OpenGov - Open Government Brainstorm

This administration wants you to believe the constitution is a living document subject to changing as thier needs arise.I do not.

Janet Okubo:

"Okubo also emphasized the certification form "contains all the information needed by all federal government agencies for transactions requiring a birth certificate."

She added that the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized the state's current certification of live birth "as an official birth certificate meeting all federal and other requirements."

Blackie, her name is Janice. At least get that right.

The reason they have it on electronic filing because they wanted to have a more accurate way of filing...tru dat. But ya'll always forget to add that is was for same day requests of a birth certificates at the help window...meaning that they can give you a paper certificate the same day you request one...where prior to 2001 you would have to wait for it. Something that Blackie and his clan always over looks is that fact that there is a back to the electronic version that has not been released either.

I think it is safe to say that we would like to see a photo copy of both sides of the LFBC that Obama found and has in his possession...along with everything thing else he has sealed and is scared to show us...the people that is supposed to trust him.

Is there anything that would evidence the claim that the birth certificate you desire is still in his possession?

Or are you simply speculating?

Nobody but you have ever implied that it has not been anywhere but in his possession.

Grow up so that you can at least sit and listen to the adults conversate.

Clarification: You have no evidence whatsoever for the claim that the birth certificate you desire is still in his possession.

Obama's book is the last known comment or statement of anyone making claim that they had the 1961 original birth certificate in their hands...did you hear anyone make claim that it has been lost or destroyed...I didn't think so...nice try idiot.

You are up for the most retarded post of the week award...and leading by a large margin. Go away if you have nothing intelligent to say.

Blackmonlikker,,I've found your buds,they're looking for ya,,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a81aBak6u6w

In what year did Obama find the birth certificate you desperately desire?

You said: "did you hear anyone make claim [sic] that it has been lost or destroyed"

Well, did you hear anyone "make claim" that it has not been lost or destroyed?

What makes you think he still has it? Simply the lack of evidence pointing to the conclusion that he does not?

Are you familiar with syllogisms? Do you know what it means to deny the antecedent?

i kno where the bc is

http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/7986-4049

Motor eater, you are an idiot...shut up and go away. Boot me if you want to or if you can. You are a damn fool. You are a poser that wished he was something he is not.

You are no more a moderator than you are intelligent so just be quiet...you have just been moved back to the first grade class...(any of you in the first on here I'm sorry for insulting you by placing motor eater in your class but I have faith that you will graduate out of there before he does)

Big Rooster,

I'm going to try and make this simple for you...

Your argument is:

1. If evidence for the loss or destruction of the birth certificate in question has been observed then the birth certificate in question has been lost or destroyed.

2. Evidence for the loss or destruction of the birth certificate in question has not been observed.

3. Therefore evidence for the loss or destruction of the birth certificate in question does not exist and consequently Obama possesses the birth certificate in question.

You are committing the formal fallacy of denying the antecedent. It's not really something you can argue about.

Please remain calm.

I will make it easy for you.

You are a poser so shut the hell up. Moderate that.

If you need any more help understanding why your argument is demonstrably bankrupt of logic, please ask. Thanks.

You're wasting your time, moderator. Clucker read Stephen Tonchen's well-written birfer apologia and came away with the impression that birferism has a solid foundation. Tonchen, while admittedly a birfer, was at least honest enough to conclude that birferism is based on supposition, not law.

If you need any more help picking out your clothes I'll tell your mom to help you when she gets out of my shower.

Big Rooster,

A mature thing to do would be:

1) Attempt to refute my analysis of your argument.

2) Acknowledge the fallacy upon which your argument based.

3) Stop talking.

Please remain calm and pick one.

Blackie, you know this idiot is not a Mod and cant even boot somebody that is posing as you...what is she waiting for...the site to close first...if you are waiting for her to do it, I hope that you don't hold your breath.

I gave you everthing you were looking for and now you are supporting his retarded assed statement...I did think better of you but if that is your last and best effort...You were the smartest of the down syndrome kids supporting Obama until now.

Motor eater, I don't want to conversate with you on any issues because you too are a liar and a poser like creeksneekers2...Blackie would do good to kick your poser ass to the curb because you make him look bad by association.

Big Rooster,

Please remain calm and identify the lie in my analysis of your argument.

Please stick it in your ass and shut the hell up...you are a liar and a poser. Moderate that.

Regardless of whether or not I am posing or lying, would my posing or lying affect the validity of my assessment of your argument?

You go around here making all of these weak assed threats to kick when all you are really doing is hoping that a real mod will listen to you when you report them so that they can kick them.

You are a worthless liar and a poser. So go away.

See blackie...if you were a moderator would you let me drag my manhood all over your face like that.

I have fronted you out as a liar and because of that I will not do anything more than call you out as a liar.

I will talk to others about politics but not your lying ass.

Big Rooster,

How would any of this affect the validity of my assessment of your argument?

Do you deny the validity of my assessment of your argument?

I do not deny that you are A LIAR AND A POSER THAT SHOULD LEAVE!!! I TOLD YOU THAT I WILL NOT TALK POLITICS WITH ALIAR SO STFU POSER!

You come on here acting like you have power over everbody on here if they don't act right and even threatened me at one point yesterday...for much less than I have said today.

You want to tell everybody on here to do the right thing or else...but you are the one not acting right...kinda like Obama does.

Don't come to me with your line of BS you damn liar.

In short, you cannot deny the logic of my assessment of your argument (which I have clearly shown to be based on fallacious reasoning).

It is interesting that you are only now unwilling to engage in further discourse.

"fallacious" is you calling yourself a moderator you red assed liar!!! I see no one coming to your defence either so shut the hell up.

And that affects my assessment of your argument how?

Tell everyone how you lied to them and how you really wanted to be somebody in life but failed so miserably that you had to come here and lie to them...tell blackie, the liberals, the conservatives, the moderates, the democrats and the republicans...tell them all about how you are a fraud just like Obama...you are one of his biggest supporters on here and that makes since too...ya'll are both frauds.

You lied to your enemies and your friends on here...you are a whack job and should just leave...why would anybody on here (friend or foe)listen to you?

Big Rooster,

You are not the sharpest tool in the shed, and you sure are stubborn, but you will not lie in an attempt to undermine the validity of assessment of your argument.

I sincerely respect that.

You have no problem being a liar though do ya?

My silence on my status as a moderator (or lack thereof) does not prove me to be a liar.

You are committing the fallacy of "argumentum ex silentio". Would you like to learn about this fallacy also?

Drag my manhood all over your face like that?

I thought you wanted them to go away.Flirting like that won't do it.LOL

Then kick me you ragged assed liar...you are no different than your god Obama...you are both hiddng from the truth and lying to everyone about who you are...I am sure that you are a coward and a low life scum catcher. Your mother must be proud of you...

Rejean, I think this idiot must be into S&M or something...I can't believe he would come on here with all of the BS about how he will kick me and then not back it up...he is now officially my punk.

The argument from silence occurs when you draw a positive conclusion (that you believe I am not a moderator) from the lack of contrary evidence.

It is very similar to the fallacious argument made by many birfers, that since Obama is not bothering with their baseless accusations, the baseless accusations must therefore be true.

Are they salty moderator...I know you have the taste in your mouth...you must like it because you keep coming back for more of that salty, sweat soaked goodness...

We moderate death threats, personal information, pornography, state secrets, etc... not every whack job with a sharp tongue.

Please get over yourself.

Rooster,

I took the time to read Tonchen's entire piece. He is the most intelligent birfer I have run across, and I have run across hundreds of them. His explanations are fair and describe the laws and the underpinnings of both birfer and anti-birfer arguments. (He attended Rochester Inst. of Technology. So did I. So that may explain his fecundity)

He concludes that the only real claim that the birfers have is the definition of NBC. None of their other arguments, including the 'forged' BC and the Kenyan birth theory, are supported by strong, court-worthy evidence.

He admits that Congress has not passed any law defining NBC, but he avoids drawing any conclusions about that.

I will, though.

If Congress passes a law that NBC means both parents born in America, then Barack cannot run again in 2012. It won't affect his current presidency in all likelihood.

How likely is it that a Democratic congress will pass such a law? Tonchen sidesteps that obvious corollary to his NBC definition theory.

LIAR! You threatened to kick me yesterday for much less so shut your lying ass up you damn freak.

Rooster,

Much like the birfer conspiracy, you have no positive evidence for your assertions.

Would you like to review the argument from silence?

Would you like to discuss the concept of onus probandi in the context of discourse?

Blackie, the law is there already, but the argument is to define it and I feel that any good team of lawyers could get through that because there are lots of cases that go to court everyday that lack definition of many terms...I hope I stated that right?

I hope that you understand that if "moderator" tries to chime into our discussion i will not give him a return that is favorable.

motor eater, just shut the hell up you retarded assed liar...just STFU.

Big Rooster,

Can you, with a clear conscious, deny my assessment of your argument?

Rooster,

"Any good team of lawyers"?

You do understand that CONGRESSMEN will pass a law on this? It won't be decided by lawyers in court. According to Tonchen, it is up to Congress to define the term and write legislation around it.

So far, in 232 years, it hasn't been done.

My question is, will the current Congress write a law that is favorable to birfer sentiments? No lawyers, other than voting congressmen who happen to be lawyers.

Not one congressman has publicly supported birfer ideas, not even Ron Paul.

Ask Sonia Sotomayor, about how many times has a judge writtem laws...you know that is correct too...I am not a huge fan of hers but I know she is right on that subject like it or not.

Just to let you know...I would not want her as a SCJ but I do like many of the things she has said in the papers I have read...(no need to reply to this part)

Democracy:

A government of the masses.

Authority derived through mass meeting or any other form of "direct" expression.

Results in mobocracy.

Attitude toward property is comunistic-negating property rights.

Attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall regulate. whether it be based upon deliberation or governed by passion, prejudice, and impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences.

Results in demagogism license, agitation, discontent, anarchy.

Democracy is the "direct" rule of the people and has been repeatedly tried without success.

A certain Professor Alexander Fraser Tytler, nearly two centuries ago, had this to say about Democracy: " A Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of Government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largess out of public treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that Democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal policy, always to be followed by a Dictatorship."

A democracy is majority rule and is destructive of liberty because there is no law to prevent the majority from trampling on individual rights. Whatever the majority says goes! A lynch mob is an example of pure democracy in action. There is only one dissenting vote, and that is cast by the person at the end of the rope.

Republic:

Authority is derived through the election by the people of public officials best fitted to represent them.

Attitude toward property is respect for laws and individual rights, and a sensible economic procedure.

Attitude toward law is the administration of justice in accord with fixed principles and established evidence, with a strict regard to consequences.

A greater number of citizens and extent of territory may be brought within its compass.

Avoids the dangerous extreme of either tyranny or mobocracy. Results in statesmanship, liberty, reason, justice, contentment, and progress.

Is the "standard form" of government throughout the world.

A republic is a form of government under a constitution which provides for the election of:

an executive and

a legislative body, who working together in a representative capacity, have all the power of appointment, all power of legislation all power to raise revenue and appropriate expenditures, and are required to create

a judiciary to pass upon the justice and legality of their governmental acts and to recognize

certain inherent individual rights.

Take away any one or more of those four elements and you are drifting into autocracy. Add one or more to those four elements and you are drifting into democracy.

Our Constitutional fathers, familiar with the strength and weakness of both autocracy and democracy, with fixed principles definitely in mind, defined a representative republican form of government. They "made a very marked distinction between a republic and a democracy and said repeatedly and emphatically that they had founded a republic."

A republic is a government of law under a Constitution. The Constitution holds the government in check and prevents the majority (acting through their government) from violating the rights of the individual. Under this system of government a lynch mob is illegal. The suspected criminal cannot be denied his right to a fair trial even if a majority of the citizenry demands otherwise.

Difference between Democracy and Republic, in brief:

Democracy:

a: government by the people; especially : rule of the majority.

b: a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.

Attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall regulate, whether it be based upon deliberation or governed by passion, prejudice, and impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences

Republic

a: a government having a chief of state who is not a monarch and who in modern times is usually a president : a political unit (as a nation) having such a form of government.

b: a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law.

Democracy and Republic are often taken as one of the same thing, but there is a fundamental difference. Whilst in both cases the government is elected by the people, in Democracy the majority rules according to their whims, whilst in the Republic the Government rule according to law. This law is framed in the Constitution to limit the power of Government and ensuring some rights and protection to Minorities and individuals.

The difference between Republic and Righteous Republic is that in the Republic the Government rules according to the law set up by men, in the Righteous Republic the law is the Law of God. Only in the Righteous Republic it can truly be said "One nation under God" for it is governed under commandments of the only One True God and there is no pluralism of religions.

Autocracy declares the divine right of kings; its authority can not be questioned; its powers are arbitrarily or unjustly administered.

Mobocracy: 1. Political control by a mob. 2. The mass of common people as the source of political control.

Mod, you no clear conscious sodon't ask me about mine you red assed lying punk.

Well, if you want to get the NBC issue decided by a judge you'll have to get around standing.

So you're in a Catch-22. The laws aren't on your side. Tonchen hints at this, but doesn't describe the full brunt of the situation.

Rooster,

What positive evidence do you have for me not being a moderator?

There's only one way to settle this...How about you go ahead and post some pornographic links and you'll find out?

Blackie, see this is why it does no good to try to prove it on here...I told you that I am no lawyer and the courts will have to work it our.

All we can really do is wait and see...I hope they dig up something to prove I am right...if he ever proves I am wrong I will tell you that not only was I wrong but you are right. But we still have got to wait and see.

What do you know about that man that got shot while setting in his car that was supposed to be a key witness in some case that had to do with the three guys that looked into Obamas passport a while back?

Damn that was a long sentence!

I think he was a Lt. or something like that?

Mod, I have called you out as a liar and talked about your mother and what a bad job she has done bringing you up...I have no need to post porn websires on here and you already know if I do the REAL moderators would kick me and have every right to do so.

I should turn you in for trying to tempt me to violate the sites policies...but you are so pathetic I would rather let you suffer the fate of you being born you. That in itself is a tough sentence.

As I said before, we moderate death threats, personal information, pornography, state secrets, etc... not every whack job with a sharp tongue.

Put up or shut up and respect my authority.

Moderator 1 hour ago Report Abuse

The argument from silence occurs when you draw a positive conclusion (that you believe I am not a moderator) from the lack of contrary evidence,,

Yea kick him out ,

Do I need to copy and past where you threatened to kick me yesterday then you damn fool. Tell me why did you do that if it is not in your authority to do so...power hungry are you...more Obama traits I see.

Tell blackie whay it is that you can't kick the poser that has been jacking with him...you told him at one point "he was about to be took care of"..you lied then too. You are a pathetic excuse for a human...you are not even qualified to convert O2 into CO2 you POS lying bastard.

Go away liar.

As much as I would love to give him the boot, I can't flex the massive power I wield just to satisfy the curiosity of random conspiracy theorists.

You want proof, Rooster? Go ahead and call my "bluff". Post some porn and see if I don't give you the boot within 30 seconds.

Moderator: Big Win

Big Rooster:

Cockadoodledoooooo

You sure threatened me yesterday you fag. I don't go to porn sights as I get mine for real unlike you with your laytex Obama blow-up doll with a real feel mouth. GFYS.

Go ahead and post one. It's not like you can't make a new account the moment I boot you.

The only reason you won't is because deep down you know I am a moderator with very serious power.

As for the birth certificate, it is Mr. Obama's burden of proof to the fact that he was or was not born on American soil. It is my understanding that if he was not, he cannot be the President of the greatest country today. If it is not in his possession then he cannot satisfy his burden.

I know the filters will do what your dumb ass can't and besides I don't know of any and I won't polute my computer with videos and pictures of you mom paying the rent.

Big Rooster? More like big chicken...

They come to kill the Rooster

Man I loved that song when it first came out.

Stop Barrck Obama facebook ,

Hey look is that a grenade? I,ll got it here.

http://www.newsfilter.org/

Yea, they came to snuff the rooster...and he ain't gonna die...yea here comes rooster...

I'm a big Alice In Chains fan!

Mod, when are you going to kick that spoof for Blackie? Ooo ooo I know...never...he has been doing it for days you weak assed fag. You told Blackie that the spoof was about to be took care of. What are you going to do...go find him and suck him off if he'll quit making you look bad?

You are about a piss poor excuse for a moderator...how lame.

"What do you know about that man that got shot while setting in his car that was supposed to be a key witness in some case that had to do with the three guys that looked into Obamas passport a while back?"

In Arkansas? All I know is that Linda Starr claimed the guy was a friend of hers, and she said the same thing would happen to her because she was on Obama's trail. She's made lots of claims. But I know more about Linda than I do about this murder.

Moderator:

Big Rooster has been acting this way for days. I first saw it when he tried to sweet talk a yeti. I think he wanted to cyber with it right here on the open government forum. The yeti wasn't interested. So Big Rooster started saying really mean and vulgar things. He's been like that since. I think he wanted you too and now he's double heart broken.

He can't keep up with intelligent arguments so he acts like he doesn't care. Anybody who wants to can see through it. I don't know if you are really a moderator or not but if you aren't it sure is a funny gag. Liars like the birthers get all sanctimonius when they speak of the truth, but only when they are pointing at others. They set no standards for themselves.

I expect that Big Rooster will slink away when he can't scare everybody who raises questions about his stories away. He'll go to some place like World Net Daily, where he can compete with the intelligence of the inhabitants.

I was hoping you might know more than that...that seems to be very quiet for some reason.

I think I will do some digging around and see whats up.

Creek, I proved you to be an outright liar just like your sister.

Moderater said--As much as I would love to give him the boot, I can't flex the massive power I wield just to satisfy the curiosity of random conspiracy theorists.

You want proof, Rooster? Go ahead and call my "bluff". Post some porn and see if I don't give you the boot within 30 seconds.

Sounds like a poser to me.Massive Power WOW that's rich lol

Big Rooster is a classic troll, nothing intelligent to say so it hurls insults wherever it posts.

Rejean, you know as well as I do that she has been going on about how she would kick people if they didn't watch their mouths...I just got sick and tired of her big mouth and no ass to back it up...she has shown me how much she has in common with Obama.

If I was a moderator...a real moderator, I would have sent a personal e-mail out and said enough is enough. I would have let them know that I do have control over this. I would have believed that.

proprting, and? You have said what? I have not a care about what you say...your right to do that...that is your opinion and are more than welcome to it. Just don't lie to me.

You do know opinions, lies and insults are not always directly connected so you can insult me too...it's ok.

Yep,, But as this site is supposed tp close ,I believe on the 18th what the hell.It's been a pleasure,I guess,whatching the Liberal apologist' declare thier insanity.Stop Obama is where I'll redaing.It's not as interesting as this real time debate thuogh.GO BILLS!! 30 seconds? you'll be gone? that don't get much better.

I will try to be Big Rooster (from east Texas)no matter what forum you see me in...I think you should recognize me pretty easy.

Provided by USConstitution.net

------------------------------

[Note: Repealed text is not noted in this version. Spelling errors have been

corrected in this version. For an uncorrected, annotated version of the

Constitution, visit http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html ]

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 1.

Section 1

All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the

United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Section 2

The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second

Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall

have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of

the State Legislature.

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of

twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who

shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be

chosen.

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States

which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers,

which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons,

including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not

taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.

The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting

of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten

Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of

Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State

shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be

made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to 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.

Section 3

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each

State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall

have one Vote.

Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election,

they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the

Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second

Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and 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 of

President of the United States.

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for

that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the

United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be

convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from

Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or

Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be

liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to

Law.

Section 4

The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and

Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof;

but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except

as to the Place of Choosing Senators.

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall

be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a

different Day.

Section 5

Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of

its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do

Business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be

authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and

under such Penalties as each House may provide.

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for

disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two-thirds, expel a Member.

Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time

publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require

Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question

shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal.

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of

the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that

in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

Section 6

The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their

Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United

States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the

Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of

their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for

any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other

Place.

No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected,

be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States which

shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased

during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States,

shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.

Section 7

All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives;

but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate,

shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United

States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his

Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the

Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after

such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it

shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it

shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it

shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be

determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and

against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If

any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays

excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law,

in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment

prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.

Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and

House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment)

shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same

shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall

be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according

to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.

Section 8

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and

Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence 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 an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject

of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the

Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin

of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited

Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings

and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and

Offenses against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning

Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be

for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union,

suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for

governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United

States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers,

and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline

prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District

(not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and

the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United

States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent

of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of

Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into

Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this

Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or

Officer thereof.

Section 9

The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing

shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to

the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed

on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.

The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when

in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

No capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the

Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the

Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from,

one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations

made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of 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.

Section 10

No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters

of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make 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 2.

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 lie an Inhabitant of the same State

with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and

of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and

transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to

the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence

of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the

Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes

shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of

Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and

have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall

immediately choose by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a

Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like

Manner choose the President. But in choosing the President, the Votes shall be

taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; a quorum

for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two-thirds of the

States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In

every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest

Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there

should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall choose from

them by Ballot the Vice-President.

The Congress may determine the Time of choosing the Electors, and the Day on

which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the

United States.

No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at

the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office

of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not

have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a

Resident within the United States.

In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death,

Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said

Office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by

Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of

the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as

President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be

removed, or a President shall be elected.

The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation,

which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he

shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other

Emolument from the United States, or any of them.

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following

Oath or Affirmation:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of

President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve,

protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Section 2

The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United

States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual

Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the

principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any subject

relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to

Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in

Cases of Impeachment.

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make

Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall

nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint

Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court,

and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein

otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress

may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think

proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of

Departments.

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during

the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End

of their next Session.

Section 3

He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the

Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge

necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both

Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with

Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he

shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he

shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all

the Officers of the United States.

Section 4

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States,

shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason,

Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Article 3.

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 Behavior, and shall, at stated Times, receive for

their Services a Compensation which shall not be diminished during their

Continuance in Office.

Section 2

The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under

this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which

shall be made, under their Authority; to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other

public Ministers and Consuls; to all Cases of admiralty and maritime

Jurisdiction; to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party; to

Controversies between two or more States; between a State and Citizens of

another State; between Citizens of different States; between Citizens of the

same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a

State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and

those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original

Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall

have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and

under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.

The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and

such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been

committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such

Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.

Section 3

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against

them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person

shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the

same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

The Congress shall have power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no

Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except

during the Life of the Person attainted.

Article 4.

Section 1

Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records,

and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general

Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be

proved, and the Effect thereof.

Section 2

The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities

of Citizens in the several States.

A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall

flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on demand of the

executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be

removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.

No Person held to Service or 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.

Section 3

New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new States

shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any

State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or parts of States,

without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of

the Congress.

The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and

Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United

States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice

any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.

Section 4

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican

Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on

Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature

cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.

Article 5.

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 6.

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 7.

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 Brearley, William Paterson, Jonathan

Dayton

Pennsylvania - Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robert Morris, George Clymer,

Thomas Fitzsimons, Jared Ingersoll, James Wilson, Gouvernour 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

Amendment 1

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or

prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or

of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition

the Government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment 2

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the

right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment 3

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the

consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by

law.

Amendment 4

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and

effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and

no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or

affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the

persons or things to be seized.

Amendment 5

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime,

unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising

in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time

of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense

to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any

criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life,

liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be

taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment 6

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and

public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime

shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously

ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the

accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory

process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of

Counsel for his defence.

Amendment 7

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty

dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a

jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than

according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment 8

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel

and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment 9

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed

to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment 10

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor

prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to

the people.

Amendment 11

The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any

suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States

by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.

Amendment 12

The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for

President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant

of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person

voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as

Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as

President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President and of the number of

votes for each, which lists 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 for President, shall be the

President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors

appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having

the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as

President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot,

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. And if the House

of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice

shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then

the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other

constitutional disability of the President.

The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the

Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors

appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers

on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the

purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a

majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person

constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to

that of Vice-President of the United States.

Amendment 13

1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime

whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United

States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate

legislation.

Amendment 14

1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the

jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State

wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge

the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any

State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of

law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the

laws.

2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to

their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State,

excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the

choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States,

Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or

the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male

inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the

United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion,

or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the

proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole

number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of

President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the

United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a

member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of

any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to

support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in

insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the

enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove

such disability.

4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law,

including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in

suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the

United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred

in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for

the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and

claims shall be held illegal and void.

5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the

provisions of this article.

Amendment 15

1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or

abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or

previous condition of servitude.

2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate

legislation.

Amendment 16

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from

whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and

without regard to any census or enumeration.

Amendment 17

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each

State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall

have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications

requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the

executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such

vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the

executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the

vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of

any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.

Amendment 18

1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale,

or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into,

or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to

the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.

2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce

this article by appropriate legislation.

3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an

amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as

provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the

submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

Amendment 19

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or

abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment 20

1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th

day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d

day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this

article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then

begin.

2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting

shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law appoint

a different day.

3. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the

President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become

President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for

the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to

qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President

shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein

neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified,

declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to

act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President

or Vice President shall have qualified.

4. The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the

persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever

the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the

death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President

whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.

5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October following the

ratification of this article.

6. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an

amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the

several States within seven years from the date of its submission.

Amendment 21

1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States

is hereby repealed.

2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession

of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in

violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

3. The article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an

amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided

in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof

to the States by the Congress.

Amendment 22

1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice,

and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for

more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President

shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this

Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President, when this

Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may

be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term

within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of

President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an

amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the

several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States

by the Congress.

Amendment 23

1. The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall

appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct: A number of electors of

President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and

Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were

a State, but in no event more than the least populous State; they shall be in

addition to those appointed by the States, but they shall be considered, for

the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors

appointed by a State; and they shall meet in the District and perform such

duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment.

2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate

legislation.

Amendment 24

1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other

election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or

Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be

denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to

pay any poll tax or other tax.

2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate

legislation.

Amendment 25

1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or

resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the

President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon

confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate

and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he

is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he

transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties

shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.

4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers

of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law

provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of

the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is

unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President

shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting

President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the

Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration

that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office

unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of

the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide,

transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the

Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the

President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon

Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty eight hours for that

purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty one days after

receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session,

within twenty one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by

two thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the

powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge

the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers

and duties of his office.

Amendment 26

1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or

older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any

State on account of age.

2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate

legislation.

Amendment 27

No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and

Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall

have intervened.

Provided by USConstitution.net

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[Note: Repealed text is not noted in this version. Spelling errors have been

corrected in this version. For an uncorrected, annotated version of the

Constitution, visit http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html ]

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 1.

Section 1

All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the

United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Section 2

The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second

Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall

have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of

the State Legislature.

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of

twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who

shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be

chosen.

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States

which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers,

which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons,

including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not

taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.

The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting

of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten

Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of

Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State

shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be

made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to 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.

Section 3

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each

State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall

have one Vote.

Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election,

they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the

Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second

Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and 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 of

President of the United States.

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for

that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the

United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be

convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from

Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or

Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be

liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to

Law.

Section 4

The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and

Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof;

but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except

as to the Place of Choosing Senators.

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall

be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a

different Day.

Section 5

Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of

its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do

Business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be

authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and

under such Penalties as each House may provide.

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for

disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two-thirds, expel a Member.

Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time

publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require

Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question

shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal.

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of

the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that

in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

Section 6

The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their

Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United

States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the

Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of

their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for

any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other

Place.

No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected,

be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States which

shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased

during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States,

shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.

Section 7

All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives;

but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate,

shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United

States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his

Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the

Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after

such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it

shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it

shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it

shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be

determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and

against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If

any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays

excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law,

in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment

prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.

Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and

House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment)

shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same

shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall

be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according

to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.

Section 8

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and

Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence 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 an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject

of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the

Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin

of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited

Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings

and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and

Offenses against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning

Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be

for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union,

suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for

governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United

States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers,

and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline

prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District

(not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and

the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United

States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent

of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of

Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into

Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this

Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or

Officer thereof.

Section 9

The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing

shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to

the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed

on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.

The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when

in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

No capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the

Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the

Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from,

one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations

made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of 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.

Section 10

No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters

of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make 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 2.

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 lie an Inhabitant of the same State

with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and

of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and

transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to

the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence

of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the

Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes

shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of

Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and

have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall

immediately choose by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a

Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like

Manner choose the President. But in choosing the President, the Votes shall be

taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; a quorum

for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two-thirds of the

States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In

every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest

Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there

should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall choose from

them by Ballot the Vice-President.

The Congress may determine the Time of choosing the Electors, and the Day on

which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the

United States.

No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at

the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office

of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not

have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a

Resident within the United States.

In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death,

Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said

Office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by

Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of

the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as

President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be

removed, or a President shall be elected.

The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation,

which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he

shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other

Emolument from the United States, or any of them.

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following

Oath or Affirmation:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of

President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve,

protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Section 2

The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United

States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual

Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the

principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any subject

relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to

Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in

Cases of Impeachment.

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make

Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall

nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint

Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court,

and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein

otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress

may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think

proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of

Departments.

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during

the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End

of their next Session.

Section 3

He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the

Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge

necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both

Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with

Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he

shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he

shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all

the Officers of the United States.

Section 4

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States,

shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason,

Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Article 3.

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 Behavior, and shall, at stated Times, receive for

their Services a Compensation which shall not be diminished during their

Continuance in Office.

Section 2

The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under

this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which

shall be made, under their Authority; to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other

public Ministers and Consuls; to all Cases of admiralty and maritime

Jurisdiction; to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party; to

Controversies between two or more States; between a State and Citizens of

another State; between Citizens of different States; between Citizens of the

same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a

State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and

those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original

Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall

have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and

under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.

The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and

such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been

committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such

Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.

Section 3

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against

them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person

shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the

same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

The Congress shall have power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no

Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except

during the Life of the Person attainted.

Article 4.

Section 1

Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records,

and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general

Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be

proved, and the Effect thereof.

Section 2

The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities

of Citizens in the several States.

A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall

flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on demand of the

executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be

removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.

No Person held to Service or 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.

Section 3

New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new States

shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any

State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or parts of States,

without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of

the Congress.

The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and

Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United

States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice

any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.

Section 4

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican

Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on

Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature

cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.

Article 5.

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 6.

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 7.

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 Brearley, William Paterson, Jonathan

Dayton

Pennsylvania - Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robert Morris, George Clymer,

Thomas Fitzsimons, Jared Ingersoll, James Wilson, Gouvernour 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

Amendment 1

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or

prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or

of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition

the Government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment 2

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the

right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment 3

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the

consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by

law.

Amendment 4

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and

effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and

no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or

affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the

persons or things to be seized.

Amendment 5

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime,

unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising

in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time

of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense

to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any

criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life,

liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be

taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment 6

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and

public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime

shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously

ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the

accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory

process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of

Counsel for his defence.

Amendment 7

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty

dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a

jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than

according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment 8

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel

and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment 9

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed

to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment 10

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor

prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to

the people.

Amendment 11

The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any

suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States

by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.

Amendment 12

The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for

President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant

of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person

voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as

Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as

President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President and of the number of

votes for each, which lists 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 for President, shall be the

President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors

appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having

the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as

President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot,

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. And if the House

of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice

shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then

the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other

constitutional disability of the President.

The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the

Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors

appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers

on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the

purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a

majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person

constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to

that of Vice-President of the United States.

Amendment 13

1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime

whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United

States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate

legislation.

Amendment 14

1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the

jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State

wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge

the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any

State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of

law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the

laws.

2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to

their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State,

excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the

choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States,

Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or

the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male

inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the

United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion,

or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the

proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole

number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of

President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the

United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a

member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of

any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to

support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in

insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the

enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove

such disability.

4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law,

including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in

suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the

United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred

in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for

the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and

claims shall be held illegal and void.

5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the

provisions of this article.

Amendment 15

1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or

abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or

previous condition of servitude.

2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate

legislation.

Amendment 16

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from

whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and

without regard to any census or enumeration.

Amendment 17

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each

State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall

have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications

requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the

executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such

vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the

executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the

vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of

any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.

Amendment 18

1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale,

or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into,

or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to

the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.

2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce

this article by appropriate legislation.

3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an

amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as

provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the

submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

Amendment 19

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or

abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment 20

1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th

day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d

day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this

article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then

begin.

2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting

shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law appoint

a different day.

3. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the

President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become

President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for

the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to

qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President

shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein

neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified,

declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to

act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President

or Vice President shall have qualified.

4. The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the

persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever

the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the

death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President

whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.

5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October following the

ratification of this article.

6. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an

amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the

several States within seven years from the date of its submission.

Amendment 21

1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States

is hereby repealed.

2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession

of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in

violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

3. The article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an

amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided

in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof

to the States by the Congress.

Amendment 22

1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice,

and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for

more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President

shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this

Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President, when this

Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may

be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term

within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of

President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an

amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the

several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States

by the Congress.

Amendment 23

1. The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall

appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct: A number of electors of

President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and

Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were

a State, but in no event more than the least populous State; they shall be in

addition to those appointed by the States, but they shall be considered, for

the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors

appointed by a State; and they shall meet in the District and perform such

duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment.

2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate

legislation.

Amendment 24

1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other

election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or

Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be

denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to

pay any poll tax or other tax.

2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate

legislation.

Amendment 25

1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or

resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the

President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon

confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate

and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he

is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he

transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties

shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.

4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers

of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law

provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of

the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is

unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President

shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting

President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the

Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration

that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office

unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of

the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide,

transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the

Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the

President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon

Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty eight hours for that

purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty one days after

receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session,

within twenty one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by

two thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the

powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge

the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers

and duties of his office.

Amendment 26

1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or

older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any

State on account of age.

2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate

legislation.

Amendment 27

No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and

Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall

have intervened.

See the first post

Democracy:

A government of the masses.

Authority derived through mass meeting or any other form of "direct" expression.

Results in mobocracy.

Attitude toward property is comunistic-negating property rights.

Attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall regulate. whether it be based upon deliberation or governed by passion, prejudice, and impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences.

Results in demagogism license, agitation, discontent, anarchy.

Democracy is the "direct" rule of the people and has been repeatedly tried without success.

A certain Professor Alexander Fraser Tytler, nearly two centuries ago, had this to say about Democracy: " A Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of Government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largess out of public treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that Democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal policy, always to be followed by a Dictatorship."

A democracy is majority rule and is destructive of liberty because there is no law to prevent the majority from trampling on individual rights. Whatever the majority says goes! A lynch mob is an example of pure democracy in action. There is only one dissenting vote, and that is cast by the person at the end of the rope.

Republic:

Authority is derived through the election by the people of public officials best fitted to represent them.

Attitude toward property is respect for laws and individual rights, and a sensible economic procedure.

Attitude toward law is the administration of justice in accord with fixed principles and established evidence, with a strict regard to consequences.

A greater number of citizens and extent of territory may be brought within its compass.

Avoids the dangerous extreme of either tyranny or mobocracy. Results in statesmanship, liberty, reason, justice, contentment, and progress.

Is the "standard form" of government throughout the world.

A republic is a form of government under a constitution which provides for the election of:

an executive and

a legislative body, who working together in a representative capacity, have all the power of appointment, all power of legislation all power to raise revenue and appropriate expenditures, and are required to create

a judiciary to pass upon the justice and legality of their governmental acts and to recognize

certain inherent individual rights.

Take away any one or more of those four elements and you are drifting into autocracy. Add one or more to those four elements and you are drifting into democracy.

Our Constitutional fathers, familiar with the strength and weakness of both autocracy and democracy, with fixed principles definitely in mind, defined a representative republican form of government. They "made a very marked distinction between a republic and a democracy and said repeatedly and emphatically that they had founded a republic."

A republic is a government of law under a Constitution. The Constitution holds the government in check and prevents the majority (acting through their government) from violating the rights of the individual. Under this system of government a lynch mob is illegal. The suspected criminal cannot be denied his right to a fair trial even if a majority of the citizenry demands otherwise.

Difference between Democracy and Republic, in brief:

Democracy:

a: government by the people; especially : rule of the majority.

b: a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.

Attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall regulate, whether it be based upon deliberation or governed by passion, prejudice, and impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences

Republic

a: a government having a chief of state who is not a monarch and who in modern times is usually a president : a political unit (as a nation) having such a form of government.

b: a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law.

Democracy and Republic are often taken as one of the same thing, but there is a fundamental difference. Whilst in both cases the government is elected by the people, in Democracy the majority rules according to their whims, whilst in the Republic the Government rule according to law. This law is framed in the Constitution to limit the power of Government and ensuring some rights and protection to Minorities and individuals.

The difference between Republic and Righteous Republic is that in the Republic the Government rules according to the law set up by men, in the Righteous Republic the law is the Law of God. Only in the Righteous Republic it can truly be said "One nation under God" for it is governed under commandments of the only One True God and there is no pluralism of religions.

Autocracy declares the divine right of kings; its authority can not be questioned; its powers are arbitrarily or unjustly administered.

Mobocracy: 1. Political control by a mob. 2. The mass of common people as the source of political control.

Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman

Liberty Counsel

A crucial hearing will take place next Thursday.

Please forward this message to your friends. --Mat

We just received word that President Obama's attorney general, Eric Holder, will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee next Thursday in support of the anti-faith Hate Crimes bill.

This is a follow up to Attorney General Holder's statements earlier this week which amounted to nothing more than politically motivated fear-mongering.

It is clear what the Obama team is doing...

They are laying the political "cover" for the Senate to pass a Hate Crimes bill that gives special protections based on "sexual identity" while refusing to protect the religious liberties of millions of Americans!

+ + Let's Greet Mr. Holder with 100,000 Petitions!

I just asked for a count of our petition opposing this anti-faith Hate Crimes bill and have been told that -- thanks to you and so many others who have signed -- we recently crossed 83,000! So here's my challenge to you:

When you help me reach 100,000 petitions by next

Wednesday NOON, I will make sure these petitions get

delivered to the ranking members on the Senate Judiciary

Committee in time for the 10am Thursday hearing.

Please forward this message to your friends and urge them

to sign the petition now:

http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?u=19829&PID=20854830&P=1

The fact that the Senate's leadership has been forced to have hearings on the Hate Crimes bill is a tremendous victory!

The enormous pressure we have brought to bear through previous petition deliveries, massive fax campaigns and an avalanche of calls has forced them to change their plans!

++ Now is the time to really turn up the heat!

This new anti-faith Hate Crimes law isn't really about protecting anyone's rights. It is all about giving Holder's federal prosecutors more power to prosecute their version of political correctness!

We simply cannot sit by and let the Obama team dictate on this issue and paint Christians like you and me as evil doers and "haters" in this debate!

Again... the hearing is Thursday at 10am. I want to make sure this Committee receives 100,000 petitions, but to do so I need you to help me reach 17,000 more friends right away. Please forward this message to 10, 20 or 30 of your friends today:

http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?u=19829&PID=20854830&P=1

Thank you and may God bless you.

Mathew Staver, Founder and Chairman

Liberty Counsel

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +