CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES,

COPIED FROM, AND COMPARED WITH, THE ROLL IN THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE.

WE the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.

ARTICLE 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 composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature.

No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen.

Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand,† but each state shall have at least one representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the state of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.

The constitutional provision, that direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, to be ascertained by a census, was not intended to restrict the power of imposing direct taxes to states only.-Loughborough vs. Blake, 5 Wheaton, 319.

See laws United States, vol. ii, chap. 124; iii., 261; iv., 332. Acts of 17th Congress, 1st session, chap. x. ; and of the 22d and 27th Congress.

When vacancies happen in the representation from any state, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies. The house of representatives shall choose their speaker and other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment.

SECTION 3. The senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years; and each senator shall have one vote.

Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes. The seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen by resig nation, or otherwise, during the recess of the legislature of any state, the executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies.

No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he shall be chosen.

The vice-president of the United States shall be president of the senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.

The senate shall choose their other officers, and also a president protempore, in the absence of the vice-president, or when he shall exercisc the office of president of the United States.

The senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments: When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the president of the United States is tried, the chief justice shall preside: And no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two thirds of the members present.

Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States: but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law.

SECTION 4. The times, places and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the 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 by law appoint a different day.

SECTION 5. Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties as each house may provide. Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings,† punish its

See art. v., clause 1.

To an action of trespass against the sergeant-at-arms of the house of representatives of the United States for assault and battery and false imprisonment, it is a legal justifica tion and bar to plead that a Congress was held and sitting during the period of the trespasses complained, and that the house of representatives had resolved that the plaintiff had been guilty of a breach of the privileges of the house, and of a high contempt of the dignity

members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two thirds, expel a member.

Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment require secresy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either house on any question shall, at the desire of one fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.

Neither house, during the session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting.

SECTION 6. The senators and representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases, except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either house, they shall not be questioned in any other place.

No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no person holding any office under the United States, shall be a member of either house during his continuance in office.

SECTION 7. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the house of representatives; but the senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other bills.

Every bill which shall have passed the house of representatives and the senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the president of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his objections to that house in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two thirds of that house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that house, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the president within ten days (Sunday 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 authority of the same; and had ordered that the speaker should issue his warrant to the sergeant-at-arms, commanding him to take the plaintiff into custody wherever to be found, and to have him before the said house to answer to the said charge; and that the speaker did accordingly issue such a warrant, reciting the said resolution and order, and commanding the sergeant-at-arms to take the plaintiff into custody, &c., and deliver the said warrant to the defendant: by virtue of which warrant the defendant arrested the plaintiff, and conveyed him to the bar of the house, where he was heard in his defence touching the matter of said charge, and the examination being adjourned from day to day, and the house having ordered the plaintiff to be detained in custody, he was accordingly detained by the defendant until he was finally adjudged to be guilty and convicted of the charge aforesaid, and ordered to be forthwith brought to the bar and reprimanded by the speaker, and then discharged from custody, and after being thus reprimanded, was actually discharged from the arrest and custody aforesaid -Anderson vs. Dunn, 6 Wheaton, 204.

and house of representatives may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the president of the United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the senate and house of representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.

SECTION 8. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes," duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;

To establish an uniform rule of naturalization,† and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptciest throughout the United States;

'I'o 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 postoffices and postroads;

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;

The power of Congress to lay and collect taxes, duties, &c., extends to the District of Columbia, and to the territories of the United States, as well as to the states.-Loughborough vs. Blake, 5 Wheaton, 318. But Congress are not bound to extend a direct tax to the district and territories.-Id., 318.

Under the constitution of the United States, the power of naturalization is exclusively in Congress.-Chivac vs. Chivac, 2 Wheaton, 259.

See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 30'; ii., 261; iii., 71 ; iii., 288; iii., 400; iv., 564 ;

32.

Since the adoption of the constitution of the United States, a state has authority to pass a bankrupt law, provided such law does not impair the obligation of contracts within the meaning of the constitution (art. i., sect. 10), and provided there be no act of Congress in force to establish a uniform system of bankruptcy conflicting with such law.-Sturgess vs. Crowninshield, 4 Wheaton, 122, 192.

See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 368, sect. 2: iii., 66; iii., 158.

The act of the 3d March, 1819, chap. 76, sect. 5, referring to the law of nations for a definition of the crime of piracy, is a constitutional exercise of the power of Congress to define and punish that crime.-United States vs. Smith, 5 Wheaton, 153, 157.

Congress have power to provide for the punishment of offences committed by persons on board a ship-of-war of the United States, wherever that ship may lie. But Congress have not exercised that power in the case of a ship lying in the waters of the United States, the words within fort, arsenal, dockyard, magazine, or in any other place or district of country under the sole and exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, in the third section of the act of 1790, chap. 9, not extending to a ship-of-war, but only to objects in their nature, fixed and territorial.-United States vs. Bevans, 3 Wheaton, 890.

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, 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 this constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.‡

SECTION 9. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by • Vide amendments, art. ii.

† Congress has authority to impose a direct tax on the District of Columbia, in proportion to the census directed to be taken by the constitution.—Loughborough vs. Blake, 5 Wheaton, 317.

But Congress are not bound to extend a direct tax to the district and territories.—Id., 322. The power of Congress to exercise exclusive jurisdiction in all cases whatsoever within the District of Columbia, includes the power of taxing it.-Id., 324.

Whenever the terms in which a power is granted by the constitution to Congress, or whenever the nature of the power itself requires that it should be exercised exclusively by Congress, the subject is as completely taken away from the state legislatures as if they had been expressly forbidden to act on it.-Sturgess vs. Crowninshield, 4 Wheaton, 193.

Congress has power to incorporate a bank.—McCulloch vs. State of Maryland, 4 Wheaton,

316.

The power of establishing a corporation is not a distinct sovereign power or end of government, but only the means of carrying into effect other powers which are sovereign. Whenever it becomes an appropriate means of exercising any of the powers given by the constitution to the government of the Union, it may be exercised by that government.—Id., 411, 421.

If a certain means to carry into effect any of the powers expressly given by the constitution to the government of the Union, be an appropriate measure, not prohibited by the constitution, the degree of its necessity is a question of legislative discretion, not of judicial cognizance.-Id., 421.

The act of the 19th April, 1816, chap. 44, to incorporate the subscribers to the bank of the United States, is a law made in pursuance of the constitution.—Id., 424.

The bank of the United States has constitutionally a right to establish its brauches or offices of discount and deposite within any state.-Id., 424.

There is nothing in the constitution of the United States similar to the articles of confederation, which excludes incidental or implied powers.-Id., 403.

If the end be legitimate, and within the scope of the constitution, all the means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, and which are not prohibited, may constitutionally be employed to carry it into effect.-Id., 421.

The powers granted to Congress are not exclusive of similar powers existing in the states, unless where the constitution has expressly in terms given an exclusive power to Congress, or the exercise of a like power is prohibited to the states, or there is a direct repugnancy or incompatibility in the exercise of it by the states.-Houston vs. Moore, 5 Whea ton, 49.

The example of the first class is to be found in the exclusive legislation delegated to Congress over places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the sme shall be for forts, arsenals, dockyards, &c. Of the second class, the prohibition of a s... to coin money or emit bills of credit. Of the third class, the power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and the delegation of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction. -Id., 49.

In all other classes of cases the states retain concurrent authority with Congress.-Id., 48. But in cases of concurrent authority, where the laws of the states and of the Union are in direct and manifest collision on the same subject, those of the Union being the supreme law of the land, are of paramount authority, and the state so far, and so far only as such incompatibility exists, must necessarily yield.-Id., 49.

The state within which a branch of the United States bank may be established, can not,