Business Assistant/Business Assistant.iso/legal/gde757_3/lharc3.exe/USCON.STA

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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 blessing of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do
ordain and establish the Constitution of the United States of
America.

Article I.

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

Sect. 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of
members chosen every second year by the people of the several
states, and the electors in each state shall have the
qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch
of the state legislature.
    No person shall be a representative who shall not have
attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a
citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be
an inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen.
    Representative and direct taxes shall be apportioned
among the several states which may be included within this Union,
according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined
by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those
bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not
taxed, three-fifths of all other persons.  The actual enumeration
shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the
Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term
of ten years in such manner as they shall be law direct.  The
number of representative shall not exceed one for every thirty
thousand, but each state shall have at least one representative;
and until such enumeration shall be made, the state of New
Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three, Massachusetts eight,
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five,
New-York six, New-Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one,
Maryland six, Virginia ten, North-Carolina five, South-Carolina
five, and Georgia three.
    When vacancies happen in the representation from any
state, the Executive authority thereof shall issue writs of
election to fill such vacancies.
    The House of Representatives shall choose the Speaker and
other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment.

Sect. 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two
senators from each state chosen by the legislature thereof, for
six years and each senator shall have one vote.
    Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence
of the first election, they hall be divided as equally as may be
into three classes.  The seats of the senators of the first
class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of
the second class at the expiration of the fourth year, and of the
third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one-
third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen by
resignation, or otherwise during the recess of the legislature of
any state, the Executive thereof may make temporary appointments
until the next meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill
such vacancies.
    No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained
to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the
United States, who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of
that state for which he shall be chosen.
    The Vice-President of the United States shall be
President of the Senate, but shall have no vote unless they be
equally divided.
    The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a
President pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice-President, or
when he shall exercise the office of President of the United
States.
    The Senate shall have the sole power to try all
impeachments.  When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on
oath or affirmation.  When the President of the United States is
tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no person shall be
convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members
present.
    Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further
than to removal from office and disqualification to hold and
enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United
States; but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and
subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according
to law.

Sect. 4. The times, places and manner of holding elections for
senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each state
by the legislature thereof: but the Congress may at any time by
law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of
choosing Senators.
    The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year,
and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless
they shall be law appoint a different day.

Sect. 5. Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns
and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each
shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number
may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the
attendance of absent members, in such manner, and under such
penalties as each house may provide.
    Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings,
punish its members for disorderly behaviour, and with the
concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member.
    Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and
from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may
in their judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the
members either house on any question shall, at the desire of
one-fifth of those present be entered on the journal.
    Neither house, during the session of Congress shall,
without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three
days, nor to any other place than that in which the two houses
shall be sitting.

Sect. 6. The senators and representatives shall receive a
compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and
paid out of the treasury of the United States.  They shall in all
cases, except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be
privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of
their respective houses, and in going to and returning from the
same; and for any speech or debate in either house, they shall
not be questioned in any other place.
    No senator or representative shall, during the time for
which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the
authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or
the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time;
and no person holding any office under the United States, shall
be a member of either house during his continuance in office.

Sect. 7. All bill for raising revenue shall originate in the
house of representative; but the senate may propose or concur
with amendments as on other bills.
    Every bill which shall have passed the house of
representatives and the senate, shall, before it become a law, be
presented to the president of the United States; if he approve he
shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his objections
to that house in which it shall have originated, who shall enter
the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to
reconsider it.  If after such reconsideration two-thirds of that
house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together
with the objections, to the other house, by which is shall
likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that
house, it shall become a law.  But in all such cases the votes of
both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names
of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered
on the journal of each house respectively.  If any bill shall not
be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted)
after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a
law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress
by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall
not be a law.
    Every order, resolution, or vote to which the
concurrence of the Senate and House of Representative may be
necessary (except on a question of adjournment) shall be
presented to the President of the United States; and before the
same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or being
disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two-thirds of the Senate
and House of Representatives, according to the rules and
limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.

Sect. 8. The Congress shall have power
    To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises,
to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and general
welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and
excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.
    To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
    To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the
several states, and with the Indian tribes;
    To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and
uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United
States;
    To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign
coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;
    To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the
securities and current coin of the United States;
    To establish post offices and post roads;
    To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by
securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive
right to their respective writings and discoveries;
    To constitute tribunals inferior to the supreme court;
    To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on
the high seas, and 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 appropriation of
money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;
    To provide and maintain a navy;
    To make rules for the government and regulation of the
land and naval forces;
    To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the
laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions.;
    To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the
militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed
in the service of the United States, reserving to the States
respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority
of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by
Congress;
    To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases
whatsoever, over such district (not exceeding ten miles square)
as may, by cession of particular States, and the acceptance of
Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States,
and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the
consent of the legislature of the states in which the same shall
be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards,
and other needful buildings; And
    To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for
carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other
powers vested by the Constitution in the government of the United
States, or in any department or officer thereof.

Sect. 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 require it.
    No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be
passed.
    No capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid,
unless in proportion to the census or enumeration herein before
directed to be taken.
    No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from
any state.  No preference shall be given by any regulation of
commerce or revenue to the ports of one state over those of
another: nor shall vessels bound to, or from, one state, be
obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another.
    No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in
consequence of appropriations made by law; and a regular
statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all
public money shall be published from time to time.
    No title of nobility shall be granted by the United
States:--And no person holding any office of profit or trust
under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept
of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind
whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.

Sect. 10. No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or
confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money;
emit bills of credit; make any thing but gold and silver coin a
tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post
facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or
grant any title of nobility.
    No state shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay
any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be
absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the
net produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any state on
imports or exports, shall be for the use of the Treasury of the
United States; all such laws shall be subject to the revision and
control of the Congress.  No state shall, without the consent of
Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war
in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with
another state, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless
actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of
delay.

Article II.

Sect. 1.  The executive power shall be vested in a president of
the United States of America.  He shall hold his office during the
term of four years, and, together with the vice-president, chosen
for the same term, be elected as follows.
    Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the
legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to
the whole number of senators and representatives to which the
state may be entitled in the Congress: but no senator or
representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit
under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.
    The electors shall meet in their respective states, and
vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not
be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves.  And they
shall make a list of all the persons voted for, and of the number
of votes for each; which list they shall sign and certify, and
transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United
States, directed to the president of the senate.  The president
of the senate shall, in the presence of the senate and house of
representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall
then be counted.  The person having the greatest number of votes
shall be the president, if such number be a majority of the whole
number of electors appointed; and if there be more than one who
have such majority, and have an equal number of electors
appointed; and if there be more than one who have such majority,
and have an equal number of votes, then the house of
representatives shall immediately choose by ballot one of them
for president; and if no person have a majority, then from the
five highest on the list the said house shall in like manner
choose the president.  But in choosing the president, the votes
shall be taken by states, the representation from each state
having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a
member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority
of all the states shall be necessary to a choice.  In every case,
after the choice of the president, the person having the greatest
number of votes of the electors shall be the vice-president.  But
if there should remain two or more who have equal votes, the
senate shall choose from them by ballot the vice-president.
    The Congress may determine the time of the choosing the
electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes; which
day shall be the same throughout the United States.
    No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of
the United States, at the time of the adoption of this
constitution, shall be eligible to the office of president;
neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not
have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen
years a resident within the United States.
    In case of the removal of the president from office, or
his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and
duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the vice-
president, and the Congress may by law provide for the case of
removal, death, resignation or inability, both of the president
and vice-president, declaring what officer shall then act as
president, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the
disability be removed, or a president be elected.
    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 office, he shall
take the following oath or affirmation:
    "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully
execute the office of president of the United States, and will to
the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the
constitution of the United States."

Sect. 2. The president shall be commander in chief of the army
and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several
States, when called into the actual service of the United States;
he may require the opinion, in writing of the principal officer
in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating
to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have
power to grant reprieves and pardons for 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 ministers and consuls, judges of the supreme court,
and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments
are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be
established by law.  But the Congress may by law vest the
appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in
the president alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of
departments.
    The president shall have power to fill up all vacancies
that may happen during the recess of the senate, by granting
commissions which shall expire at the end of their session.

Sect. 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress
information of the state of the union, and recommend to their
consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and
expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both
houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between
them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn
them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive
ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that
the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the
officers of the United States.

Sect. 4. The president, vice-president and all civil officers of
the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment
for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes
and misdemeanors.

Article III.

Sect. 1.  The judicial power of the United States shall be vested
in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress
may from time to time ordain and establish.  The judges, both of
the Supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during
good behavior, and shall, at stated time, receive for their
services a compensation which shall not be diminished during
their continuance in office.

Sect. 2.
    1. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law
and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the
United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under
their authority; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public
ministers, and consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime
jurisdiction; to controversies to which the United States shall
be a party; to controversies between two or more States, between
a State and citizens of another State, between citizens of
different States, between citizens of the same State claiming
lands under grants of different States, and between a State or
the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens, or subjects.
    2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public
ministers and consuls, and those in which a State shall be a
party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction.  In
all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall
have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such
exceptions and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.
    3. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of
impeachment, shall be by jury; and such trial shall be held in
the State where the said crimes shall have been committed; but
when not committed within any State the trial shall be at such
place or places as the Congress may by law have directed.

Sect. 3.
    1.  Treason against the United States shall consist only
in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies,
giving them aid and comfort.  No person shall be convicted of
treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same
overt act, or on confession in open court.
    2.  The Congress shall have power to declare the
punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work
corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the
person attained.

Article IV

Sect. 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to
the public act, records, and judicial proceedings of every other
State.  And the Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the
manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be
proved, and the effect thereof.

Sect. 2.
    1. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all
privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States.
    2. A person charged in any State with treason, felony,
or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in
another State, shall, on demand of the executive authority of
the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to
the State having jurisdiction of the crime.
    3. No person held to service or labor in one State, under
the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of
any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or
labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom
such service or labor may be due.

Sect. 3.
    1.  New States may be admitted by the Congress into this
Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the
jurisdiction of any other State, nor any State be formed by the
junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the
consent of the legislatures of the States concerned as well as of
the Congress.
    2.  The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make
all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or
other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in
this Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any
claims of the United States, or of any particular State.

Sect. 4.  The United States shall guarantee to every State in
this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect
each of them against invasion; and on application of the
legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot
be convened), against domestic violence.

Article V.

    The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both House shall
deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution,
or, on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the
several States, shall call a convention for proposing
amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid, to all intents
and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the
legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, or by
conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other
mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided
[that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one
thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the
first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first
Article;] and that no State, without its consent, shall be
deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.

Article VI.

Sect. 1.  All debts contracted and engagements entered into,
before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid
against the United States under this Constitution, as under the
Confederation.

Sect. 2.  This Constitution, and the laws of the United States
which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made,
or which shall be made, under the authority of the United
States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in
every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution
or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

Sect. 3.  The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and
the members of the several State legislatures, and all executive
and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the
several States, shall be bound, by oath or affirmation, to
support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be
required as a qualification to any office or public trust under
the United States.

Article VII.

    The ratification of the conventions of nine States shall
be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between
the States so ratifying the same.

    Done in Convention, by the unanimous consent of the
States present, the seventeenth day of September, in the year of
our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the twelfth.  In
Witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names.

Attest:  William Jackson, Secretary
         George Washington
         PRESIDENT AND DEPUTY FROM VIRGINIA

NEW HAMPSHIRE
John Langdon
Nicholas Gilman

MASSACHUSETTS
Nathaniel Gorham
Rufus King

NEW YORK
Alexander Hamilton

NEW JERSEY
William Livingston
David Brearley
William Paterson
Jonathan Dayton

PENNSYLVANIA
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Mifflin
Robert Morris
George Clymer
Thomas Fitzsimons
Jared Ingersoll
James Wilson
Gouverneur Morris

DELAWARE
George Read
Gunning Bedford, Jr.
John Dickinson
Richard Bassett
Jacob Broom

MARYLAND
James McHenry
Dan of St. Thomas Jennifer
Daniel Carroll

VIRGINIA
John Blair
James Madison, Jr.

NORTH CAROLINA
William Blount
Richard Dobbs Spaight
Hugh Williamson

SOUTH CAROLINA
John Rutledge
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
Charles Pinckney
Pierce Butler

GEORGIA
William Few
Abraham Baldwin

AMENDMENTS

1st Amendment
    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.

2nd Amendment
    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.

3rd Amendment
    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.

4th Amendment
    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.

5th Amendment
    No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or
otherwise infamous, crime, unless on a presentment or indictment
of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval
forces, or in the militia, when in actual service, in time of
war, or public danger; nor shall any person be subject, for the
same offence, to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor
shall be compelled, in any criminal case, to be a witness against
himself; nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without
due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for
public use, without just compensation.

6th Amendment
    In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy
the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of
the state and district wherein the crime shall have been
committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained
by law; and to be informed of the nature and cause of the
accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to
have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and
to have the assistance of counsel for his defence.

7th Amendment
    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.

8th Amendment
    Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines
imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted.

9th Amendment
    The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights
shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by
the people.

10th Amendment
    The powers not delegated to the United States shall not
be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced
or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of
another State or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state.

11th Amendment
    The judicial power of the United States shall not be
construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or
prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of
another State or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state.

12th Amendment
    The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and
vote by ballot for President and Vice President, one of whom, at
least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with
themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted
for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for
as Vice President; and they shall make distinct lists of all
persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as
Vice President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists
they shall sign, and certify, and transmit, sealed, to the seat
of the Government of the United States, directed to the
President of the Senate; the President of the Senate shall, in
the presence of the Senate and the 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 a majority,
then, from the persons having the highest numbers, not exceeding
three, on the list of those voted for a President, the House of
Representative shall choose immediately, by ballot, the
President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be
taken by States, the representation from each State having one
vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or
members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all
the States shall be necessary to a choice.  And if the House of
Representatives shall not choose a President, whenever the right
of choice shall devolve upon them, [before the fourth day of
March next following] the Vice President shall act as President,
as in case of death, or other constitutional disability of the
President.  The person having the greatest number of votes as
Vice President, shall be the Vice President, if such number be a
majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no
person have a majority, then, form the two highest numbers on
the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice President; a quorum
for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number
of Senators; a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to
a choice.  But no person constitutionally ineligible to the
office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President
of the United States.

13th Amendment
    Sect. 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,
except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have
been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or
any place subject to their jurisdiction.
    Sect. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this
article by appropriate legislation.

14th Amendment
    Sect. 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 any person within its jurisdiction
the equal protection of the laws.
    Sect. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the
several States according to their respective numbers, counting
the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not
taxed.  But when the right to vote at any election for the choice
of electors for President and Vice President of the United States,
Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers
of a State, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied
to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one
years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way
abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime,
the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the
proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to
the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in
such State.
    Sect. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative
in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold
any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under
any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of
Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member
of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer
of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States,
shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same,
or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.  But Congress
may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such
disability.
    Sect. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United
States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment
of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection
or rebellion, shall not be questioned.  But neither the United
States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation
incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United
States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave;
but all such debts, obligations, and claims shall be held
illegal and void.
    Sect. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by
appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

15th Amendment
    Sect. 1. The right of citizens of the United States to
vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by
any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of
servitude.
    Sect. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this
article by appropriate legislation.

16th Amendment
    The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on
incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment
among the several States and without regard to any census or
enumeration.

17th Amendment
    The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two
Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six
years; and each Senator shall have one vote.  The electors in
each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors
of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.
    When vacancies happen in the representation of any State
in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue
writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the
legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to
make temporary appointment until the people fill the vacancies
by election as the legislature may direct.
    This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect
the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes
valid as part of the Constitution.

18th Amendment
    Sect. 1. After one year from the ratification of this
article the manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating
liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation
thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the
jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.
    Sect. 2. The Congress and the several States shall have
concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
    Sect. 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 of the date of the submission
hereof to the States by Congress.

19th Amendment
    The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall
not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State
on account of sex.
    Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.

20th Amendment
    Sect. 1. The terms of the President and Vice President
]shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of
Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January,
of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article
had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall
then begin.
    Sect. 2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every
years, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d day of
January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.
    Sect. 3.  If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the
term of the President, the President-elect shall have died, the
Vice President-elect shall become President.  If a President
shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the
beginning of his term, or if the President-elect shall have
failed to qualify, then the Vice President-elect shall act as
President until a President shall have qualified; and the
Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a
President-elect nor a Vice President-elect shall have qualified,
declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which
one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act
accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have
qualified.
    Sect. 4. The Congress may by law provide for the case of
the death of any of the persons from whom the House of
Representatives may choose a President whenever the right of
choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the
death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a
Vice President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved
upon them.
    Sect. 5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th
day of October following the ratification of this article.
    Sect. 6. This article shall be inoperative unless it
shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by
three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the
date of its submission.

21st Amendment
    Sect. 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the
Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.
    Sect. 2. The transportation or importation into any
State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery
or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws
thereof, is hereby prohibited.
    Sect. 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.

22d Amendment
    Sect. 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the
President more than twice, and no person who has held the office
of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of
a term to which some other person was elected President shall be
elected to the office of the President more than once.  But this
Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of
President when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and
shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of
President, or acting as President, during the term within which
this Article becomes operative from holding the office of
President or acting as President during the remainder of such
term.
    Sect. 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.

23rd Amendment
    Sect. 1. The District constituting the seat of Government
of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress
may direct:
    A number of electors of President and Vice President
equal to the whole number of Senators and Representative 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 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.
    Sect. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this
article by appropriate legislation.

24th Amendment
    Sect. 1. The right of citizens of the United States to
vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice
President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for
Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure
to pay any poll tax or other tax.
    Sect. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this
article by appropriate legislation.

25th Amendment
    Sect. 1. In case of the removal of the President from
office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall
become President.
    Sect. 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of
the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President
who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of
both Houses of Congress.
    Sect. 3. Whenever the President transmits to the
President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speakers of the House
of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to
discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he
transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such
powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as
Acting President.
    Sect. 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of
either the principal officers of the executive departments or of
such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the
President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House
of Representatives their written declaration that the President
is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the
Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of
the office as Acting President.
    Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President
pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of
Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists,
he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the
Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of
the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by
law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro
tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of
Representatives their written declaration that the President is
unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.
Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within
forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session.  If the
Congress, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to
assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the
President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his
office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same
as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the
powers and duties of his office.

26th Amendment
    Sect. 1. The right of citizens of the United States, who
are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied
or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of
age.
    Sect. 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce
this article by appropriate legislation.