Charters

of Freedom

Charters of Freedom Composuit

Daniel J Cassidy

The Ol’ Tun Tavern – Where it All Began

Vi Coactus 2016

Copyright © 2016 by Daniel J Cassidy

All Rights Reserved.

PRIMUM COMPILARE

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Vi Coactus

PO Box 104 Index, WA. 98256

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Printed in the United States of America This book or any portion thereof may be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher. Cover Images Source: Front: National Achieves - U.S. Constitution. Back: United States Senate - Great Seal of the United States of America. Title Page: The old Tun Tavern, Philadelphia. Drawing. National Achieves 127-EX-1-20.

ISBN: 978-1-7326829-8-6

ViCoactus.org

Dedication

To the Author

of what once was,

what is, &

what will be...

Contents

Introduction .................................................... 1 American Revolution, 1763-1783 ...... 1 Colonial Resistance, 1763-1766 ......... 5 Colonial Resistance, 1767-1772 ......... 8 Colonies In Rebellion, 1773-1774 ... 12 First Shots of War, 1775 ................... 15 Creating a Continental Army ............ 18 Northern Front, 1775-1777 .............. 20 Turning Point, 1776-1777 ................. 23 Southern Phase, 1778-1781 .............. 25 Home Front ........................................ 27 Toward Peace, 1781-1783 ................. 30 Confederation, 1777–1781 ............... 33 Why a Constitution? .......................... 39 Constitutional Convention ............... 40 Ratification .......................................... 43 Bill of Rights ....................................... 45

Declaration of Independence ................... 49

Constitution of the United States ............ 61 Letter of Transmittal.......................... 61 Letter of Transmittal - Congress...... 64 Preamble .............................................. 67

Article I ................................................ 67 Article II .............................................. 82 Article III ............................................. 88 Article IV ............................................. 91 Article V............................................... 93 Article VI ............................................. 94 Article VII ........................................... 95

Bill of Rights ................................................. 99 Preamble ............................................ 105 Amendment I .................................... 106 Amendment II .................................. 107 Amendment III ................................ 107 Amendment IV ................................. 107 Amendment V .................................. 108 Amendment VI ................................. 108 Amendment VII ............................... 109 Amendment VIII ............................. 109 Amendment IX ................................ 109 Amendment X .................................. 110 Amendment XI ................................ 110 Amendment XII ............................... 111 Amendment XIII ............................. 113 Amendment XIV ............................. 114 Amendment XV ............................... 117 Amendment XVI ............................. 117 Amendment XVII ............................ 118 Amendment XVIII .......................... 119

Amendment XIX ............................. 120 Amendment XX ............................... 121 Amendment XXI ............................. 123 Amendment XXII............................ 124 Amendment XXIII .......................... 126 Amendment XXIV .......................... 127 Amendment XXV ............................ 128 Amendment XXVI .......................... 130 Amendment XXVII ........................ 131

Index ............................................................. 134

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Introduction “Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood.”

- John Adams, 1765

The American Revolution, 1763-1783 Until the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763, few colonists in British North America ob-jected to their place in the British Empire. Colonists in British America reaped many benefits from the British imperial system and bore few costs for those benefits. Indeed, until the early 1760s, the British mostly left their American colonies alone. The Seven Years' War (known in America as the French and In-dian War) changed everything. Although Britain eventually achieved victory over France and its allies, victory had come at great

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cost. A staggering war debt influenced many British policies over the next decade. At-tempts to raise money by reforming colonial administration, enforcing tax laws, and placing troops in America led directly to conflict with colonists. By the mid-1770s, relations between Americans and the British administration had become strained and acrimonious. The first shots of what would become the war for American independence were fired in April 1775. For some months before that clash at Lexington and Concord, patriots had been gathering arms and powder and had been training to fight the British if that became nec-essary. General Thomas Gage, commander of British forces around Boston, had been cau-tious; he did not wish to provoke the Americans. In April, however, Gage received orders to arrest several patriot leaders, ru-mored to be around Lexington. Gage sent his troops out on the night of April 18, hoping to catch the colonists by surprise and thus to avoid bloodshed. When the British arrived in Lexington, however, colonial militia awaited them. A fire fight soon ensued. Even so, it was not obvious that this clash would lead to war. American opinion was split. Some wanted to

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declare independence immediately; others hoped for a quick reconciliation. The majority of Americans remained undecided but watch-ing and waiting. In June 1775, the Continental Congress cre-ated, on paper, a Continental Army and appointed George Washington as Com-mander. Washington's first task, when he arrived in Boston to take charge of the ragtag militia assembled there, was to create an army in fact. It was a daunting task with no end of problems: recruitment, retention, training and discipline, supply, and payment for soldiers' services were among those problems. Never-theless, Washington realized that keeping an army in the field was his single most important objective. During the first two years of the Revolution-ary War, most of the fighting between the patriots and British took place in the north. At first, the British generally had their way be-cause of their far superior sea power. Despite Washington's daring victories at Trenton and Princeton, New Jersey, in late 1776 and early

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1777, the British still retained the initiative. In-deed, had British efforts been better coordinated, they probably could have put down the rebellion in 1777. But such was not to be. Patriot forces, commanded by General Horatio Gates, achieved a significant victory at Saratoga, New York, in October 1777. Within months, this victory induced France to sign treaties of alliance and commerce with the United States. In retrospect, French involve-ment was the turning point of the war, although that was not obvious at the time. Between 1778 and 1781, British military oper-ations focused on the south because the British assumed a large percentage of South-erners were loyalists who could help them subdue the patriots. The British were success-ful in most conventional battles fought in that region, especially in areas close to their points of supply on the Atlantic coast. Even so, American generals Nathanael Greene and Daniel Morgan turned to guerrilla and hit-and-run warfare that eventually stymied the Brit-ish. By 1781, British General Lord Charles Cornwallis was ordered to march into Virginia to await resupply near Chesapeake Bay. The

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Americans and their French allies pounced on Cornwallis and forced his surrender. Yorktown was a signal victory for the patriots, but two years of sporadic warfare, continued military preparations, and diplomatic negotia-tions still lay ahead. The Americans and British signed a preliminary peace treaty on November 30, 1782; they signed the final treaty, known as the Peace of Paris, on Sep-tember 10, 1783. The treaty was generally quite favorable to the United States in terms of national boundaries and other concessions. Even so, British violations of the agreement would become an almost constant source of irritation between the two nations far into the future. British Reforms and Colonial Resistance,

1763-1766 When the French and Indian War finally ended in 1763, no British subject on either side of the Atlantic could have foreseen the coming conflicts between the parent country and its North American colonies. Even so, the seeds of these conflicts were planted during, and as a result of, this war. Keep in mind that

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the French and Indian War (known in Europe as the Seven Years' War) was a global conflict. Even though Great Britain defeated France and its allies, the victory came at great cost. In January 1763, Great Britain's national debt was more than 122 million pounds [the British monetary unit], an enormous sum for the time. Interest on the debt was more than 4.4 million pounds a year. Figuring out how to pay the interest alone absorbed the attention of the King and his ministers. Nor was the problem of the imperial debt the only one facing British leaders in the wake of the Seven Years' War. Maintaining order in America was a significant challenge. Even with Britain's acquisition of Canada from France, the prospects of peaceful relations with the Indian tribes were not good. As a re-sult, the British decided to keep a standing army in America. This decision would lead to a variety of problems with the colonists. In ad-dition, an Indian uprising on the Ohio frontier--Pontiac's Rebellion--led to the Proc-lamation of 1763, which forbade colonial settlement west of the Allegany Mountains. This, too, would lead to conflicts with land-

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hungry settlers and land speculators like George Washington. British leaders also felt the need to tighten control over their empire. To be sure, laws regulating imperial trade and navigation had been on the books for generations, but Amer-ican colonists were notorious for evading these regulations. They were even known to have traded with the French during the re-cently ended war. From the British point of view, it was only right that American colonists should pay their fair share of the costs for their own defense. If additional revenue could also be realized through stricter control of naviga-tion and trade, so much the better. Thus the British began their attempts to reform the im-perial system. In 1764, Parliament enacted the Sugar Act, an attempt to raise revenue in the colonies through a tax on molasses. Although this tax had been on the books since the 1730s, smug-gling and laxity of enforcement had blunted its sting. Now, however, the tax was to be en-forced. An outcry arose from those affected, and colonists implemented several effective

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protest measures that centered around boy-cotting British goods. Then in 1765, Parliament enacted the Stamp Act, which placed taxes on paper, playing cards, and every legal document created in the colonies. Since this tax affected virtually everyone and ex-tended British taxes to domestically produced and consumed goods, the reaction in the col-onies was pervasive. The Stamp Act crisis was the first of many that would occur over the next decade and a half. British Reforms and Colonial Resistance,

1767-1772 Even after the repeal of the Stamp Act, many colonists still had grievances with British colo-nial policies. For example, the Mutiny (or Quartering) Act of 1765 required colonial as-semblies to house and supply British soldiers. Many colonists objected to the presence of a "standing army" in the colonies. Many also ob-jected to being required to provide housing and supplies, which looked like another at-tempt to tax them without their consent, even though disguised. Several colonial assemblies refused to vote the mandated supplies. The

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British then disbanded the New York assem-bly in 1767 to make an example of it. Many non-New Yorkers resented this action, seeing rightly that their own assembly could also be shut down. The Stamp Act had led Americans to ask fun-damental questions about the relationship between their local, colonial, legislatures, which were elected bodies, and the British Parliament, in which Americans had no elected representation. Many colonists began to assert that only an elected legislative body held legitimate powers of taxation. The British countered that, even in England, many people could not vote for delegates to Parliament but all English subjects enjoyed "virtual represen-tation" in a Parliament that considered the interests of everyone when formulating policy. Americans found "virtual representation" dis-tasteful, in part because they had elected their domestic legislators for more than a century. In 1767, Parliament also enacted the Towns-hend Duties, taxes on paper, paints, glass, and tea, goods imported into the colonies from

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Britain. Since these taxes were levied on im-ports, the British thought of them as "external" taxes rather than internal taxes such as the Stamp tax. The colonists failed to un-derstand the difference between external and internal taxes. In principle, most Americans admitted a British right to impose duties in-tended to regulate colonial trade; after 1765, however, they denied Parliament's power to tax for the purpose of raising funds or raising a revenue. Again, they saw the purpose of the Townshend Duties as raising revenue in America without the taxpayers' consent. The British also established a board of cus-toms commissioners, whose purpose was to stop colonial smuggling and the rampant cor-ruption of local officials who were often complicit in such illegal trade. The board was quite effective, particularly in Boston, its seat. Little wonder then that Boston merchants were angry about the new controls and helped organize a boycott of goods subject to the Townshend Duties. In 1768, Philadelphia and New York joined the boycott. As the boycott spread, harassment of customs commission-ers grew apace, especially in Boston.

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As a result, the British posted four regiments of troops in Boston. The presence of British regular troops was a constant reminder of the colonists' subservience to the crown. Since they were poorly paid, the troops took jobs in their off-duty hours, thus competing with the city's working class for jobs. The two groups often clashed in the streets. In March 1770, just when Parliament decided to repeal the Townshend Duties (on everything except tea) but before word of the repeal reached the col-onies, the troops and Boston workers again clashed. This time, however, five Bostonians were killed and another dozen or so were wounded. Almost certainly the "Boston Mas-sacre," as colonists called the episode, was the result of confusion and panic by all involved. Even so, local leaders quickly publicized the incident as a symbol of British oppression and brutality. Overall, American revolutionaries viewed English actions from 1767-1772 with suspi-cion. They read in British policy a systematic conspiracy against their liberties. As the colo-nists saw it, tax revenues fed corrupt British officials who used monies they coerced from

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the colonies to line their pockets, hire addi-tional tax collectors, and pay mercenaries to come to America and complete the process of "enslaving" colonists.

The Colonies Move Toward Rebellion, 1773-1774

After the Boston Massacre and the repeal of most of the Townshend Duties (the duty on tea remained in force), a period of relative quiet descended on the British North Ameri-can colonies. Even so, the crises of the past decade had created incompatible mindsets on opposite sides of the Atlantic. King George III and Parliament still faced money problems and were determined to assert their powers to tax the colonies and regulate trade for the ben-efit of the entire British Empire. On the other hand, the colonists' ideas about taxation with-out representation, about actual versus virtual representation, about tyranny and corruption in the British government, and indeed about the nature of government, sovereignty, and constitutions had crystalized during this pe-riod. In addition, the colonists now had potentially powerful tools--local newspapers

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and committees of correspondence (estab-lished in 1772)--for airing colonial grievances. Because they were writing about colonial grievances with the British government (or re-acting to others' grievances), many writers used pseudonyms in an attempt to mask their real identities. Underneath the apparent calm of the early 1770s, many Americans continued to resent Britain's heavy-handed enforcement of the Navigation Acts and the continued presence of a standing army. Colonists continued to talk among themselves, through newspapers, pam-phlets, and broadsides, in colonial assemblies, and in such public places as coffee houses and taverns. In 1773, a new act of Parliament, the Tea Act, ended any semblance of calm. Parliament enacted the Tea Act to shore up the financially troubled East India Company. The Act actually placed no new tax on tea (this was still on the books from the Townshend Duties). Instead, it gave the East India Com-pany a virtual monopoly on selling tea in the colonies. The British assumed that colonists would welcome the lower price of tea

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achieved by eliminating the merchant middle-man. The Tea Act, however, angered influential merchants who feared the monop-oly would affect them directly. For many more colonists, the Tea Act revived passions about taxation without representation. Soon the col-onists again responded with a boycott of tea. Earlier protests had involved relatively few colonists, but the tea boycott mobilized a large segment of colonial society. In late 1773, leaders in many colonies planned to prevent the East India Company from land-ing tea shipments. In Boston, however, the tea ships arrived in port but would not leave. On December 16, groups of 50 men each boarded three ships, broke open the tea chests, and threw them into the harbor. As news of the "tea party" spread, similar acts of resistance occurred in other ports. Parliament soon responded to this outrage with four acts designed to punish Boston and to isolate it from the other colonies. It closed Boston port, reduced Massachusetts' powers of self-government, provided for quartering troops in the colonies, and permitted royal of-ficers accused of crimes to be tried in England.

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The British called these acts the coercive acts; the colonists called them the Intolerable Acts. Far from isolating Boston, the new laws cast the city in the role of martyr and sparked new resistance throughout the colonies.

First Shots of War, 1775 For some months, people in the colonies had been gathering arms and powder and had been training to fight the British, if necessary, at a moment's notice. The Continental Congress had approved of preparations for defensive fighting, in case the British made an aggressive move. But General Thomas Gage, com-mander of British troops in Boston, had been cautious. He thought his army too small to act without reinforcements. On the other hand, his officers disdained the colonists as fighters, thinking they would flee with any show of British force. Gage received orders to arrest Sam Adams and John Hancock, rumored to be near Lex-ington. When Gage heard that the colonists had stockpiled guns and powder in Concord, he decided to act. On the night of April 18,

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1775, he dispatched nearly 1,000 troops from Boston. He hoped to catch the colonists by surprise and thus to avoid bloodshed. But all British activities were carefully watched by the patriots, and William Dawes and Paul Revere rode out to warn people in the countryside that the British were coming. When British regulars (known as redcoats be-cause of their uniform jackets) arrived at Lexington the next morning, they found sev-eral dozen minutemen waiting for them on the town's common. Someone fired--no one knows who fired first--and eight minutemen were killed and another dozen or so were wounded. Then the British marched on Con-cord and destroyed what was left of the store of guns and powder, most of which had been hastily removed by the patriots. During the redcoats' entire march back to Boston, min-utemen harassed them, firing from behind fences, houses, trees, and rocks. By the end of the day, the redcoats suffered three times more casualties than had the colonists. Whatever the truth of who fired the first shot, the patriots were first to get their version of

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the events out to the American public. The ef-fect was to rally hundreds, if not thousands, of colonists to the rebellion. When the Second Continental Congress met three weeks later--the meeting had been scheduled since Octo-ber--it agreed to support Massachusetts in the conflict. Even so, many representatives disa-greed among themselves about the purpose of the fighting. At one end of the continuum of opinion were such men as Sam and John Adams of Massa-chusetts and Richard Henry Lee of Virginia who already favored independence. At the other end of that continuum were such men as John Dickinson of Pennsylvania who hoped for a quick settlement and reconcilia-tion with Great Britain. Most delegates, like most colonists, were moderates with opinions somewhere in the middle of that continuum. Over the next year of conflict, bungling Brit-ish policy-makers tried to recruit Indians, slaves, and foreign mercenaries, they block-aded colonial ports, and they rejected all efforts at conciliation. These actions pushed more and more colonists to favor independ-ence.

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Creating a Continental Army According to Washington's aide Alexander Hamilton, the military strategy the General would pursue throughout the Revolutionary War was as follows: "our hopes are not placed in any particular city, or spot of ground, but in preserving a good army . . . to take advantage of favorable opportunities, and waste and de-feat the enemy by piecemeal." In order to "preserve a good army," one had to be created in the first place. It was a long and difficult road from the Continental Con-gress's edict designating the militia around Boston as a Continental Army and creating such an army in fact. Although many colonials had had some military experience in the French and Indian War, most had served in militia units, a far cry from service in a regular European-style army. The latter, Washington believed, was what the Continental Army needed to become if the colonies were to stand up to the British army. As Washington put the matter shortly after he arrived in Boston to take command of the "army": "The course of human affairs forbids

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an expectation that troops formed under such circumstances [militia] should at once possess the order, regularity, and discipline of veter-ans." Washington rather optimistically added, "Whatever deficiencies there may be, will, I doubt not, soon be made up by the activity and zeal of the officers, and the docility and obedience of the men. These qualities, united with their native bravery and spirit, will afford a happy presage of success. . . ." How this opinion would soon change! When Washington assumed his duties in Bos-ton, he saw no end to problems. "The abuses [problems] in this army, I fear, are considera-ble, and the new modelling of it [reorganization], in the face of an enemy, from whom we every hour expect an attack, is ex-ceedingly difficult and dangerous." Although often dismayed by his charge, Washington set out to create an army that could stand up in the field to the best army in the world at that time. The documents included here will give you a sense of some of the problems and is-sues. These and other problems continued to plague Washington and his army throughout the conflict. Over time, Washington would

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come to believe that only the creation of a per-manent standing army could save the revolution.

Revolutionary War: Northern Front, 1775-1777

In the first eighteen months of armed conflict with the British (the conflict would not be-come a "war for independence" until July 4, 1776), Washington had begun to create an army and forced the British army in Boston to evacuate that city in March 1776. The major question after their evacuation was what they would do next. Washington was almost cer-tain that the British would attack New York, since that position was of critical importance for their operations both North and South. Besides, that is what he would have done had he been in Sir William Howe's shoes. Even though his premonition eventually proved true, British intentions did not become clear until their fleet descended upon New York in August 1776. For a variety of reasons, Washington and his generals made a number of mistakes during the engagements in the New York area. These mistakes and Britain's

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far superior naval power led to decided British victories on Long Island and on Manhattan. Had the British commanders been a bit more aggressive, their naval power might have put the Continental Army at great risk of total de-feat. After Washington was driven from Manhat-tan, his army fought Howe's forces to a standstill at White Plains. Even so, the British were now in control of New York City. Again, the question became, what would the British do next? Washington thought the logical next step for them to do was to move on Philadel-phia, so he moved most of his army south into New Jersey. Indeed, British forces under Gen-eral Charles Lord Cornwallis chased and harassed the Continentals all the way through New Jersey. When Washington's army reached Trenton Falls, their fortunes seemed at low ebb. Surprisingly, at that point Howe ordered his army into winter quarters rather than attacking the Americans. Seizing the op-portunity Howe presented him, Washington counterattacked at Trenton in late December 1776 and then at Princeton in early 1777.

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What Washington had done in nine days was truly staggering. Just when many Americans thought all was lost, Washington had pro-duced two major victories over one of the world's most powerful armies. Trenton and Princeton tended to put to rest the second-guessing about Washington's leadership, a be-lief that had grown as the Continental Army suffered defeats in New York and then re-treated through New Jersey. These victories had also been watched closely by many Euro-pean leaders; they now came to view Washington as an adroit and able commander. On the other hand, the British were not im-pressed with Washington's accomplishments. All in all, Lord North thought 1776 had been a very good year for the British. They had re-tained Canada and captured New York City, their losses of soldiers had not been great, and nearly 40,000 loyalists had received pardons from Howe. British leaders would also have been heartened had they fully known what Washington knew about the chronic problems experienced by the Continental Army. Wash-ington was continually concerned with problems of the militia, recruits, and deserters and he constantly reminded Congress of the

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need for a standing professional army and a better system of supply.

Revolutionary War: The Turning Point, 1776-1777

In 1777, the British were still in excellent po-sition to quell the rebellion. Had it not been for a variety of mistakes, they probably could have won the war. During early 1777, British officials considered a number of plans for their upcoming cam-paign. One they apparently decided upon was to campaign through the Hudson River Valley and thereby cut off New England from the rest of the colonies. General William Howe was to drive north from New York City while General John Burgoyne was to drive south from Canada. Meanwhile, British General Barry St. Leger would drive down the Mo-hawk Valley in upstate New York. The major problem was not with the plan but with its ex-ecution. Historians continue to debate whether Howe was ill-informed or simply acted on his own. Whatever the reasons, Howe decided to capture Philadelphia, the

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seat of the Continental Congress, rather than to work in concert with Burgoyne and St. Leger. Howe hoped that by seizing Philadelphia, he would rally the Loyalists in Pennsylvania, dis-courage the rebels by capturing their capital, and bring the war to a speedy conclusion. Washington tried to thwart Howe's plan, but Howe out-maneuvered him at Brandywine Creek and then at Germantown. While How-e's forces settled into winter quarters in Philadelphia, the Continental Army went into winter quarters at Valley Forge. There, the army faced deprivation in the extreme. Meanwhile to the north, Burgoyne and St. Leger suffered significant defeats at Oriskany, New York; Bennington, Vermont; and finally at Saratoga, New York. These American vic-tories were critical for they helped convince France to recognize American independence and brought the French directly into the war as military allies. The French Treaty was also a result of a new British peace proposal, an-nounced by Lord North in late 1777. The French were concerned that the Americans

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would agree to North's proposal since it of-fered them virtual autonomy within the British Empire. The French Alliance changed the face of the war for the British; the American war for independence was now in essence a world war. Even so, as many of the documents listed to the right suggest, winning the war even after the French Treaty was still not a certainty.

Revolutionary War: Southern Phase, 1778-1781

The Continental victory at Saratoga in 1777 and the Treaty with the French in 1778 trans-formed the war, especially for the British. Increased French aid to the Continentals was very slow in coming; coordinated military ac-tivity between the two new allies was even slower to happen. Meanwhile, the British were immediately faced with a global conflict with France. As a result, the British changed their strategy yet again in 1778. Rather than mount-ing a full-scale military campaign against the Continental Army, the British decided to fo-cus their efforts on the loyalists, who they still believed were the majority of the American population.

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Believing the loyalists were strongest in the South and hoping to enlist the slaves in their cause--an objective that seems incompatible with a focus on Southern loyalists--the British turned their efforts to the South. In fact, the British had some important military successes in the South. They occupied Savannah, Geor-gia, in late 1778 and Charleston, South Carolina, in May 1779. They also struck a dis-astrous blow on General Horatio Gates' forces at Camden, South Carolina, in August 1780. Although the British were successful in most conventional battles, the fighting in the South, under the leadership of Generals Nathanael Greene and Daniel Morgan, turned toward guerrilla and hit-and-run warfare. Moreover, the British had overestimated loyalist senti-ment in the South; their presence actually forced many, who had been sitting out the war, to take sides, most in favor of the Patri-ots. At the same time, the British underestimated the logistical problems they would encounter, especially when their army was in the interior away from the supplies of-fered by their fleet. Patriot forces, on the other hand, were supplied and could hide among the

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local population. As a result, the British south-ern strategy was a dismal failure.

Revolutionary War: The Home Front Defining a "home front" in the Revolutionary War is difficult because so much of the thir-teen states became, at one time or another, an actual theater of war. Even so, the war pro-foundly affected the domestic scene, and the domestic scene, in turn, greatly influenced the conduct and course of the war. Most Native American tribes east of the Mis-sissippi were uncertain about which side, if either, to take during the Revolutionary War, and many remained neutral. A number of tribes, however, feared the Revolution would replace the British--who had worked hard to protect their lands from colonial encroach-ments--with the land-hungry colonials. As a result, these tribes fought with the British or took advantage of the situation and acted against the colonists on their own. Patriots viewed the Indians as a threat throughout the war. The patriots' use of the term savages for

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the Native Americans gives a good indication of their overall attitude toward most tribes. For some African Americans, the Revolution meant freedom. Because so much of the fighting in the last years of the war took place in the South, many slaves escaped to British lines. The British, hoping to weaken the American war effort, emancipated and evacu-ated thousands of ex-slaves. A few African Americans also won their freedom by fighting in the Continental Army despite the prejudices of patriot leaders. (This attitude changed somewhat during the course of the war.) For the vast majority of African Americans, how-ever, the liberties touted by the American Revolution remained more promise than real-ity. Women's lives were also profoundly affected by the Revolutionary War. Women whose husbands and other male relatives went to war had to assume many of their responsibilities, whether it be the farm or small business. Since Continental Army soldiers were typically drawn from the lower ranks of society, many women did not have farms and businesses to fall back on. Cities throughout the United

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States witnessed growing populations of im-poverished women. Many women did not stay at home when their husbands went off to war. These women flocked to the army camps to join male relatives. There they helped maintain army morale while doing traditional women's chores--cooking, laundry, nursing, and so forth. In many respects, the Revolutionary War was a civil war. First, most of the land war was fought on United States' soil. Second, some-where between 20 and 30 percent of the population retained their loyalty to the crown. In some places, the loyalists actively opposed the patriots--through propaganda, spying, mil-itary service with the British, and sometimes insurrectionary activities. Loyalist propaganda continually planted seeds of dissention within the wider population. Patriots continuously perceived loyalist threats on the home front and actively worked to quiet the loyalists, ar-rest them, and confiscate their property. Because the Continental Congress was unable to levy taxes to pay for the war, it relied on the printing press to issue nearly $250 million in

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paper money (the so-called Continental). The paper money was backed only by the good faith of the Congress; because of dislocations in trade and manufacturing, there was too much money competing for too few goods. The result was uncontrolled inflation. In early 1780, the Congress confessed that its money was worthless (something the people had known long before as evidenced in their pop-ular saying "not worth a Continental").

Revolutionary War: Toward Peace, 1781-1783

The year 1781 was momentous for the Amer-ican Revolution. The beginning of the year, arguably, witnessed perhaps the low point of American morale during the Revolution. "The people are discontented," George Washington wrote to John Laurens in early 1781, "but it is with the feeble and oppressive mode of con-ducting the war, not with the war itself." Indeed, Washington now believed that it was critical for the United States and its French al-lies to achieve a significant military victory in 1781 or all might be lost because of the state of American public opinion.

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Even so, Washington could not have foreseen the events that eventually unfolded during the year, nor could he appreciate their significance as they occurred. Indeed, most of the year continued to be characterized by inactivity of the French and most of the Continental Ar-mies. Only when the brilliant strategic activities of General Nathaneal Greene in North Carolina forced British General Corn-wallis to march into Virginia did an opportunity open for Washington to achieve the military victory he had hoped for at the start of the year. In Virginia, on the Yorktown peninsula, Cornwallis found himself cornered by the combined forces of Washington's Con-tinental Army and the French army and French fleet. These forces began siege opera-tions against the British troops isolated at Yorktown. On October 17, 1781, Cornwallis sought terms of surrender. It is important to understand that the signifi-cance of the British surrender at Yorktown could not be fully appreciated by contempo-raries. Washington called Yorktown "an important victory" and "a glorious event," but he, like his compatriots, could not know what

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the British response would be to Cornwallis' surrender. Washington, the Continental Con-gress, and leaders in the states could only muddle along, waiting for events to unfold. In fact, Washington worried that the victory at Yorktown might diminish Americans' contin-ued commitment to the war. For nearly the next two years, Washington would continue his efforts to keep the Continental Army in-tact, ready to fight if that became necessary. Meanwhile, peace talks between British and American diplomats got underway in Paris in May 1782 and continued into the fall. In Sep-tember, the American negotiators (John Jay, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin) discov-ered that the French foreign minister had sent his secretary on a secret trip to London. Now convinced of French duplicity, Jay, Adams, and Franklin let the British know that they were willing to negotiate unilaterally--that is, without French interference. After two months of difficult negotiations, the British and American diplomats signed the Prelimi-nary Articles of Peace on November 30, 1782.

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Until a definitive peace treaty was signed, the United States was still technically at war. Brit-ish and French fleets continued to fight on the high seas and in the Caribbean, but no land actions took place on the North American continent. The focus of the patriots was on keeping the Continental Army intact, in case the peace talks broke down. At this point, the greatest danger to the Revolution was the of-ficers of the Continental Army. Nearly fed up with Congress' inaction regarding their pay (among many other issues), officers encamped at Newburgh, New York, sent a declaration to Congress concerning the pay issue. This was a serious threat; Washington diffused the threat by his personal prestige and by continuing to lobby Congress in behalf of his officers.

Articles of Confederation, 1777–1781 The Continental Congress adopted the Arti-cles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, on November 15, 1777. However, ratification of the Articles of Con-federation by all thirteen states did not occur until March 1, 1781. The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a

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weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments. The Albany Plan an earlier, pre-independence attempt at joining the colonies into a larger un-ion, had failed in part because the individual colonies were concerned about losing power to another central institution. As the American Revolution gained momentum, however, many political leaders saw the advantages of a centralized government that could coordinate the Revolutionary War. In June of 1775, the New York provincial Congress sent a plan of union to the Continental Congress, which, like the Albany Plan, continued to recognize the authority of the British Crown. Some Continental Congress delegates had also informally discussed plans for a more perma-nent union than the Continental Congress, whose status was temporary. Benjamin Frank-lin had drawn up a plan for “Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.” While some delegates, such as Thomas Jefferson, supported Franklin’s proposal, many others were strongly opposed. Franklin introduced his plan before Congress on July 21, but stated that it should be viewed as a draft for when

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Congress was interested in reaching a more formal proposal. Congress tabled the plan. Following the Declaration of Independence, the members of the Continental Congress re-alized it would be necessary to set up a national government. Congress began to dis-cuss the form this government would take on July 22, disagreeing on a number of issues, in-cluding whether representation and voting would be proportional or state-by-state. The disagreements delayed final discussions of confederation until October of 1777. By then, the British capture of Philadelphia had made the issue more urgent. Delegates finally for-mulated the Articles of Confederation, in which they agreed to state-by-state voting and proportional state tax burdens based on land values, though they left the issue of state claims to western lands unresolved. Congress sent the Articles to the states for ratification at the end of November. Most delegates realized that the Articles were a flawed compromise, but believed that it was better than an absence of formal national government.

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On December 16, 1777, Virginia was the first state to ratify. Other states ratified during the early months of 1778. When Congress recon-vened in June of 1778, the delegates learned that Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey re-fused to ratify the Articles. The Articles required unanimous approval from the states. These smaller states wanted other states to re-linquish their western land claims before they would ratify the Articles. New Jersey and Del-aware eventually agreed to the conditions of the Articles, with New Jersey ratifying on Nov 20, 1778, and Delaware on Feb 1, 1779. This left Maryland as the last remaining holdout. Irked by Maryland’s recalcitrance, several other state governments passed resolutions endorsing the formation of a national govern-ment without the state of Maryland, but other politicians such as Congressman Thomas Burke of North Carolina persuaded their gov-ernments to refrain from doing so, arguing that without unanimous approval of the new Confederation, the new country would remain weak, divided, and open to future foreign in-tervention and manipulation.

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Meanwhile, in 1780, British forces began to conduct raids on Maryland communities in the Chesapeake Bay. Alarmed, the state gov-ernment wrote to the French minister Anne-César De la Luzerne asking for French naval assistance. Luzerne wrote back, urging the government of Maryland to ratify the Articles of Confederation. Marylanders were given fur-ther incentive to ratify when Virginia agreed to relinquish its western land claims, and so the Maryland legislature ratified the Articles of Confederation on March 1, 1781. The Continental Congress voted on Jan 10, 1781, to establish a Department of Foreign Affairs; on Aug 10 of that year, it elected Rob-ert R. Livingston as Secretary of Foreign Affairs. The Secretary’s duties involved corre-sponding with U.S. representatives abroad and with ministers of foreign powers. The Secre-tary was also charged with transmitting Congress’ instructions to U.S. agents abroad and was authorized to attend sessions of Con-gress. A further Act of Feb 22, 1782, allowed the Secretary to ask and respond to questions during sessions of the Continental Congress.

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The Articles created a sovereign, national gov-ernment, and, as such, limited the rights of the states to conduct their own diplomacy and foreign policy. However, this proved difficult to enforce, as the national government could not prevent the state of Georgia from pursu-ing its own independent policy regarding Spanish Florida, attempting to occupy dis-puted territories and threatening war if Spanish officials did not work to curb Indian attacks or refrain from harboring escaped slaves. Nor could the Confederation govern-ment prevent the landing of convicts that the British Government continued to export to its former colonies. In addition, the Articles did not allow Congress sufficient authority to en-force provisions of the 1783 Treaty of Paris that allowed British creditors to sue debtors for pre-Revolutionary debts, an unpopular clause that many state governments chose to ignore. Consequently, British forces contin-ued to occupy forts in the Great Lakes region. These problems, combined with the Confed-eration government’s ineffectual response to Shays’ Rebellion in Massachusetts, convinced national leaders that a more powerful central government was necessary. This led to the

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Constitutional Convention that formulated the current Constitution of the United States.

Why a Constitution? The need for the Constitution grew out of problems with the Articles of Confederation, which established a "firm league of friend-ship" between the states, and vested most power in a Congress of the Confederation. This power was, however, extremely limited — the central government conducted diplo-macy and made war, set weights and measures, and was the final arbiter of disputes between the states. Crucially, it could not raise any funds itself, and was entirely dependent on the states themselves for the money necessary to operate. Each state sent a delegation of be-tween two and seven members to the Congress, and they voted as a bloc with each state getting one vote. But any decision of consequence required a unanimous vote, which led to a government that was paralyzed and ineffectual.

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A movement to reform the Articles began, and invitations to attend a convention in Phil-adelphia to discuss changes to the Articles were sent to the state legislatures in 1787. In May of that year, delegates from 12 of the 13 states (Rhode Island sent no representatives) convened in Philadelphia to begin the work of redesigning government. The delegates to the Constitutional Convention quickly began work on drafting a new Constitution for the United States.

The Constitutional Convention A chief aim of the Constitution as drafted by the Convention was to create a government with enough power to act on a national level, but without so much power that fundamental rights would be at risk. One way that this was accomplished was to separate the power of government into three branches, and then to include checks and balances on those powers to assure that no one branch of government gained supremacy. This concern arose largely out of the experience that the delegates had with the King of England and his powerful Parliament. The powers of each branch are

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enumerated in the Constitution, with powers not assigned to them reserved to the states. Much of the debate, which was conducted in secret to ensure that delegates spoke their minds, focused on the form that the new leg-islature would take. Two plans competed to become the new government: the Virginia Plan, which apportioned representation based on the population of each state, and the New Jersey plan, which gave each state an equal vote in Congress. The Virginia Plan was sup-ported by the larger states, and the New Jersey plan preferred by the smaller. In the end, they settled on the Great Compromise (sometimes called the Connecticut Compromise), in which the House of Representatives would represent the people as apportioned by popu-lation; the Senate would represent the states apportioned equally; and the President would be elected by the Electoral College. The plan also called for an independent judiciary. The founders also took pains to establish the relationship between the states. States are re-quired to give "full faith and credit" to the

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laws, records, contracts, and judicial proceed-ings of the other states, although Congress may regulate the manner in which the states share records, and define the scope of this clause. States are barred from discriminating against citizens of other states in any way, and cannot enact tariffs against one another. States must also extradite those accused of crimes to other states for trial. The founders also specified a process by which the Constitution may be amended, and since its ratification, the Constitution has been amended 27 times. In order to prevent arbi-trary changes, the process for making amendments is quite onerous. An amendment may be proposed by a two-thirds vote of both Houses of Congress, or, if two-thirds of the States request one, by a convention called for that purpose. The amendment must then be ratified by three-fourths of the state legisla-tures, or three-fourths of conventions called in each state for ratification. In modern times, amendments have traditionally specified a timeframe in which this must be accom-plished, usually a period of several years. Additionally, the Constitution specifies that

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no amendment can deny a state equal repre-sentation in the Senate without that state's consent. With the details and language of the Constitu-tion decided, the Convention got down to the work of actually setting the Constitution to pa-per. It is written in the hand of a delegate from Pennsylvania, Gouverneur Morris, whose job allowed him some reign over the actual punc-tuation of a few clauses in the Constitution. He is also credited with the famous preamble. On September 17, 1787, 39 of the 55 delegates signed the new document, with many of those who refused to sign objecting to the lack of a bill of rights. At least one delegate refused to sign because the Constitution codified and protected slavery and the slave trade.

Ratification The process set out in the Constitution for its ratification provided for much popular debate in the states. The Constitution would take ef-fect once it had been ratified by nine of the thirteen state legislatures -- unanimity was not

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required. During the debate over the Consti-tution, two factions emerged: the Federalists, who supported adoption, and the Anti-Feder-alists, who opposed it. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay set out an eloquent defense of the new Constitution in what came to be called the Federalist Papers. Published anonymously in the newspapers The Independent Journal and The New York Packet under the name Publius between October 1787 and August 1788, the 85 articles that comprise the Feder-alist Papers remain to this day an invaluable resource for understanding some of the fram-ers' intentions for the Constitution. The most famous of the articles are No. 10, which warns of the dangers of factions and advocates a large republic, and No. 51, which explains the structure of the Constitution, its checks and balances, and how it protects the rights of the people. The states proceeded to begin ratification, with some debating more intensely than oth-ers. Delaware was the first state to ratify, on December 7, 1787. After New Hampshire be-came the ninth state to ratify, on June 22,

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1788, the Confederation Congress established March 9, 1789, as the date to begin operating under the Constitution. By this time, all the states except North Carolina and Rhode Is-land had ratified — the Ocean State was the last to ratify on May 29, 1790.

The Bill of Rights One of the principal points of contention be-tween the Federalists and Anti-Federalists was the lack of an enumeration of basic civil rights in the Constitution. Many Federalists argued, as in Federalist No. 84, that the people surren-dered no rights in adopting the Constitution. In several states, however, the ratification de-bate in some states hinged on the adoption of a bill of rights. The solution was known as the Massachusetts Compromise, in which four states ratified the Constitution but at the same time sent recommendations for amendments to the Congress. James Madison introduced 12 amendments to the First Congress in 1789. Ten of these would go on to become what we now consider to be the Bill of Rights. One was never passed, while

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another dealing with Congressional salaries was not ratified until 1992, when it became the 27th Amendment. Based on the Virginia Dec-laration of Rights, the English Bill of Rights, the writings of the Enlightenment, and the rights defined in the Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights contains rights that many today con-sider to be fundamental to the American republic.

Compiled from National Achieves, WhiteWhite.gov & Office of the Historian

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National Achieves 148-GW-179. Washington's farewell to his officers. En-graving by Phillibrown from painting by Alonzo Chappel.

December of 1783, General George Washing-ton's farewell to his officers in New York's Fraunces Tavern.

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Declaration of Independence

In Congress, July 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to as-sume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind re-quires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are en-dowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to

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secure these rights, Governments are insti-tuted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Pru-dence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are suffer-able, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despot-ism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which con-strains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King

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of Great Britain is a history of repeated inju-ries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be sub-mitted to a candid world. He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the ac-commodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right in-estimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

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He has dissolved Representative Houses re-peatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dis-solutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the popula-tion of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encour-age their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Jus-tice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

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He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military inde-pendent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his As-sent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

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For imposing Taxes on us without our Con-sent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarg-ing its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamen-tally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and de-claring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declar-ing us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

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He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall them-selves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble

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terms: Our repeated Petitions have been an-swered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legisla-ture to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the cir-cumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably in-terrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, ac-quiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends. We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Con-gress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme

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Judge of the world for the rectitude of our in-tentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colo-nies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Inde-pendent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, es-tablish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declara-tion, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. Georgia Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall George, Walton North Carolina William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn South Carolina Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton Massachusetts John Hancock Maryland Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

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Virginia George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jeffer-son, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton Pennsylvania Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross Delaware Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean New York William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris New Jersey Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark New Hampshire Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple Massachusetts Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry Rhode Island Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery Connecticut Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott New Hampshire Matthew Thornton

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Architect of the Capital June 28, 1776, the first draft of the Declara-tion of Independence was presented by the Committee of Five to the Second Continen-tal Congress.

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Constitution of the United States of

America

Letter of Transmittal In Convention,

September 17, 1787,

Present

The States of New Hampshire, Massachu-setts, Connecticut, Mr. Hamilton from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

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Resolved, That the preceeding Constitution be laid before the United States in Congress assembled, and that it is the Opinion of this Convention, that it should afterwards be sub-mitted to a Convention of Delegates, chosen in each State by the People thereof, under the Recommendation of its Legislature, for their Assent and Ratification; and that each Con-vention assenting to, and ratifying the Same, should give Notice thereof to the United States in Congress assembled. Resolved, That it is the Opinion of this Convention, that as soon as the Conventions of nine States shall have ratified this Constitution, the United States in Congress assembled should fix a Day on which Electors should be appointed by the States which shall have ratified the same, and a Day on which the Electors should assemble to vote for the President, and the Time and Place for commencing Proceedings under this Constitution.

That after such Publication the Electors should be appointed, and the Senators and Representatives elected: That the Electors should meet on the Day fixed for the Election of the President, and should transmit their Votes certified, signed, sealed and directed, as

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the Constitution requires, to the Secretary of the United States in Congress assembled, that the Senators and Representatives should con-vene at the Time and Place assigned; that the Senators should appoint a President of the Senate, for the sole Purpose of receiving, opening and counting the Votes for President; and, that after he shall be chosen, the Con-gress, together with the President, should, without Delay, proceed to execute this Con-stitution.

By the unanimous Order of the Convention

W. Jackson -Secretary. Go: Washington -Presidt.

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Letter of Transmittal to President of Congress

In Convention,

September 17, 1787,

SIR, We have now the honor to submit to the con-sideration of the United States in Congress assembled, that constitution which has ap-peared to us the most advisable.

The friends of our country have long seen and desired, that the power of making war, peace, and treaties, that of levying money and regu-lating commerce, and the correspondent executive and judicial authorities should be fully and effectually vested in the general gov-ernment of the Union: But the impropriety of delegating such extensive trust to one body of men is evident -- Hence results the necessity of a different organization.

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It is obviously impractical in the federal gov-ernment of these states, to secure all rights of independent sovereignty to each, and yet pro-vide for the interest and safety of all: Individuals entering into society, must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest. The magnitude of the sacrifice must depend as well on situation and circumstances, as on the ob-ject to be obtained. It is at all times difficult to draw with precision the line between those rights which must be surrendered, and those which may be reserved; and on the present oc-casion this difficulty was encreased by a difference among the several states as to their situation, extent, habits, and particular inter-ests.

In all our deliberations on this subject we kept steadily in our view, that which appears to us the greatest interest of every true American, the consolidation of our Union, in which is in-volved our prosperity, felicity, safety, perhaps our national existence. This important consid-eration, seriously and deeply impressed on our minds, led each state in the convention to be less rigid on points of inferior magnitude, than might have been otherwise expected; and thus

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the Constitution, which we now present, is the result of a spirit of amity, and of that mutual deference and concession which the peculiar-ity of our political situation rendered indispensable.

That it will meet the full and entire approba-tion of every state is not perhaps to be expected; but each will doubtless consider that had her interest been alone consulted, the con-sequences might have been particularly disagreeable or injurious to others; that it is li-able to as few exceptions as could reasonably have been expected, we hope and believe; that it may promote the lasting welfare of that country so dear to us all, and secure her free-dom and happiness, is our most ardent wish.

With great respect, We have the Honor to be,

SIR, Your Excellency's most

Obedient and humble Servants:

George Washington, President By unanimous Order of the Convention.

His Excellency The President of Congress.

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Preamble 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 our-selves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Article I

Section. 1. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Section. 2. The House of Representatives shall be com-posed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the

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Electors in each State shall have the Qualifica-tions 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 ap-portioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be de-termined 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.1 The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Con-gress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Man-ner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall

1 Amended by Sec. 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment

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have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three. 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 chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.

Section. 3. The Senate of the United States shall be com-posed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof,2 for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

2 Amended by the Seventeenth Amendment

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Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Clas-ses. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the sec-ond 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 Legis-lature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies.3 No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhab-itant 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.

3 Amended by the Seventeenth Amendment

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The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Ab-sence 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 Of-fice of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall neverthe-less 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,

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shall be prescribed in each State by the Legis-lature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December,4 unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.

Section. 5. Each House shall be the Judge of the Elec-tions, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall consti-tute 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 un-der such Penalties as each House may provide. Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disor-derly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.

4 Amended by Sec. 2 of the Twentieth Amendment

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Each House shall keep a Journal of its Pro-ceedings, 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 Con-gress, 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 re-ceive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treas-ury 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 re-spective 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.

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No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.

Section. 7. 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, be-fore 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 Objec-tions at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass

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the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Ob-jections, 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, un-less 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 Rep-resentatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and be-fore the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the

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Senate and House of Representatives, accord-ing 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 In-dian Tribes; To establish an uniform Rule of Naturaliza-tion, 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;

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To provide for the Punishment of counterfeit-ing the Securities and current Coin of the United States; To establish Post Offices and post Roads; To promote the Progress of Science and use-ful 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 su-preme5 Court; To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences 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 Appro-priation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

5 The ‘supreme Court’ is spelled with lower case ‘s.’

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To provide and maintain a Navy; To make Rules for the Government and Reg-ulation of the land and naval Forces; To provide for calling forth the Militia to exe-cute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; To provide for organizing, arming, and disci-plining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Ser-vice of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Mi-litia 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 partic-ular 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,

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Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;—And To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the forego-ing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Of-ficer 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.

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No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.6 No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles ex-ported from any State. No Preference shall be given by any Regula-tion of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Ves-sels 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 Of-fice of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title,

6 Amended by the Sixteenth Amendment

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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 impair-ing 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 Im-ports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it’s inspec-tion Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress. No State shall, without the Consent of Con-gress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops,

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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 immi-nent Danger as will not admit of delay.

Article II Section. 1. The executive Power shall be vested in a Pres-ident 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

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whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Rep-resentatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person hav-ing 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 Major-ity, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immedi-ately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the Presi-dent. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; A quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to

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a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice Pres-ident.7 The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States. 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 Inabil-ity to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the

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Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Res-ignation 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 re-moved, or a President shall be elected.8 The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be encreased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them. Before he enter on the Execution of his Of-fice, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:—“I do solemnly swear (or af-firm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and de-fend the Constitution of the United States.”

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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 execu-tive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Par-dons for Offences 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 Min-isters 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 es-tablished by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President

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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 Con-gress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and ex-pedient; 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.

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Section. 4. The President, Vice President and all civil Of-ficers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Con-viction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Article III Section. 1. The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Ser-vices, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Of-fice.

Section. 2.

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The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitu-tion, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;—to all Cases affecting Am-bassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;—to all Cases of admiralty and mari-time Jurisdiction;—to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;—to Con-troversies between two or more States;— between a State and Citizens of another State,9—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 Sub-jects.10 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

9 Amended by the Eleventh Amendment 10 Amended by the Eleventh Amendment

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under such Regulations as the Congress shall make. The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Im-peachment, 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 con-sist 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 Wit-nesses 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 Per-son attainted.

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Article IV Section. 1. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Pro-ceedings 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.

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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.11

Section. 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Con-gress. The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations re-specting 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.

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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 do-mestic Violence.

Article V The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Rat-ification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight

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hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Sec-tion of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.

Article VI All Debts contracted and Engagements en-tered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as un-der 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 notwith-standing. The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several

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State Legislatures, and all executive and judi-cial 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 un-der the United States.

Article VII The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establish-ment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.

Attest William Jackson Secretary

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 Independance12 of the United

12 Independence, spelt with French ‘-ance’ stem.

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States of America the Twelfth In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names,

G°. Washington Presidt and deputy from Virginia

Connecticut William Samuel Johnson, Roger Sherman Delaware George Read, Gunning Bedford, Jr., John Dickin-son, Richard Bassett, Jacob Broom Georgia William Few, Abraham Baldwin Maryland James McHenry, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Daniel Carroll Massachusetts Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King New Hampshire John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman New Jersey William Livingston, David Brearly, William Pat-erson, Jonathan Dayton New York Alexander Hamilton North Carolina William Blount, Richard Dobbs Spaight, Hugh Williamson Pennsylvania Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robert Morris, George Clymer, Thomas Fitzsimons, Jared Ingersoll, James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris South Carolina John Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinck-ney, Charles Pinckney, Pierce Butler Rhode Island did not send delegates to the Constitutional Convention. Virginia John Blair, James Madison Jr., George Washington

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National Achieves September 17, 1787, the signing of the United States Constitution at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

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Bill of Rights On September 25, 1789, the First Congress of the United States proposed 12 amend-ments13 to the Constitution. 1789 Joint Resolution of Congress Propos-ing 12 Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Congress of the United States begun and held at the City of New-York, on Wednesday the fourth of March, one thou-sand seven hundred and eighty nine. THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Con-stitution, expressed a desire, in order to

13 Ten of the proposed 12 amendments were ratified by

three-fourths of the state legislatures on December 15, 1791. The ratified Articles (Articles 3–12) constitute the first 10 amendments of the Constitution, or the U.S. Bill of Rights. In 1992, 203 years after it was proposed, Article 2 was ratified as the 27th Amendment to the Constitution. Article 1 was never ratified.

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prevent misconstruction or abuse of its pow-ers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Govern-ment, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution. RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of Amer-ica, in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all, or any of which Articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Leg-islatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution; viz. ARTICLES in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pur-suant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution. Article the first… After the first enumeration required by the first article of the Constitution, there shall be one Representative for every

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thirty thousand, until the number shall amount to one hundred, after which the pro-portion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall be not less than one hundred Rep-resentatives, nor less than one Representative for every forty thousand persons, until the number of Representatives shall amount to two hundred; after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall not be less than two hundred Representatives, nor more than one Representative for every fifty thousand persons. Article the second… No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have inter-vened. Article the third… 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.

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Article the fourth… 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. Article the fifth… 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. Article the sixth… The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and sei-zures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, sup-ported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. Article the seventh… No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infa-mous 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 sub-ject for the same offence to be twice put in

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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, with-out just compensation. Article the eighth… In all criminal prosecu-tions, 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 wit-nesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. Article the ninth… 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.

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Article the tenth… Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. Article the eleventh… The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. Article the twelfth… The powers not dele-gated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. ATTEST, Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, Speaker of the House of Representatives John Adams, Vice-President of the United States, and Presi-dent of the Senate John Beckley, Clerk of the House of Representatives. Sam. A Otis Secretary of the Senate

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On December 15, 1791, articles 3-12 of the original proposed amendments were ratified by three-fourths of the State legislatures.

Preamble

Congress of the United States begun and held at the City of New-York, on Wednesday the fourth of March, one thou-sand seven hundred and eighty nine.

THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Con-stitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its pow-ers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Govern-ment, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution. RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of Amer-ica, in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several

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States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all, or any of which Articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Leg-islatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution; viz.

ARTICLES in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pur-suant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution.

Amendment I Congress shall make no law respecting an es-tablishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the peo-ple peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

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Amendment II 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 III 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 IV 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.

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Amendment V No person shall be held to answer for a capi-tal, 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 offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a wit-ness 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 VI 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 as-certained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be con-fronted with the witnesses against him; to

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have compulsory process for obtaining wit-nesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Amendment VII 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-exam-ined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment VIII Excessive bail shall not be required, nor exces-sive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment IX The enumeration in the Constitution, of cer-tain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

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Amendment X 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 XI Passed by Congress March 4, 1794. Ratified Febru-ary 7, 1795. 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 an-other State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.14

14 Article III, section 2, of the Constitution was

amended by the 11th Amendment.

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Amendment XII Passed by Congress December 9, 1803. Ratified June 15, 1804. 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 num-ber of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, di-rected 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

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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 Presi-dent. 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, be-fore the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President.15 The person hav-ing 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 con-sist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number

15 Amended by sec. 3 of the 20th Amendment.

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shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of Pres-ident shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.16

Amendment XIII Passed by Congress January 31, 1865. Ratified De-cember 6, 1865.

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, ex-cept as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall ex-ist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.17

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this ar-ticle by appropriate legislation.18

16 Article II, sec. 1 amended by the 12th Amendment. 17 Article IV, sec. 2, amended by the 13th Amendment. 18 Article IV, sec. 2, amended by the 13th Amendment.

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Amendment XIV Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July 9, 1868.

Section 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.

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of per-sons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any elec-tion for the choice of electors for President

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and Vice-President of the United States, Rep-resentatives 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,19 and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for par-ticipation 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.20

Section 3 No person shall be a Senator or Representa-tive in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or mil-itary, 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 leg-islature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the

19 Amended by section 1 of the 26th Amendment. 20 Article I, section 2, amended by this section.

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United States, shall have engaged in insurrec-tion or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Con-gress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts in-curred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or re-bellion, 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 emancipa-tion of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

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Amendment XV Passed by Congress February 26, 1869. Ratified Feb-ruary 3, 1870.

Section 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 servi-tude—

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

Amendment XVI Passed by Congress July 2, 1909. Ratified February 3, 1913. The Congress shall have power to lay and col-lect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the

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several States, and without regard to any cen-sus or enumeration.21

Amendment XVII Passed by Congress May 13, 1912. Ratified April 8, 1913 The Senate of the United States shall be com-posed 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 qualifica-tions 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 au-thority 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 appoint-ments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

21 Article I, section 9, amended.

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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.22

Amendment XVIII Passed by Congress December 18, 1917. Ratified January 16, 1919. Repealed by amendment 21.23

Section 1. After one year from the ratification of this ar-ticle 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.

Section 2.

22 Article I, section 3, amended. 23 Repealed by the 21st Amendment.

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The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by ap-propriate legislation.

Section 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 XIX Passed by Congress June 4, 1919. Ratified August 18, 1920. 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 ar-ticle by appropriate legislation.

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Amendment XX Passed by Congress March 2, 1932. Ratified January 23, 1933.

Section 1. The terms of the President and the Vice Pres-ident shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Repre-sentatives 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.

Section 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.24

Section 3. 24 Article I, sec. 4, amended by this section.

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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 be-come President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the be-ginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice Pres-ident elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Con-gress 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.25

Section 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

25 12th Amendment was amended by this section.

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the Senate may choose a Vice President when-ever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.

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

Section 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 XXI Passed by Congress February 20, 1933. Ratified De-cember 5, 1933.

Section 1.

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The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby re-pealed.

Section 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicat-ing liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

Section 3. This 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 XXII Passed by Congress March 21, 1947. Ratified Feb-ruary 27, 1951.

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Section 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 Pres-ident shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the of-fice of President when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not pre-vent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, dur-ing the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

Section 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.

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Amendment XXIII Passed by Congress June 16, 1960. Ratified March 29, 1961.

Section 1. The District constituting the seat of Govern-ment 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 Sena-tors 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 ap-pointed 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.

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

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Amendment XXIV Passed by Congress August 27, 1962. Ratified Janu-ary 23, 1964.

Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for Pres-ident or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be de-nied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.

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

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Amendment XXV Passed by Congress July 6, 1965. Ratified February 10, 1967.26

Section 1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

Section 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nomi-nate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

Section 3. Whenever the President transmits to the Pres-ident pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to dis-charge the powers and duties of his office, and

26 Article II, section 1, amended by 25th Amendment.

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until he transmits to them a written declara-tion to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.

Section 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Con-gress 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 of-fice, 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

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may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representa-tives 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 Pres-ident shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his of-fice.

Amendment XXVI Passed by Congress March 23, 1971. Ratified July 1, 1971.

Section 1.

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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.27

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

Amendment XXVII Originally proposed Sept. 25, 1789. Ratified May 7, 1992.28 No law, varying the compensation for the ser-vices of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Repre-sentatives shall have intervened.

27 14th Amendment, sec. 2, was amended. 28 The 27th Amendment was the original 2nd article of

the original 12 prosed amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

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Notes

133

Notes

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Index Subject- Matter

Article/ Amend.

Page #

Abolition of Slavery

Amend. XIII 113

Amendment Procedure

Article V 93-94

Bails, Fines, & Punishment

Amends. VIII 104

Bill of Rights Amend. I-X 106-110

Bills, Origina-tion of

Art. I, sec. 7, cl. 1 74

Commander-in-Chief

Art. II, sec. 2, cl. 1 86

Congressional Salaries

Amend. XXVII 131

Copyright Art. I, sec. 8, cl. 8 77

135

Cruel/Unusual Punishment

Amend. VIII 109

Double Jeopardy

Amend. V 108

Electoral College

Art. II, sec. 1, cl. 3 Amend. XII, Amend. XXIII

82-85 111-113 126

Equal Protec-tion of Law

Amend. XIV 114-116

Executive Branch

Art. II 82-88

Freedom of Speech

Amend. I 106

Freedom of Re-ligion

Amend. I 106

Freedom of the Press

Amend. I 106

Habeas Corpus Art. I, sec. 9, cl. 2 79

Impeachment Art. I, sec. 2, cl. 3 Art. II, sec. 4

69 88

136

Income Tax Amend. XVI 117-118

Judicial Branch Art. III 88-90

Lawsuits Against States

Art. III, sec. 2, Amend. XI

88-90 110

Legislative Branch

Art. I 67-82

National Debt Art. VI 94-95

Oath of Office Art. II, sec. 1, cl. 8 Art. VI

85 95

Pardons Art. II, sec. 2, cl. 1 86

Poll Tax Amend. XXIV 127

Powers Forbid-den to States

Art. I, sec. 10 81-82

Powers Granted to Congress

Art. I, sec. 8, Amend. XII

76-79 111-113

Powers Re-served to States/People

Amend. X 110

Prohibition Amend. XVIII 119-120

137

Prohibition Re-peal

Amend. XXI 123-124

Protection From Invasion

Art. IV, sec. 4 93

Quartering of Soldiers

Amend. III 107

Ratification of Constitution

Art. V, Art. VII

93-94 95

Right to Bear Arms

Amend. II 107

Right in Crimi-nal Cases

Amend. V, Amend. VI

108 108-109

Rights in Civil Cases

Amend. VII 109

Right to As-semble/Petition

Amend. I 106

Search & Sei-zure

Amend. IV 107

Self-Incrimina-tion

Amend. V 108

138

Senators- Va-cancies

Amend. XVII 118-119

States Admitted to Union

Art. IV, sec. 3, cl. 1 92

Succession of President

Art. II Amend. XX Amend. XXV

82-88 121-123 123-126

Supreme Law of the Land

Art. VI 94-95

Term Limit for President

Amend. XXII 124-125

Treason Art. III, sec. 3 90

Veto Power Art. I, sec. 7 74-76

Voting Rights in D.C.

Amend. XXIII 126

Voting Rights of 18 Year Olds

Amend. XXVI 130-131

Voting Rights of Blacks

Amend. XV 117

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Voting Rights of Women

Amend. XIX 120

War Art. I, sec. 8, cl. 11 77

Warrants Amend. IV 107