Resource Center OLLibrary
|
8 |
|
OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
PREAMBLE.
WE, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, 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.
SECTION I. 1. All legislative
powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress1 of
the 
United
States, which shall consist of a senate and house of
representatives.
SEC. II. 1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Representatives and direct
taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be
included within this Union, according to their respective
numbers,2 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.3 The actual enumeration shall be
made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of
the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years,
in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of
representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand,
but each state shall have at least one representative; and until
such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall
be entitled to choose three; Massachusetts, eight; Rhode Island
and Providence Plantations, one; Connecticut, five; New York, six;
New Jersey, four; Pennsylvania, eight; Delaware, one; Maryland,
six; Virginia, ten; North Carolina, five; South Carolina, five;
and Georgia, three.
4. When vacancies happen in
the representation from any state, the executive authority
thereof
shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.
1 The body of senators and representatives for each term of two years (see Sec. 11. ¶ 1) for which representatives are chosen. is called one Congress. Each Congress expires at noon of the 4th of March next succeeding the beginning of its second regular session (see See. IV., ¶ 2), when a new Congress begins.
2 The apportionment under the census of 1870 is one representative to every 127,052 persons.
3 This refers to slaves.
|
|
9 |
5.
The house of representatives shall choose their speaker and other
officers,1 and shall have the sole power of
impeachment.
SEC.
III. 1. 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.
2. Immediately after they
shall be assembled in consequence of the first election, they
shalt 
be
divided, as equally as may be, into three classes. The seats of
the senators of the first class shalt 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.
3. 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.
4.
The vice-president of the United States shall be president of the
senate; but shall have no vote, unless they be equally
divided.
5. The senate shall choose their other officers,2 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.
6. 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.
7. Judgment, 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,
judgment, and punishment, according to law.
SEC.
IV. 1. The times, places, and manner of holding elections for
senators and representatives, shall be proscribed 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.
2.
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.
SEC. V. 1. 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.
2.
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.
3. 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.
4.
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.
1 The principal of these are the clerk, sergeant at-arms, door-keeper, and postmaster. The Speaker is the presiding officer.
2 The principal of these are the secretary, sergeant-at-arms, door-keeper, and postmaster.
28*
|
10 |
|
SEC. VI. 1. The senators and
representatives shall receive a compensation1 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.
2. 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.
SEC.
VII. 1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
SEC. VIII. The Congress shall
have power --
1.
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:
2. To borrow money on the credit of the United
States:
3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations,
and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes:
4. To establish a uniform rule of
naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies
throughout the United States:
5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof,
and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and
measures:
6. To provide for the punishment of
counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United
States:
7. To establish post offices and post roads:
8. 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.
9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the
supreme court:
1 The present compensation is $5000 a year, with twenty cents for every mile of travel by the most usually travelled post route to and from the national capital.
|
|
11 |
10. To define and punish
piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences
against the law of nations:
11. To declare war, grant letters of marque and
reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and
water:
12. To raise and support armies; but no
appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than
two years:
13. To provide and maintain a navy:
14. To make rules for the government and
regulation of the land and naval forces:
15. To provide for calling forth the militia to
execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel
invasions:
16. 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:
17. 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 government of the
United States;1 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
18. 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.
SEC. IX. 1. 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.
2.
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.
3.
No bill of attainder, or ex post facto law, shall be
passed.
4.
No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in
proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to
be taken.
5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state.
6.
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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
SEC. X. 1. 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.
2. 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
1 The District of Columbia. See p. 159, ¶ 6.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
© 1999, 2000, 2001 for NEGenWeb Project by Ted & Carole Miller