We, the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect
union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, 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 North 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.
Sec. 2.—The House of Representatives shall be composed of members
chosen every second year by the people of the several States, and the electors
in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the
most numerous branch of the State legislature.
No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to the age
of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States,
and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State in which
he shall be chosen.
Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several
States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective
numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number
of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and
excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other persons. The actual
enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of
the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term
of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of
representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand; but each
State shall have at least one representative; and until such enumeration
shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose
three; Massachusetts, eight; Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,
one; Connecticut, five; New York, six; New Jersey, four; Pennsylvania,
eight; Delaware, one; Maryland, six; Virginia, ten; North Carolina,
five; South Carolina, five; and Georgia, three.
When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the executive
authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.
The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other officers;
and shall have the sole power of impeachment.
Sec. 3.—The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two
senators from each State, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years;
and each senator shall have one vote.
Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first
election, they shall be divided, as equally as may be, into three classes.
The seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration
of the second year; of the second class, at the expiration of the fourth
year; and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one
third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen, by
resignation or otherwise, during the recess of the legislature of any State,
the executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next
meeting of the legislature which shall then fill such vacancies.
No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to the age of
thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who
shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State for which he shall
be chosen.
The Vice-president of the United States shall be president of the Senate,
but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.
The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a president pro
tempore, in the absence of the Vice-president, or when he shall exercise
the office as 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.
Sec. 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.
Sec. 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.
Sec. 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
on 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.
Sec. 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.
Sec. 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 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.
Sec. 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, hereinbefore directed to be taken.
No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State. No
preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the
ports of one State over those of another; nor shall vessels bound to or
from one State be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties, in another.
No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of
appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of the
receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time
to time.
No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States; and no person
holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, without the consent
of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title of any
kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.
Sec. 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 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 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 or 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."
Sec. 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.
Sec. 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.
Sec. 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
a 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.
Sec. 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.
Sec. 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.
Sec. 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.
Sec. 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 legislature 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.
Sec. 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 can not 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, any thing 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.
George Washington, President,
and Deputy from Virginia.
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 Bearly, William Patterson,
Jonathan Dayton.
Pennsylvania.—Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robert Morris,
George Clymer, Thomas Fitzsimons, Jared Ingersoll, James Wilson,
Gouverneur Morris.
Delaware.—George Read, Gunning Bedford, Jr., John Dickinson,
Richard Bassett, Jacob Broom.
Maryland.—James McHenry, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Daniel
Carroll.
Virginia.—John Blair, James Madison, Jr.
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.