. Witness the following quotation
from the eminent legal authority above-mentioned:
"Jury lawlessness is the greatest corrective of law in its actual
administration. The will of the state at large imposed on a reluctant
community, the will of a majority imposed on a vigorous and determined
minority, find the same obstacle in the local JURY that formerly confronted
kings and ministers." (emphasis added) (Dougherty cited above, note 32 at
1130)
*Supreme is not capitalized in the Constitution, however Behavior is.
*Jury lawlessness means willingness to nullify bad law.
The Right of the JURY to be Told of Its Power
Almost every JURY in the land is falsely instructed by the judge when it is
told it must accept as the law that which is given to them by the court, and
that the JURY can decide only the facts of the case. This is to destroy the
purpose of a Common Law JURY, and to permit the imposition of tyranny upon a
people.
"There is nothing more terrifying than ignorance in action."
-Goethe (engraved on a plaque at the Naval War College)
"To embarrass justice by a multiplicity of laws, or to hazard it by
confidence in judges, are the opposite rocks on which all civil instructions
have been wrecked."
-Johnson (engraved in Minnesota State Capitol Outside the Supreme Court
Chambers)
". . . The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."
-II Corinthians 3:6
"It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand
by itself."
-Thomas Jefferson
The JURY'S options are by no means limited to the choices presented to it in
the courtroom. "The jury gets its understanding as to the arrangements in
the legal system from more than one voice. There is the formal communication
from the `judge." There is informal communication from the total culture
-- literature; current comment, conversation; and, of course, history and
tradition." (Dougherty cited above, at 1135)
LAWS, FACTS AND EVIDENCE!
Without the power to decide what facts, law and evidence are applicable, JURIES
cannot be a protection to the accused. If people acting in the name of
government are permitted by JURORS to dictate any law whatever, they can also
unfairly dictate what evidence is admissible or inadmissible and thereby
prevent the WHOLE TRUTH from being considered. Thus if government can
manipulate and control both the law and the evidence, the issue of fact becomes
virtually irrelevant. In reality, true JUSTICE would be denied leaving us with
a trial by government and not a trial by JURY!
HOW DOES TYRANNY BEGIN?
WHY ARE THERE SO MANY LAWS?
Heroes are men of glory who are so honored because of some heroic deed. People
often out of gratitude yield allegiance to them. Honor and allegiance are nice
words for power! Power and allegiance can only be held rightfully by trust as a
result of continued character.
When people acting in the name of government violate ethics, they break trust
with "WE THE PEOPLE." The natural result is for "WE THE
PEOPLE" to pull back power (honor and allegiance).
The loss of power creates fear for those losing the power. Fearing loss of
power, people acting in the name of government often seek to regain or at least
hold their power. Hence, to legitimize their quest for control, laws and force
are often instituted.
Unchecked power is the foundation of tyranny. It is the JUROR'S duty to use the
JURY ROOM as a vehicle to stem the tide of oppression and tyranny: To prevent
bloodshed by peacefully removing power from those who have abused it. The JURY
is the primary vehicle for peaceful restoration of LIBERTY, POWER AND HONOR TO
"WE THE PEOPLE!"
YOUR VOTE COUNTS!
Your vote of NOT Guilty must be respected by all members of the JURY -- it is
the RIGHT and DUTY of a JUROR to Never, Never, Never yield his or her sacred vote
-- for you are not there as a fool, merely to agree with the majority, but as
an officer of the court and a qualified judge in your own right. Regardless of
the pressures or abuse that may be heaped on you by any other members of the
JURY with whom you may be in good conscience to disagree, you can await the
reading of the verdict secure in the knowledge you have voted your own
conscience and convictions -- and not those of someone else.
YOU ARE NOT A RUBBER STAMP!
By what logic do we send our youth to battle tyranny on foreign soil, while we
refuse to do so in our courts? Did you know that many of the planks of the
"Communist Manifesto" are now represented by law in the U.S.? How is
it possible for Americans to denounce communism and practice it simultaneously.
The JURY judges the Spirit, Motive and Intent of both law and the Accused,
whereas the prosecutor only represents the letter of the law.
Therein lies the opportunity for the accomplishment of "LIBERTY and
JUSTICE for ALL." If you, and numerous other JURORS throughout the State
and nation begin and continue to bring in verdicts of NOT GUILTY in such cases
where man-made statute is defective or oppressive, these statutes will become
as ineffective as if they had never been written.
"If we love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude
better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask
not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you.
May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our
countrymen."
-Samuel Adams
SEC. II GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!
PATRICK HENRY SHOCKED!
Young Christian attorney Patrick Henry saw why a JURY of PEERS is so vital to
FREEDOM! It was March 1775 when he rode into the small town of Culpeper, Va. He
was totally shocked by what he saw! There, in the middle of the town square was
a minister tied to a whipping post, his back laid bare and bloody with the
bones of his ribs showing. He had been scourged like JESUS, with whips laced
with metal.
Patrick Henry is quoted as saying: "When they stopped beating him, I could
see the bones of his rib cage. I turned to someone and asked what the man had
done to deserve a beating such as this."
SCOURGED FOR NOT TAKING A LICENSE!
The reply given him was that the man being scourged was a minister who refused
to take a license. He was one of twelve who were locked in jail because they
refused to take a license. A license often becomes an arbitrary control by the
government that makes a crime out of what ordinarily would not be a crime. IT
TURNS A RIGHT INTO A PRIVILEGE!
Three days later they scourged him to death.
This was the incident which sparked Christian attorney Patrick Henry to write
the famous words which later would become the rallying cry of the Revolution.
"What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or
peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid
it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, GIVE
ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!" Later he made this part of his famous speech
at St. John's Episcopal Church in Williamsburg, Va.
JURY OF PEERS
Our forefathers felt that in order to have JUSTICE, it is obvious that a JURY
of "PEERS" must be people who actually know the defendant. How else
would they be able to judge motive and intent?
"PEERS" of the defendant, like RIGHTS of the JURY have also been
severely tarnished. Originally, it meant people of "equals in station and
rank," (Black's 1910), "free-holders of a neighborhood,"
(Bouvier's 1886), or "A companion; a fellow; an associate. (Webster's
1828).
WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO SIT ON A JURY?
Patrick Henry, along with others, was deeply concerned as to who has a right to
sit on a JURY. Listen to our forefathers wisdom on the subject of
"PEERS."
MR. HENRY
"By the bill of rights of England, a subject has a right to a trial by his
peers. What is meant by peers? Those who reside near him, his neighbors, and
who are well acquainted with his character and situation in life." Patrick
Henry (Elliot, "The Debates in Several State Conventions on the Adoption
of the Federal Constitution, 3:579)
Patrick Henry also knew that originally the JURY of PEERS was designed as a
protection for Neighbors from outside governmental oppression. Henry states the
following, "Why do we love this trial by jury? Because it prevents that
hand of oppression from cutting you off .... This gives me comfort -- that, as
long as I have existence, my neighbors will protect me."
(Elliot, 3:545, 546).
MR. HOLMES
Mr. Holmes, from Massachusetts, argued strenuously that for JUSTICE to prevail,
the case must be heard in the vicinity where the fact was committed by a JURY
of PEERS. " . . . a jury of peers would, from their local situation, have
an opportunity to form a judgement of the CHARACTER of the person charged with
the crime, and also to judge of the CREDIBILITY of the witnesses."
(Elliot, 2:110).
The people are masters of both Congress and courts, not to
overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it!
-Abraham Lincoln
MR. WILSON
Mr. Wilson, signer of "The unanimous Declaration," who also later
became a supreme Court Justice, stressed the importance of the JURORS knowing
personally both the defendant and the witnesses. "Where jurors can be
acquainted with the characters of the parties and the witnesses -- where the
whole cause can be brought within their knowledge and view -- I know no mode of
investigation equal to that by a trial by jury: they hear every thing that is
alleged; they not only hear the words, but they see and mark the features of
the countenance; they can judge of weight due to such testimony; and moreover,
it is a cheap and expeditious manner of distributing justice. There is another
advantage annexed to the trial by jury; the jurors may indeed return a mistaken
or ill-founded verdict" but their errors cannot be systematical."
(Elliot, 2:516)
FREEDOM FOR WILLIAM PENN
"Those people who are not governed by GOD will be ruled by
tyrants."
-William Penn
Edward Bushnell and three fellow JURORS learned this lesson well. They refused
to bow to the court. They believed in the absolute power of the JURY, though
their eight companions cowered to the court. The four JURORS spent nine weeks
of torture in prison, often without food and water, soaked with urine, smeared
with feces, barely able to stand, and even threatened with fines, yet they
would not give in to the judge. Edward Bushnell said, "My liberty is not
for sale," though he had great wealth and commanded an international
shipping enterprise. These "bumble heads", so the court thought,
proved the power of the people was stronger than any power of government. They
emerged total victors.
THE FIRST AMENDMENT
The year was 1670, and the case Bushnell sat on was that of William Penn, who
was on trial for violation of a "Conventicle Act." This was an
elaborate Act which made the Church of England the only legal church. The Act was
struck down by their not guilty vote. Freedom of Religion was established and
became part of the English Bill of Rights and later it became the First
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In addition, the Right to peaceful assembly
was founded, Freedom of Speech, and also habeas corpus. The first such writ of
habeas corpus ever issued by the Court of Common Pleas was issued to free
Edward Bushnell. Later this trial gave birth to the concept of Freedom of the
press.
Had Bushnell and his colleagues yielded to the guilty verdict sought by the
judge and prosecutor, William Penn most likely would have been executed as he
clearly broke the law.
HE BROKE THE LAW!
There would have been no Liberty Bell, no Independence Hall, no city of
Philadelphia, and no state called Pennsylvania, for young William Penn, founder
of Pennsylvania, and leader of the Quakers, was on trial for his life. His
alleged crime was preaching and teaching a different view of the Bible than
that of the Church of England. This appears innocent today, but then, one could
be executed for such actions. He believed in freedom of religion, freedom of
speech and the right to peaceful assembly. He had broken to government's law,
but he had injured no one. The four heroic JURORS knew that only when actual
injury to someone's person or property take place is there a real crime. No law
is broken when no injury can be shown. Thus there can be no loss or termination
of rights unless actual damage is proven. Many imposter laws were repealed as a
result of this.
IT IS ALMOST UNFAIR!
The trial made such an impact the every colony but one established the jury as
the first liberty to maintain all other liberties. It was felt that the
liberties of people could never be wholly lost as long as the jury remained
strong and independent, and that unjust laws and statutes could not stand when
confronted by conscientious JURORS. JURORS today face an avalanche of imposter
laws. JURORS not only still have the power and the RIGHT, but also the DUTY, to
nullify bad laws by voting "not guilty." At first glance it appears
that it is almost unfair, the power JURORS have over government, but necessary
when considering the historical track record of oppression that governments
have wielded over private citizens.
JEFFERSON'S WARNINGS!
In 1789 Thomas Jefferson warned that the judiciary if given too much power
might ruin our REPUBLIC, and destroy our RIGHTS!
"The new Constitution has secured these [individual rights] in the
Executive and legislative departments: but not in the Judiciary. It should have
established trials by the people themselves, that is to say, by jury."
The Judiciary of the United States is the subtle corps of sappers and miners
constantly working under ground to undermine the foundations of our confederated
fabric." (1820)
". . . the Federal Judiciary; an irresponsible body (for impeachment is
scarcely a scarecrow), working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a
little to-day and a little to-morrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a
thief, over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall be usurped from the
States, and the government of all be consolidated into one.
. . . when all government . . . in little as in great things, shall be drawn to
Washington as the centre of all power, it will render powerless the checks
provided of one government on another and will become as venal and oppressive
as the government from which we separated. (1821)
"The opinion which gives to the judges the right to decide what laws are
constitutional and what are not, not only for themselves in their own sphere of
action, but for the legislative and executive also in their spheres, would make
the judiciary a despotic branch.
". . . judges should be withdrawn from the bench whose erroneous biases
are leading us to dissolution. It may, indeed, injure them in fame or fortune;
but it saves the Republic. . ."
SEC. III INDEX TO THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
GENERAL INDEX TO:
THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION
I. Need to dissolve certain political relationships.
II. Need to assume powers which God entitles man.
III. Declaring separation from an unjust government.
IV. Self-evident truths elaborated.
A. All men are created equal.
B. God our Creator gives to each unalienable Rights
1. Life, Liberty, Happiness, property, safety, respect, privacy,
etc.
C. The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the strong.
1. Fact: The Revolution was not out of rebellion by the colonies, but rather
England rebelled against God's Law by repeated injuries of usurpation and
tyranny. The young colonies were forced to defend themselves against England's
tyranny.
a. eg. Bad laws, bad courts, police state (swarms of soldiers), taxes without
consent, deprived of trial by jury, deporting people for trial, England
declared the colonies out of their protection, rights of individuals plundered.
b. The colonies repeatedly petitioned England, but only received repeated
injury.
c. England was warned from time to time.
d. England was deaf to the voice of justice.
V. The colonies appealed to God the Supreme Judge of the world.
VI. The colonies right to be free and independent.
VII. Under the protection of God they pledged their lives, fortunes and honor.
GENERAL INDEX TO:
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
Preamble: The people hold the power: "We the People . . . in order to form
a more perfect union, . . . and secure the blessing of liberty . . ."
ARTICLE I.
SECTION.
1. Legislative powers.
2. House of representatives; qualifications of members; appointment of
representatives and direct taxes; census; first appointment; vacancies;
officers of the house; impeachments.
3. Senate, classification of senators; qualifications of; vice president to
preside; other officers; trial of impeachments.
4. Election of members of congress; time assembling of congress.
5. Powers of each house; punishment for disorderly Behaviour; journal;
adjournments.
6. Compensation and privileges; disabilities of members.
7. Revenue bills; passage and approval of bills; orders and resolutions.
8. General powers of congress; borrowing money; regulating commerce;
naturalization and bankruptcy; money; weights and measures; counterfeiting;
post offices; patents and copyrights; inferior courts; piracies and felonies;
war; marque and reprisal; armies; navy; land and naval forces; calling the
militia; District of Columbia; to enact laws necessary to enforce the
Constitution.
9. Limitations of congress; migration; writ; of habeas corpus; bills of
attainder and ex post facto laws prohibited; direct taxes; exports not to be
taxed; interstate shipping; drawing money from the treasury; financial
statements to be published; titles of nobility and favors from foreign powers
prohibited.
10. Limitations of the individual states; no treaties; letters of marque and
reprisal; no coining of money; bills of credit; not allowed to make any Thing
but gold and silver Coin for payment of debts; no bills of attainder; ex post
facto Law or law impairing the obligation of contracts; no title of nobility; state
imposts and duties; further restrictions on state powers.
ARTICLE II.
SECTION
1. Executive powers; electors; qualifications, vacancy, compensation and Oath
of the president.
2. Powers and duties of the president; making of treaties; powers of
appointments.
3. Other powers and duties.
4. All government officers are liable to impeachment.
ARTICLE III.
SECTION
1. Judicial powers; all judges must have good Behaviour to stay in office;
compensation not to be diminished.
2. Jurisdiction of federal courts and supreme court; trials for crime by jury
except impeachment.
3. Treason defined; trial for and punishment.
ARTICLE IV.
SECTION
1. Message to the states; each state is to give full faith and credit to public
acts and records of other states.
2. Citizens of each state shall be entitled; fleeing from justice.
3. Admission of new states; power of congress over territories.
4. Republican form of government guaranteed to every state; protection from
invasion or domestic violence.
ARTICLE V.
SECTION
1. Amending the Constitution.
ARTICLE VI.
SECTION
1. National obligations; Public debt; Constitution to be the supreme Law of the
land; Constitutional Oath of office; no religious test required.
ARTICLE VII.
SECTION
1. Ratification of the Constitution; George Washington signs Twelfhindi, the
highest ranking Saxon government, eg. He was equal of 1200 King Georges, or you
as a juror are equal to 1200 presidents, congressmen or judges, local, federal
or of the supreme Court.
GENERAL INDEX TO: THE BILL OF RIGHTS
and Amendments
PREAMBLE: Limiting the federal government: An expressed desire to prevent abuse
of federal powers!
ARTICLES -- COMMON LAW
I. Religious freedom, both to an establishment as well as the free exercise
thereof; freedom of speech, press; right of petition.
II. Right to bear arms.
III. Quartering of soldiers.
IV. The right to privacy and security against unreasonable search and seizures;
search warrants.
V. Grand Jury, double jeopardy, no one must witness against himself, no loss of
life, liberty or property without due process.
VI. Speedy and public trials, impartial jury; nature and cause, right to
confront; compulsory witnesses, assistance of Counsel -- note, does not say
attorney.
VII. Right to trial by jury according to the rules of common law -- Ten
Commandments are the foundation of Common Law.
VIII. Excessive bail, fines, punishment etc. prohibited.
IX. Rights beyond Bill of Rights belong to the people.
X. Undelegated powers belong to the people unless given by the people to the
states.
Articles I-X were proposed Sept. 25, 1789, ratified Dec. 15, 1791.
AMENDMENTS -- EQUITY LAW
XI. Restriction of judicial powers, proposed Mar. 5, 1794, adopted Jan. 8,
1798.
XII. Manner of electing the president and vice president, proposed Dec. 12,
1803, adopted Sept. 25, 1904.
XIII. Slavery and involuntary servitude prohibited, took effect* Dec. 18, 1865.
XIV. Citizenship and status defined, privilege of 2nd, 3rd, or whatever status
of citizenship one selects for oneself, as opposed to Freeholder with full
sovereign rights; apportionment of representatives; who is prohibited from
holding office; public debt. Caution: There is serious doubt as to the legality
of this amendment because of the manner of ratification which was highly
suspect. At least 10 States were held by force of arms until the proper
authorities agreed to vote for this amendment. An excellent overview of this
was written by the Utah Supreme Court -- 439 Pacific Reporter 2d Series pp
266-276, and for a more detailed account of how the 14th amendment was forced
upon the Nation see articles in 11 S.C. L. Q. 484 and 28 Tul. L. Rev. 22., took
effect July 28, 1868.
XV. Non Freeholders given right to vote, took effect Mar. 30, 1870.
XVI. Income tax, took effect Feb. 25, 1913, possibly only four states ratified
it properly.
XVII. Direct elections of senators; electors; vacancies in the senate, took
effect May 31, 1913. This moved us from a complex Republic to a simple Republic
much like the style of government of the Soviet Union. State rights were lost
and we were plunged headlong into a democracy of which our forefathers warned
was the vilest form of government because it always ends in oppression.
XVIII. Prohibition of liquor traffic, took effect Jan. 29, 1920.
XIX. Voting for women, took effect Aug. 27, 1920.
XX. Terms of the president, vice president, senators and representatives; date
of assembling of congress, vacancies of the president, power of congress in
presidential succession, took effect Feb. 6, 1933.
XXI. Eighteenth Article repealed; took effect Dec. 5, 1933.
XXII. Limits of the presidential term, took effect mar. 1, 1951.
XXIII. Electors for the District of Columbia, took effect April 3, 1961.
XXIV. Failure to pay any tax does not deny one the right to vote, took effect
Feb. 4, 1964.
XXV. Filling the office of the president or vice president during a vacancy,
took effect Feb. 23, 1967.
XXVI. Right to vote at 18, took effect July 5, 1971.
* Took effect is used as there is a great deal of suspicion as to the nature of
these amendments (common law vs equity), also whether the last 16 amendments
are legal, how many were ratified correctly, do they create a federal
constitution in opposition to the original, etc. For further studies a good
place to begin is with the article by the Utah Supreme Court on the 14th
amendment, 439 Pacific Reporter 2d Series, pp 266-276, and Senate Doc. 240.
In Congress, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to
dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to
assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which
the Laws of Nature and of Nature"s God entitle them, a decent respect to
the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which
impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving
their just powers from the consent of the governed.
That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is
the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new
Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers
in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and
Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established
should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all
experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils
are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they
are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing
invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute
Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government,
and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the
necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.
The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated
injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an
absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a
candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the
public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing
importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be
obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of
people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the
Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and
distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of
fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly
firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be
elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have
returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the
mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions
within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose
obstructing the Laws of Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others
to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new
Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws
for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their
offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers
to harass our People, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of
our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil
power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our
constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts
of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which
they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province,
establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so
as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same
absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering
fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with
power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and
waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed
the Lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to compleat
the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of
Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and
totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear
Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and
Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring
on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known
rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and
conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most
humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated
injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define
a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned
them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an
unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances
of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice
and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to
disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and
correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of
consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces
our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War,
in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General
Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the
rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good
People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United
Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they
are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political
connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be
totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full
Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and
to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And
for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the Protection of
Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and
our sacred Honor.
SIGNERS OF THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION
According to the Authenticated List printed by Order of Congress of January 18,
1877
JOHN HANCOCK.
New Hampshire JOSIAH BARTLETT WILLIAM WHIPPLE MATTHEW THORNTON
Massachusetts-Bay SAMUEL ADAMS JOHN ADAMS ROBERT TREAT PAINE ELBRIDGE GERRY
Rhode Island STEPHEN HOPKINS WILLIAM ELLERY
Connecticut ROGER SHERMAN SAMUEL HUNTINGTON WILLIAM WILLIAMS OLIVER WOLCOTT
Georgia BUTTON GWINNETT LYMAN HALL GEO. WALTON
Maryland SAMUEL CHASE WILLIAM PACA THOMAS STONE CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON
Virginia GEORGE WYTHE RICHARD HENRY LEE THOMAS JEFFERSON BENJAMIN HARRISON
THOMAS NELSON, JR. FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE CARTER BRAXTON.
New York WILLIAM FLOYD PHILIP LIVINGSTON FRANCIS LEWIS LEWIS MORRIS
Pennsylvania ROBERT MORRIS BENJAMIN RUSH BENJAMIN FRANKLIN JOHN MORTON GEORGE
CLYMER JAMES SMITH GEORGE TAYLOR JAMES WILSON GEORGE ROSS
Delaware CAESAR RODNEY GEORGE READ THOMAS M'KEAN
North Carolina WILLIAM HOOPER JOSEPH HEWES JOHN PENN
South Carolina EDWARD RUTLEDGE THOMAS HEYWARD, JR. THOMAS LYNCH, JR. ARTHUR
MIDDLETON
New Jersey RICHARD STOCKTON JOHN WITHERSPOON FRANCIS HOPKINS JOHN HART ABRAHAM
CLARK
YOUR TURN!
You -- as a juror -- armed merely with the knowledge of what a COMMON LAW JURY
really is and what your common law rights, powers and duties really are, can do
more to re-establish "liberty and justice for all" in this State and
ultimately throughout all of the United States than all out Senators and
Representatives put together. Why? Because even without the concurrence of any
of your fellow jurors in a criminal trial, you, with your single vote of
"NOT GUILTY" can nullify every rule or "law" that is not in
accordance with the principles of natural, God-given, Common, or Constitutional
Law. It is precisely this power of nullification that makes the trial by JURY
one of our most important RIGHTS. It can protect and preserve all of the
citizen's other RIGHTS.
The CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
Preamble
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.
* Originally, the Constitution had no title but simply began "We the
People..."
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 a 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, 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 chuse 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] 3 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 chuse 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.
Judgement in case 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, judgement and punishment, according to
law.
Sect. 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.
Sect. 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 shall 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 judgement 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 sessions 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.
Sect. 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
encreased 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.
Sect. 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 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 it 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.
Sect. 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
offences 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 square miles) as may, by cession of particular States, and
the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of government of the United States,
and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the
legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts,
magazines, arsenals, dock yards, and other needful buildings; - And
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.
Sect. 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 for 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.
Sect. 10. No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation;
grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make
any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill
of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts,
or grant any title of nobility.
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. 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
Sect. 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, the house of representatives shall immediately
chuse 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
chuse the president. But in chusing the president, the vote 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 senator shall chuse from them by ballot
the vice-president.
The Congress may determine the time of chusing 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 encreased 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."
Sect. 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 offences 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.
Sect. 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.
Sect. 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
Sect. 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.
Sect. 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 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.
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.
Sect. 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 open 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
Sect. 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.
Sect. 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 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.
Sect. 3. 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.
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.
Sect. 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 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, any thing in the constitution or
laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.
The senators and representatives beforementioned, 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 the
twelfth. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our Names.
GEORGE WASHINGTON, president, And Deputy from Virginia.
In CONVENTION,
Monday, September 17th, 1787.
PRESENT
The States of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Mr. Hamilton from
New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia,
North-Carolina, South-Carolina and Georgia:
RESOLVED,
That the preceding Constitution be laid before the United States in Congress
assembled, and that it is the opinion of this Convention, that it should
afterwards be submitted to a Convention of Delegates, chosen in each State by
the People thereof, under the Recommendation of its legislature, for their
Assent and Ratification; and that each Convention assenting to, and ratifying
the Same, should give Notice thereof to the United States in Congress
assembled.
Resolved, That it is the Opinion of this Convention, that as soon as the
Conventions of nine States shall have ratified this Constitution, the United
States in Congress assembled should fix a Day on which Electors should be
appointed by the States which shall have ratified the same, and a Day on which
the Electors should assemble to vote for the President, and the TIme and Place
for commencing Proceedings under this Constitution. That after such Publication
the Electors should be appointed, and the Senators and Representatives elected:
That the Electors should meet on the Day fixed for the Election of the
President, and should transmit their Votes certified, signed, sealed and
directed, as the Constitution requires, to the Secretary of the United States
in Congress assembled, that the Senators and Representatives should convene at
the Time and Place assigned; that the Senators should appoint a President of
the Senate, for the sole Purpose of receiving, opening and counting the Votes
for President; and, that after he shall be chosen, the Congress, together with
the President, should, without Delay, proceed to execute this Constitution.
By the Unanimous Order of the Convention,
GEORGE WASHINGTON, President,
WILLIAM JACKSON, Secretary
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 Brearley, William Paterson, Jonathan Dayton
Pennsylvania
Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Miffin, Robert Morris, George Clymer, Thomas
Fitzsimons, Jared Ingersoll, James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris
Delaware
George Read, Gunning Bedford, Junior, John Dickinson, Richard Bassett, Jacob Broom
Maryland
James M'Henry, Daniel of St. Tho. Jenifer, Daniel Carrol
Virginia
John Blair, James Madison, Junior
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
The BILL OF RIGHTS
As provided in the FIRST TEN AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED
STATES
Effective December 15, 1791
Preamble to the bill of rights of the Constitution of the United States of
America
Conventions of a number of States, having at the time of their adopting the
Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse
of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be
added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will
but ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.
RESOLVED...the following articles be ... part of the said Constitution;
NOTE: THIS PREAMBLE IS NOT OFFICIALLY A PART OF THE CONSTITUTION.
ARTICLES IN ADDITION TO, AND AMENDMENT OF, THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA, PROPOSED BY CONGRESS, AND RATIFIED BY THE LEGISLATURES OF
THE SEVERAL STATES, PURSUANT TO THE FIFTH ARTICLE OF THE ORIGINAL CONSTITUTION
AMENDMENT I (1791)
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or
the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition
the Government for a redress of grievances.
AMENDMENT II (1791)
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.
AMENDMENT III (1791)
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.
AMENDMENT IV (1791)
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.
AMENDMENT V (1791)
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
taken for public use, without just compensation.
AMENDMENT VI (1791)
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and
public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime
shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously
ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the
accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory
process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of
Counsel for his defense.
AMENDMENT VII (1791)
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty
dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a
jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any Court of the United States, than
according to the rules of the common law.
AMENDMENT VIII (1791)
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel
and unusual punishments inflicted.
AMENDMENT IX (1791)
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed
to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
AMENDMENT X (1791)
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to
the people.
AMENDMENT XI (1795)
The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any
suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States
by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.
AMENDMENT XII (1804)
The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for
President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant
of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person
voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as
Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as
President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of
votes for each, which lists 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 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 for President, shall
be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of the
Electors appointed; and if no person have such a majority, then from the
persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those
voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately,
by ballot, 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. [And
if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right
of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next
following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of
the death or other constitutional disability of the President. -] The person
having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the
Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors
appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers
on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the
purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a
majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person
constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to
that of Vice-President of the United States.
AMENDMENT XIII (1865)
SECTION 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment
for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within
the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
SECTION 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
AMENDMENT XIV (1868)
SECTION 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to
the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State
wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge
the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any
State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of
law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the
laws.
SECTION 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States
according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in
each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any
election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the
United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers
of a State or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the
male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of
the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in
rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced
in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole
number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
SECTION 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or
elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military,
under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an
oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a
member of any State legislature, or as an executive or Judicial officer of any
State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in
insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the
enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove
such disability
SECTION 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by
law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services
in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither
the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred
in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for
the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and
claims shall be held illegal and void.
SECTION 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate
legislation, the provisions of this article.
AMENDMENT XV (1870)
SECTION 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race,
color, or previous condition of servitude.
SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
AMENDMENT XVI (1913)
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on income, from whatever
source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without
regard to any census or enumeration.
AMENDMENT XVII (1913)
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each
State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall
have one vote. The electors in each state shall have the qualifications
requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.
When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the
executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such
vacancies: Provide, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive
thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by
election as the legislature may direct.
This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of
any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.
AMENDMENT XVIII (1919)
SECTION 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the
manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the
importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and
all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is
hereby prohibited.
SECTION 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to
enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
SECTION 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified
as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States,
as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the
submission hereof to the States by the Congress.
AMENDMENT XIX (1920)
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT XX (1933)
SECTION 1. The terms of the President and Vice-President shall end at noon on
the 20th day of January, and the terms of senators and Representatives at noon
on the 3rd day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if
this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall
then begin.
SECTION 2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such
meeting shall begin at noon on the 3rd day of January, unless they shall by law
appoint a different day.
SECTION 3. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the
President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice-President elect shall
become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time
fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have
failed to qualify, then the Vice-President elect shall act as President until a
President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the
case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice-President elect shall have
qualified, declaring who then shall then act as President, or the manner in
which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act
accordingly until a President or Vice-President shall have qualified.
SECTION 4. The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of
the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President
whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of
the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a
Vice-President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.
SECTION 5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October
following the ratification of this article.
SECTION 6. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified
as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the
several States within seven years from the date of its submission.
AMENDMENT XXI (1933)
SECTION 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the
United States is hereby repealed.
SECTION 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or
possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating
liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.
SECTION 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified
as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as
provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the
submission hereof to the States by the Congress.
AMENDMENT XXII (1951)
SECTION 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than
twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as
President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was
elected President shall be elected to the office of President more than once.
But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President
when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any
person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President,
during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the
office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.
SECTION 2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified
as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the
several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States
by the Congress.
AMENDMENT XXIII (1961)
SECTION 1. The District constituting the seat of government of the United
States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct:
A number of electors of President and Vice-President equal to the whole number
of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be
entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least populous
State; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the States, but they
shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and
Vice-President, to be electors appointed by a State; and they shall meet in the
District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of
amendment.
SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this amendment by
appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT XXIV (1964)
SECTION 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or
other election for President or Vice-President, or for Senator or
Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United
States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.
SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this amendment by
appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT XXV (1967)
SECTION 1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death
or resignation, the Vice-President shall become President.
SECTION 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice- President,
the President shall nominate a Vice-President who shall take office upon
confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
SECTION 3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the
Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration
that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until
he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and
duties shall be discharged by the Vice-President as acting President.
SECTION 4. Whenever the Vice-President and a majority of either the principal
officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by
law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the
Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the
President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the
Vice-President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as
Acting President.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the
senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration
that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office
unless the Vice-President and a majority of either the principal officers of
the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide,
transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the
Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the
President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.
Thereupon, Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours
for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days
after the receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in
session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble,
determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to
discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice-President shall
continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President
shall resume the powers and duties of his office.
AMENDMENT XXVI (1971)
SECTION 1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are (18) eighteen
years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United
States or by any State on account of age.
SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
"The poorest man may, in his cottage, bid defiance to all the forces of
the Crown. It may be frail, its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it;
the storm may enter; the rain may enter; but the King of England may not enter;
all his force dares not cross the threshhold of the ruined tenement."
This neglected warning, was sounded by William Pitt before the British House of
Commons addressing the need for PRIVACY -- the protection of LIFE, LIBERTY and
HAPPINESS. Will it go unheeded?
PROCLAIM LIBERTY!
Inscribed on our hallowed LIBERTY BELL are these words:
"PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND UNTO ALL THE INHABITANTS
THEREOF."
-Lev. XXV X
"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! Like
fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
-George Washington
"Woe to those who decree unjust statutes and to those who
continually record unjust decisions, to deprive the needy of justice, and to
rob the poor of My people of their rights..."
-Isaiah 10:1,2
TAKING THE PLUNGE!
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...!"
-Hosea 4:6
"The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do
nothing."
-Edmund Burke 1729-1797
"If My people which are called by My name, shall humble themselves,
and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear
from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
-II Chron. 7:14
"We must obey GOD rather than men."
-Acts 5:29
WARNING: THIS DOCUMENT MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO BAD LAWS.
Courts may not welcome or approve of these truths, neither are they to be
considered as legal advice. Therefore, to act on these facts is to do so at
your own risk or opportunity.