Last update:
12-Dec-99
©1996-2004
Mike Todd
The American Constitution 2
Note:
The sub-section numbers are not in the text of the Constitution and have
been added here for clarity. This also represents the current version,
with various changes from the original as a result of the various amendments.
Because the Constitution is a long document, I've split it into:
Article 1
* Articles 2-7
Amendments 1-10 * Amendments 11-18
* Amendments 19-27
Section
1.1
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:
1.2
Each
state shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct,
a number of electors, equal to the whole number of senators and representatives
to which the state may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or
Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the
United States, shall be appointed an elector.
1.3
| Superseded by Amendment 12 |
The
electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for
two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same
state with themselves. And they shall make a list of all the persons voted
for, and of the number of votes for each; which list they shall sign and
certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the Government of the United
States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the
Senate shall, in the presence of the senate and House of Representatives,
open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person
having the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such number
be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if there
be more than one who have such majority, and have an equal number of votes,
then the House of Representatives shall immediately chose 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.
1.4
The
Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day
on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout
the United States.
1.5
No
person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States,
at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to
the office of president; neither shall any person be eligible to that
office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and
been fourteen years a resident within the United States.
1.6
| Affected by Amendment 25 |
In
case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation,
or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the
same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by law
provide for the case of removal, Death, resignation or inability, both
of the President and Vice President, declaring what officer shall then
act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability
be removed, or a President shall be elected.
1.7
The
President shall, at stated times, receive for his services, a compensation,
which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for
which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that
period any other emolument from the United States, or any of them.
1.8
Before he enter
on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or
affirmation:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the
office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my
ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United
States."
Section
2.1
The
President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United
States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the
actual service of the United States; he may require the opinion, in writing,
of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any
subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall
have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United
States, except in cases of Impeachment
2.2
He
shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to
make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and
he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate,
shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges
of the supreme court, and all other officers of the United States, whose
appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be
established by law: but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of
such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the President alone,
in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.
2.3
The
President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during
the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at
the end of their next session.
Section
3
He
shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the State
of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he
shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions,
convene both Houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between
them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to
such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other
public ministers; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed,
and shall commission all the officers of the United States.
Section
4
The
President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States,
shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason,
bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
Article 3
Section
1
The
judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme court,
and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain
and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall
hold their offices during good behaviour, and shall, at stated times,
receive for their services, a compensation, which shall not be diminished
during their continuance in office.
Section
2.1
| Affected by Amendment 11 |
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.
2.2
In
all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and
those in which a state shall be party, the supreme Court shall have original
jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the supreme Court
shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such
exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.
2.3
The
trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury;
and such trial shall be held in the state where the said crimes shall
have been committed; but when not committed within any state, the trial
shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed.
Section
3.1
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.
3.2
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.
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 be general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, records and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.
2.1
The
citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and Immunities
of citizens in the several States.
2.2
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.
2.3
| Superseded by Amendment 13 |
No
person held to service or labour in one state, under the laws thereof,
escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation
therein, be discharged from such service or labour, but shall be delivered
up on claim of the party to whom such service or labour may be due.
Section
3.1
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.
3.2
The
Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and
regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the
United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed
as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular
state.
Section
4
The
United States shall guarantee to every state in this Union a republican
form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and
on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature
cannot be convened) against domestic violence.
The
Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary,
shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application
of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a
convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid
to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified
by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions
in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification
may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no amendment which may
be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in
any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of
the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived
of its equal suffrage in the Senate.
Section
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.
Section
2
This
Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in
pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under
the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land;
and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, any thing in the
Constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.
Section
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.
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
Encyclopedia
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Article 1 * Articles 2-7
Amendments 1-10 * Amendments 11-18 * Amendments 19-27