(See Notes Below Text)
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.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.
Clause 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.
Clause 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.
Clause 3: 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. (See Note 2)
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.
Clause 4: When vacancies happen in the
Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue
Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.
Clause 5: The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other
Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.
Section.
3.
Clause 1: The Senate of the United States shall be composed
of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, (See
Note 3) for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.
Clause 2:
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. (See Note
4)
Clause 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.
Clause 4: The Vice President of the United States shall
be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally
divided.
Clause 5: 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.
Clause 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.
Clause 7: 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.
Clause 1:
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 chusing Senators.
Clause 2: The
Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall
be on the first Monday in December, (See Note 5) unless they shall by Law
appoint a different Day.
Section. 5.
Clause 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.
Clause 2: Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its
Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds,
expel a Member.
Clause 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.
Clause 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.
Section. 6.
Clause 1: 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. (See Note 6) They shall
in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, beprivileged
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.
Clause 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 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.Section. 7.
Clause 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.
Clause 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.
Clause 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.Section. 8.
Clause 1: 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;
Clause 2: To borrow Money on the
credit of the United States;
Clause 3: To regulate Commerce with foreign
Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
Clause
4: To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the
subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
Clause 5: To coin
Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard
of Weights and Measures;
Clause 6: To provide for the Punishment of
counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United
States;
Clause 7: To establish Post Offices and post Roads;
Clause 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;
Clause 9: To constitute Tribunals inferior to
the supreme Court;
Clause 10: To define and punish Piracies and Felonies
committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of
Nations;
Clause 11: To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal,
and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
Clause 12: To raise
and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for
a longer Term than two Years;
Clause 13: To provide and maintain a
Navy;
Clause 14: To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the
land and naval Forces;
Clause 15: To provide for calling forth the
Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel
Invasions;
Clause 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;
Clause 17: To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over
such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, byCession 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, dock-Yards,
and other needful Buildings;--And
Clause 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.Section.
9.
Clause 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.
Clause 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.
Clause 3: No Bill of Attainder
or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
Clause 4: No Capitation, or other
direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration
herein before directed to be taken. (See Note 7)
Clause 5: No Tax or Duty
shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.
Clause 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.
Clause 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.
Clause 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.Section. 10.
Clause 1: 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.
Clause 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 it's inspection Laws:
and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports
or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and
all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the
Congress.
Clause 3: 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.
Clause 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
Clause 2: 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.
Clause 3: 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
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 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 chuse
from them by Ballot the Vice President. (See Note 8)
Clause 4: 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.
Clause 5: 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.
Clause 6: 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, (See Note 9) the Same shall devolve on the
VicePresident, 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.
Clause 7: 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.
Clause 8: 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.
Clause
1: 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.
Clause 2: 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.
Clause 3: 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.
Clause 1: 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;
(See Note 10)--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.
Clause 2: 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.
Clause 3: 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.
Clause 1: 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.
Clause 2: 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.
Clause
1: The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and
Immunities of Citizens in the several States.
Clause 2: 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.
Clause 3: 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. (See Note
11)Section. 3.
Clause 1: 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.
Clause 2: 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.
Clause 1: 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.
Clause 2: 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.
Clause
3: 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,
GO. WASHINGTON--Presidt. and deputy from Virginia
[Signed also
by the deputies of twelve States.]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 A. Cotesworth
Pinckney
Charles Pinckney
Pierce Butler. Georgia
William Few
Abr Baldwin 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 Brearley.
WM. Paterson.
Jona: Dayton
Pennsylvania
B Franklin
Thomas Mifflin
RobT Morris
Geo.
Clymer
ThoS. FitzSimons
Jared Ingersoll
James Wilson.
Gouv Morris Attest
William Jackson Secretary NOTES
Note 1: This text of
the Constitution follows the engrossed copy signed by Gen. Washington and
the deputies from 12 States. The small superior figures preceding the
paragraphs designate Clauses, and were not in the original and have no
reference to footnotes.
The Constitution was adopted by a convention of
the States on September 17, 1787, and was subsequently ratified by the
several States, on the following dates: Delaware, December 7, 1787;
Pennsylvania, December 12, 1787; New Jersey, December 18, 1787; Georgia,
January 2, 1788; Connecticut, January 9, 1788; Massachusetts, February 6,
1788; Maryland, April 28, 1788; South Carolina, May 23, 1788; New Hampshire,
June 21, 1788.Ratification was completed on June 21, 1788. The
Constitution was subsequently ratified by Virginia, June 25, 1788; New York,
July 26, 1788; North Carolina, November 21, 1789; Rhode Island, May 29,
1790; and Vermont, January 10, 1791. In May 1785, a committee of Congress
made a report recommending an alteration in the Articles of Confederation,
but no action was taken on it, and it was left to the State Legislatures to
proceed in the matter. In January 1786, the Legislature of Virginia passed a
resolution providing for the appointment of five commissioners, who, or any
three of them, should meet such commissioners as might be appointed in the
other States of the Union, at a time and place to be agreed upon, to take
into consideration the trade of the United States; to consider how far a
uniform system in their commercial regulations may be necessary to their
common interest and their permanent harmony; and to report to the several
States such an act, relative to this great object, as, when ratified by
them, will enable the United States in Congress effectually to provide for
the same. The Virginia commissioners, after some correspondence, fixed the
first Monday in September as the time, and the city of Annapolis as the
place for the meeting, but only four other States were represented, viz:
Delaware, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; the commissioners
appointed by Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Rhode Island
failed to attend. Under the circumstances of so partial a representation,
the commissioners present agreed upon a report, (drawn by Mr. Hamilton, of
New York,) expressing their unanimous conviction that it might essentially
tend to advance the interests of the Union if the States by which they were
respectively delegated would concur, and use their endeavors to procure the
concurrence of the other States, in the appointment of commissioners to meet
at Philadelphia on the Second Monday of May following, to take into
consideration the situation of the United States; to devise such further
provisions as should appear to them necessary to render the Constitution of
the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union; and to
report such an act for that purpose to the United States in Congress
assembled as, when agreed to by them and afterwards confirmed by the
Legislatures of every State, would effectually provide for the
same.
Congress, on the 21st of February, 1787, adopted a resolution in
favor of a convention, and the Legislatures of those States which had not
already done so (with the exception of Rhode Island) promptly appointed
delegates. On the 25th of May, seven States having convened, George
Washington, of Virginia, was unanimously elected President, and the
consideration of the proposed constitution was commenced. On the 17th of
September, 1787, the Constitution as engrossed and agreed upon was signed by
all the members present, except Mr. Gerry of Massachusetts, and Messrs.
Mason and Randolph, of Virginia. The president of the convention transmitted
it to Congress, with a resolution stating how the proposed Federal
Government should be put in operation, and an explanatory letter. Congress,
on the 28th of September, 1787, directed the Constitution so framed, with
the resolutions and letter concerning the same, to "be transmitted to the
several Legislatures in order to be submitted to a convention of delegates
chosen in each State by the people thereof, in conformity to the resolves of
the convention."
On the 4th of March, 1789, the day which had been fixed
for commencing the operations of Government under the new Constitution, it
had been ratified by the conventions chosen in each State to consider it, as
follows: Delaware, December 7, 1787; Pennsylvania, December 12, 1787; New
Jersey, December 18, 1787; Georgia, January 2, 1788; Connecticut, January 9,
1788; Massachusetts, February 6, 1788; Maryland, April 28, 1788; South
Carolina, May 23, 1788; New Hampshire, June 21, 1788; Virginia, June 25,
1788; and New York, July 26, 1788.
The President informed Congress, on
the 28th of January, 1790, that North Carolina had ratified the Constitution
November 21, 1789; and he informed Congress on the 1st of June, 1790, that
Rhode Island had ratified the Constitution May 29, 1790. Vermont, in
convention, ratified the Constitution January 10, 1791, and was, by an act
of Congress approved February 18, 1791, "received and admitted into this
Union as a new and entire member of the United States."
Note 2: The part
of this Clause relating to the mode of apportionment of representatives
among the several States has been affected by Section 2 of amendment XIV,
and as to taxes on incomes without apportionment by amendment XVI.
Note
3: This Clause has been affected by Clause 1 of amendment XVII.
Note 4:
This Clause has been affected by Clause 2 of amendment XVIII.
Note 5:
This Clause has been affected by amendment XX.
Note 6: This Clause has
been affected by amendment XXVII.
Note 7: This Clause has been affected by amendment XVI.
Note 8: This
Clause has been superseded by amendment XII.
Note 9: This Clause has been
affected by amendment XXV.
Note 10: This Clause has been affected by
amendment XI.
Note 11: This Clause has been affected by amendment
XIII.
Note 12: The first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United
States (and two others, one of which failed of ratification and the other
which later became the 27th amendment) were proposed to the legislatures of
the several States by the First Congress on September 25, 1789. The first
ten amendments were ratified by the following States, and the notifications
of ratification by the Governors thereof were successively communicated by
the President to Congress: New Jersey, November 20, 1789; Maryland, December
19, 1789; North Carolina, December 22, 1789; South Carolina, January 19,
1790; New Hampshire, January 25, 1790; Delaware, January 28, 1790; New York,
February 24, 1790; Pennsylvania, March 10, 1790; Rhode Island, June 7, 1790;
Vermont, November 3, 1791; and Virginia, December 15, 1791.
Ratification was completed on December 15, 1791.
The amendments were
subsequently ratified by the legislatures of Massachusetts, March 2, 1939;
Georgia, March 18, 1939; and Connecticut, April 19, 1939.
Note 13: Only
the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th articles of amendment had numbers assigned to
them at the time of ratification.
Note 14: This sentence has been superseded by section 3 of amendment
XX.
Note 15: See amendment XIX and section 1 of amendment XXVI.
Note
16: Repealed by section 1 of amendment XXI. |