The Constitution of the United States of America
We the people of the United States, in order to
form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility,
provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure
the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and
establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Article I
Section 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall
be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a
Senate and House of Representatives.
Section 2. The House of Representatives shall be
composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several
states, and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications
requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state
legislature.
No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the
age of twenty five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United
States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state in
which he shall be chosen.
Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several
states which may be included within this union, according to their
respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole
number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of
years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.
The actual Enumeration shall be made within three years after the first
meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent
term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number
of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but
each state shall have at least one Representative; and until such
enumeration shall be made, the state of New Hampshire shall be entitled to
chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight,
Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South
Carolina five, and Georgia three.
When vacancies happen in the Representation from any state, the
executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such
vacancies.
The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other
officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment.
Section 3. The Senate of the United States shall be
composed of two Senators from each state, chosen by the legislature
thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote.
Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first
election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes.
The seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the
expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of
the fourth year, and the third class at the expiration of the sixth year,
so that one third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen
by resignation, or otherwise, during the recess of the legislature of any
state, the executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the
next meeting of the legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies.
No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the age of
thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States and who
shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he shall
be chosen.
The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the
Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.
The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a President pro
tempore, in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise
the office of President of the United States.
The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When
sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the
President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside:
And no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two thirds of
the members present.
Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to
removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of
honor, trust or profit under the United States: but the party convicted
shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment
and punishment, according to law.
Section 4. The times, places and manner of holding
elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each
state by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law
make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing
Senators.
The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such
meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law
appoint a different day.
Section 5. Each House shall be the judge of the
elections, returns and qualifications of its own members, and a majority
of each shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may
adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of
absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties as each House may
provide.
Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its
members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two thirds,
expel a member.
Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to
time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment
require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either House on
any question shall, at the desire of one fifth of those present, be
entered on the journal.
Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without the
consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other
place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.
Section 6. The Senators and Representatives shall
receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and
paid out of the treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases,
except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest
during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in
going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in
either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place.
No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was
elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the
United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof
shall have been increased during such time: and no person holding any
office under the United States, shall be a member of either House during
his continuance in office.
Section 7. All bills for raising revenue shall
originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or
concur with amendments as on other Bills.
Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the
Senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the President of
the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall
return it, with his objections to that House in which it shall have
originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and
proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two thirds of that
House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the
objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be
reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become
a law. But in all such cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined
by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the
bill shall be entered on the journal of each House respectively. If any
bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays
excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a
law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their
adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law.
Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the Senate
and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of
adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and
before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or being
disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and
House of Representatives, according to the rules and limitations
prescribed in the case of a bill.
Section 8. The Congress shall have power to lay and
collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide
for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all
duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several
states, and with the Indian tribes;
To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the
subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix
the standard of weights and measures;
To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and
current coin of the United States;
To establish post offices and post roads;
To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for
limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their
respective writings and discoveries;
To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas,
and offenses against the law of nations;
To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules
concerning captures on land and water;
To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use
shall be for a longer term than two years;
To provide and maintain a navy;
To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval
forces;
To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the
union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and
for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the
United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of
the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the
discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such
District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular
states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government
of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places
purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same
shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and
other needful buildings;--And
To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into
execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this
Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department
or officer thereof.
Section 9. The migration or importation of such
persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit,
shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand
eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such
importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.
The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended,
unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may
require it.
No bill of attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
No capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in proportion
to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.
No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state.
No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue
to the ports of one state over those of another: nor shall vessels bound
to, or from, one state, be obliged to enter, clear or pay duties in
another.
No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of
appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of
receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time
to time.
No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and no
person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without
the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or
title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.
Section 10. No state shall enter into any treaty,
alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin
money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a
tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law,
or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of
nobility.
No state shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or
duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for
executing 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
Section 1. The executive power shall be vested in a
President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during
the term of four years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for
the same term, be elected, as follows:
Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may
direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and
Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no
Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit
under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.
The electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot
for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the
same state with themselves. And they shall make a list of all the persons
voted for, and of the number of votes for each; which list they shall sign
and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the
United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of
the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of
Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be
counted. The person having the greatest number of votes shall be the
President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors
appointed; and if there be more than one who have such majority, and have
an equal number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall
immediately choose by ballot one of them for President; and if no person
have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the said House
shall in like manner choose the President. But in choosing the President,
the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each state
having one vote; A quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or
members from two thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states
shall be necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of the
President, the person having the greatest number of votes of the electors
shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who
have equal votes, the Senate shall choose from them by ballot the Vice
President.
The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the
day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same
throughout the United States.
No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United
States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be
eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible
to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five
years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States.
In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death,
resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said
office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may
by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation or inability,
both of the President and Vice President, declaring what officer shall
then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the
disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.
The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services, a
compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the
period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive
within that period any other emolument from the United States, or any of
them.
Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the
following oath or affirmation:--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that
I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States,
and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the
Constitution of the United States."
Section 2. The President shall be commander in chief
of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the
several states, when called into the actual service of the United States;
he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each
of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of
their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and
pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of
impeachment.
He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate,
to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and
he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate,
shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of
the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose
appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be
established by law: but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of
such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in
the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.
The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen
during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall
expire at the end of their next session.
Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the
Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their
consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he
may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them,
and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of
adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he
shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care
that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the
officers of the United States.
Section 4. The President, Vice President and all
civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on
impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes
and misdemeanors.
Article III
Section 1. The judicial power of the United States,
shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the
Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of
the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good
behaviour, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a
compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in
office.
Section 2. The judicial power shall extend to all
cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the
United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their
authority;--to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and
consuls;--to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction;--to
controversies to which the United States shall be a party;--to
controversies between two or more states;--between a state and citizens of
another state;-- between citizens of different states;--between citizens
of the same state claiming lands under grants of different states, and
between a state, or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens or
subjects.
In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls,
and those in which a state shall be party, the Supreme Court shall have
original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the
Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact,
with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall
make.
The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall
be by jury; and such trial shall be held in the state where the said
crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any state,
the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have
directed.
Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall
consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies,
giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason
unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on
confession in open court.
The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but
no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture
except during the life of the person attainted.
Article IV
Section 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in
each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every
other state. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in
which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect
thereof.
Section 2. The citizens of each state shall be
entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several
states.
A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who
shall flee from justice, and be found in another state, shall on demand of
the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up,
to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime.
No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws
thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or
regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be
delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be
due.
Section 3. New states may be admitted by the Congress
into this union; but no new states shall be formed or erected within the
jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction
of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the
legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress.
The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules
and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to
the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed
as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular
state.
Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every
state in this union a republican form of government, and shall protect
each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or
of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against
domestic violence.
Article V
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it
necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the
application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall
call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall
be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when
ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by
conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of
ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment
which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight
shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth
section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent,
shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.
Article VI
All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the adoption
of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under
this Constitution, as under the Confederation.
This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be
made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made,
under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the
land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in
the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of
the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers,
both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by
oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test
shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust
under the United States.
Article VII
The ratification of the conventions of nine states, shall be sufficient
for the establishment of this Constitution between the states so ratifying
the same.
Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the states present the
seventeenth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand seven
hundred and eighty seven and of the independence of the United States of
America the twelfth. In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our
Names,
G. Washington-Presidt. and deputy from Virginia
New Hampshire: John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman
Massachusetts: Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King
Connecticut: Wm: Saml. Johnson, Roger Sherman
New York: Alexander Hamilton
New Jersey: Wil: Livingston, David Brearly, Wm. Paterson, Jona: Dayton
Pennsylvania: B. Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robt. Morris, Geo. Clymer,
Thos. FitzSimons, Jared Ingersoll, James Wilson, Gouv Morris
Delaware: Geo: Read, Gunning Bedford jun, John Dickinson, Richard
Bassett, Jaco: Broom
Maryland: James McHenry, Dan of St Thos. Jenifer, Danl Carroll
Virginia: John Blair--, James Madison Jr.
North Carolina: Wm. Blount, Richd. Dobbs Spaight, Hu Williamson
South Carolina: J. Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Charles
Pinckney, Pierce Butler
Georgia: William Few, Abr Baldwin
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