| 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. (See Note 1)
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 f 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, 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,
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.
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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 reason
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.
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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 1ACotesworth 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.
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