legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercisethe state remaining, in the mean time, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states-for that purpose obstructing the laws of naturalization of foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to the civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws-giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation.

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us;

For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states;

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world;

For imposing taxes on us without our consent;

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury;

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses;

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies;

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering, fundamentally, the forms of our governments;

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrection among us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts, by their legislature, to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace, friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connections between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

The foregoing declaration was, by order of Congress, engrossed and signed by the following

members:

3

9-5

Constitution of the United States.

Preamble.

Legislative

power. Congress.

House of representatives.

Members, when and by whom chosen.

Qualifications.

Apportionment of representatives and direct

taxes.

Vacancies.

Speaker.
Impeachment.

Senate.
Senators.

Classes.

Vacancies.

Qualifications.

President of senate.

Other officers.

2. WE, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, 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.

3. 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.

4. SEC. 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 twentyfive 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.

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.

5. SEC. 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 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, 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 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 Impeachments. 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 Judgment on office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under impeachment. the United States; but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law.

senators and

6. SEO. 4. The times, places and manner of holding elections for senators and repre- Elections for sentatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the congress representatives. may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators.

7. The congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall Sessions of be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint a different congress. day.

of congress.

8. SEC. 5. Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of Powers of houses its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business; but Judges of eleca smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the tions, &c. attendance of absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties as each house may provide.

Quorum.

ing.

Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for dis- Rules of proceedorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member. Expulsions.

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

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

members.

9. SEO. 6. The senators and representatives shall receive a compensation for their Compensation of 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 Privileges of from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective houses, and in senators and repgoing to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either house, they shall not be questioned in any other place.

resentatives.

No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be Disabilities. 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.

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

ing bills, &c. Revenue bills.

Every bill which shall have passed the house of representatives and the senate, shall, President's before it become a law, be presented to the president of the United States; if he ap- approval. prove 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 How passed

without presi

shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other dent's approval.

house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of

that house, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the president within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law.

president's approval.

tions and votes,

Every order, resolution or vote to which the concurrence of the senate and house of Orders, resolurepresentatives 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 re-passed by twothirds of the senate and house of representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.

Powers of

11. SEC. 8. The congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts congress.

Taxes, duties.&c. and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfar and general wel- of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughou

Common defense

fare.

To borrow
money.
To regulate

commerce.

Naturalization.
Bankruptcies.

Coining money.
Weights and

measures.

Punishment of counterfeiting.

Post offices and

post roads. Patents and

copyrights.

Courts.

Piracy and other offenses.

To declare war, &c.

Army.

Navy.

Army and navy regulations.

Militia Insur.

rections, &c.

Organizing, arm

ing militia.

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 wit 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 standar 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 t 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 offense against the law of nations;

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning cap tures on land and water;

To raise and support armies, but no appropriations 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, suppres insurrections and repel invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing ing and disciplin- 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;

Exclusive legis

lative power over

To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such district (not exseat of govern- ceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance ment, forts, &c. 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 laws.

Limitations of the powers of congress.

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 govern ment of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.

12. SEC. 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 Migration or im- 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.

portation of persons."

Habeas corpus.

Attainder. Ex post facto laws. Capitation and direct taxes.

Exports.

Commercial regulations.

Public moneys and accounts.

Titles of nobility.
Presents, &c.

The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.

No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed.

No capitation, or other district 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,

() The states held to have concurrent power with congress to regulate commerce, with understanding that in case of conflict, state regulations must give way, People vs. Coleman, 4 Cal. 46.

This power held exclusive in congress, People vs. Downer, 7 Cal. 169.

Held exclusive in congress, when exercised, Mitchell vs. Steelman, 8 Cal. 363.

This power extends to every species of commercial intercourse, and may be exercised upon persons as well as property., The act of April 26th, 1862, to discourage Chinese immigration, is in violation of this provision, Lin Sing vs. Washburn, 20 Cal. 534.

(*) Sce this power discussed, Ex parte Knowles, 5 Cal. 300.