Treason and Its against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted, ARTICLE IV. Rights of States and Citizens. Section 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, records and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof. Sec. 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 Equal Rights of be found in another state, shall, on demand of the executive Citizens. authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime. No person held to service or 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. Creation of New Sec. 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 part of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress. The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular state. Sec. 4. The United States shall guarantee to every state in this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of Guarantee of Repub- them against invasion, and on application of the Legislature, lican Government. or of the executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic violence. Action by Congress Ratification. ARTICLE V. Amendments to Constitution. 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 threefourths of the several states, or by convention 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. Supreme Authority of Constitution. All debts contracted and engagements entered into before the adoption of this Constitution shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitu Debts and Treatles- Religious Test. tion as under the confederation. This Constitution and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding. The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States. ARTICLE VII. Ratification of Constitution, The ratification of the convention of nine states shall be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the states 80 ratifying the same. Nine States Suf ficient to Establish. 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. GEO. WASHINGTON, President and Deputy from Virginia. New Hampshire-JOHN LANGDON, NICHOLAS GILMAN, DAYTON. New Jersey-WILL. LIVINGSTON, DAVID BREARLY, WM. PATERSON, JONA. North Carolina-WM. BLOUNT, RICHARD DOBBS SPAIGHT, HU. WILLIAMSON. Georgia-WILLIAM FEW, ABR. BALDWIN. Attest: WILLIAM JACKSON, Secretary. AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. ARTICLE I. 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 of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. ARTICLE 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. ARTICLE 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. ARTICLE 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. ARTICLE V. 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. ARTICLE 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 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. ARTICLE VII. In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed $20, 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. ARTICLE VIII. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. ARTICLE IX. The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. ARTICLE 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. ARTICLE XI. 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. ARTICLE XII. The electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President Election of President and Vice-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 persons voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the persons 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 list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted; the person having the greatest number of votes for President shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers, not exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the vote shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this pur pose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them. before the fourth day of March next following, then the VicePresident shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President. The person having the greatest number of votes as VicePresident shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person_constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States. ARTICLE XIII. Section 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. Amendments Fol lowing Civil War. by appropriate legislation. Sec. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article 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. Sec. 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 twentyone 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. Sec. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President or Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United states, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath as 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 ald or comfort to the enemies thereof; but Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each house, remove such disability. (Note.-On June 7, 1898, President McKinley approved of an act of Congress which declared that "the disabilities imposed by Section 3, Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, heretofore incurred, are hereby removed.") Sec. 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 the 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. Sec. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. ARTICLE XV. Section 1. The right of the 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. Sec. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. RATIFICATION OF THE AMENDMENTS. The amendments to the Constitution numbered one to ten were adopted as a Bill of Rights in deference to the wish expressed by a number of the states which ratified the original instrument that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added. They were proposed to the legislatures of the several states by the First Congress, on September 25, 1789. They were ratified by the following states in this order: New Jersey, November 20, 1789; Maryland, December 19, 1789; North Carolina, December 22, 1789; South Carolina, January 19, 1790; New Hampshire, January 25, 1790; Delaware, January 28, 1790; Pennsylvania, March 10, 1790; New York, March 27, 1790; Rhode Island, June 15, 1790; Vermont, November 3, 1791; Virginia, December 15, 1791. The notifications of ratification were transmitted by the Governors of the states to the President and sent by him to Congress. There is no evidence on the journals of Congress that the legislatures of Connecticut, Georgia and Massachusetts ratified these amendments. The Eleventh Amendment was proposed by the Third Congress, on September 5, 1794, and was declared in a message of the Eleventh Amendment. President to Congress, dated January 8, 1798, to have been ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states. The Twelfth Amendment was proposed by the Eighth Congress, on December 12, 1803, in lieu of the third paragraph of the first section of the Third Article. It was declared by a proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated September 25, 1804, to have been ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states. Twelfth The Thirteenth Amendment was proposed by the Thirty-eighth Congress, on February 1, 1865, and was declared in a proclamation, dated December 18, 1865, to have been ratified by the legislatures of twenty-seven of Thirteenth the thirty-six states, viz., Illinois, Rhode Island, Michigan, Amendment. Maryland, New York, West Virginia, Maine, Kansas, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, Nevada, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Vermont, Tennessee, Arkansas, Connecticut, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Alabama, North Carolina and Georgia. The Fourteenth Amendment was proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress on June 16, 1866. On July 21, 1868, Congress adopted and transmitted to the Department of State a concurrent resolution declaring that “the Fourteenth legislatures of the States of Connecticut, Tennessee, New Jersey, Amendment. Oregon, Vermont, West Virginia, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Maine, Iowa, Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, South Carolina and Louisiana, being three-fourths and more of the several states of the Union, have ratified the fourteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States, duly proposed by two-thirds of each House of the Thirty-ninth Congress: Therefore, Resolved, That said fourteenth article is hereby declared to be a part of the Constitution of the United States, and it shall be duly promulgated as such by the Secretary of State." The Secretary of State accordingly issued a proclamation, dated July 28. 1868, declaring that the amendment had been ratified by the legislatures of thirty of the thirty-six states, as follows: Connecticut, June 30, 1866; New Hampshire, July 7, 1866; Tennessee, July 19, 1866; New Jersey, September 11, 1866 (and the Legislature of the same state passed a resolution in April, 1868, to withdraw consent to it); Oregon, September 19, 1866; Vermont, November 9, 1866; Georgia rejected it November 13, 1866, and ratified it July 21, 1868; North Carolina rejected it December 4, 1866, and ratified it July 4, 1868; South Carolina rejected it December 20, 1866, and ratified it. July 9, 1868: New York ratified it January 10, 1867; Ohio, January 11, 1867 (and the Legislature of the same state passed a resolution in January, 1868, to withdraw consent); Illinois, January 15, 1867; West Virginia, January 16, 1867; Kansas, January 18, 1867; Maine, January 19, 1867; Nevada, January 22, 1867; Missouri, January 26, 1867; Indiana, January 29, 1867; Minnesota, February 1, 1867; Rhode Island, February 7, 1867; Wisconsin, February 13, 1867; Pennsylvania, February 13, 1867; Michigan, February 15, 1867; Massachusetts, March 20, 1867; Nebraska, June 15, 1867; Iowa, April 3, 1868; Arkansas, April 6, 1868; Florida, June 9, 1868; Louisiana, July 9, 1868; Alabama, July 13, 1868. The Fifteenth Amendment was proposed by the Fortieth Congress, on February 26, 1869, and was declared in a proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated March 30, 1870, to have been ratified by the legislatures of Fifteenth twenty-nine of the thirty-seven states. The dates of the ratiAmendment. fications (arranged in the order of their reception by the State Department) were: North Carolina, March 5, 1869; West Vir ginia, March 3, 1869; Massachusetts, March 9-12, 1869; Wisconsin, March 9, 1869; Maine, March 12, 1869; Lcuisiana, March 5, 1869; Michigan, March 8, 1869; South Carolina, March 16, 1869; Pennsylvania, March 26, 1869; Arkansas, March 30, 1869; Connecticut, May 19, 1869; Florida, June 15, 1869; Illinois, March 5, 1869; Indiana, May 13-14, 1869; New York, Maren 17-April 14, 1869 (and the Legislature of the same state passed a resolution January 5, 1870, to withdraw consent); New Hampshire, July 7, 1869; Nevada, March 1. 1869; Vermont, October 21, 1869; Virginia, October 8, 1869; Missouri, January 10, 1870: Mississippi, January 15-17, 1870; Ohio, January 27, 1870; Iowa, February 3, 1870; Kansas, January 18-19, 1870; Minnesota, February 19, 1870; Rhode Island January 18, 1870: Nebraska, February 18, 1870; Texas, February 18, 1870. Georgia, also ratified the amendment on February 2, 1870. THE PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION LAW. The Presidential succession is fixed by Chapter 1 of the acts of the 49th Congress, first session. In case of the removal, death, resignation or inability of both the President and Vice-President, then the Secretary of State shall act as Prestdent until the disability of the President or Vice-President is removed or a President is elected. If there be no Secretary of State, then the Secretary of the Treasury will act, and the remainder of the order of succession is as follows: The Secretary of War, Attorney General, Postmaster General, Secretary of the Navy and Secretary of the Interior. The Acting President must, upon taking office, convene Congress, if not at the time in session, in extraordinary session, giving twenty days' notice. This act applies only to such Cabinet officers as shall have been appointed by the advice and consent of the Senate, and are eligible under the Constitution to the Presidency. The act of Congress raising the Department of Agriculture to the rank of an executive department and giving its head a seat in the President's Cabinet and the act creating the Department of Commerce and Labor were both passed subsequently to the Presidential succession act. By intention or inadvertence Congress did not extend the provisions of the succession act to these two additional Cabinet officers. There is no warrant for considering the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Commerce and Labor as in the line of succession. But no judicial Interpretation has yet been made of the provisions of the succession law and of the acts creating the eighth and ninth executive departments. THE MONROE DOCTRINE. Its Origin and Applications. The origin of the Monroe Doctrine may be traced back to President Washington's farewell address, in which he declared the cardinal policy of the United States to be one of noninterference with European affairs. Of that attitude the reverse doctrine of European noninterference in American affairs was a natural development. In his farewell address delivered September 17, 1796, Washington said: The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as pos Washington on Abstention for European Concerns. sible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities. Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people, under an efficient government, the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not legally hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interests, guided by justice, shall counsel. Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice? It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world, so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them. Through the Napoleonic wars the United States succeeded in keeping clear of European entanglements, but after the formation of the Holy Alliance, with |