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. The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial oficers, 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 hare hereunto subscribed our names. GEORGE WASHINGTON, President, and Deputy from Virginia. New Hampshire.-John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman. New Jersey.-William Livingston, David Brearley, William Paterson, Jonathan Dayton. Pennsylvania.-Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, Thomas Fitssimmons, James Wilson, Thomas Mifflin, George Clymer, Jared Ingersoll, Gouverneur Morris. Delaware.—George Read, Gunning Bedford, Jr., John Dickinson, Richard Bassett, Jacob Broom. Maryland.—James M’Henry, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Daniel Carroll. Virginia.-John Blair, James Madison, Jr. North Carolina.-William Blount, Richard Dobbs Spaight, Hugh Williamson. South Carolina.-John Rutledge, Charles Pinckney, Pierce Butler, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. Georgia.-William Few, Abraham Baldwin. Attest: WILLIAM JACKSON, Secretary. AMENDMENTS. a 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 the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Art. 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. ART. III. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in a time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. Art. 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 warrant 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. Art. 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 offense, 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; por shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. Art. 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 defense. Art. VII. In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, aņd no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reëxamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. Art. VIII. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. Art. IX. The enumeration in the constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. Art. 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. Art. 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. Art. XII. '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 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 representation shall choose immediately, by ballot, the president. But in choosing the president, the votes shall be taken by states, the representatives 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 follosing, then the vice-president 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 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, 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 3 majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of president shall be eligi. gible to that of vice-president of the United States. a WHEN AUTHORIZED. AMOUNT. WHEN AUTHORIZED .... NOTE A.-Page 92. The following is a statement of the number and amount of the issues of continental money during the revolutionary war, designating each issue, and its amount, as the same appears in the journals of the continental congress. AMOUNT. 1775. June 22 $2,000,000 1778, July 30.. $5,000,000 1,000,000 5,000,000 26. 10,000,000 10,000,000 10,000,000 5,000,160 Nov. 2, and Dec. 28.. 5,000,000 19. 5,000,160 5,000,160 10,000,000 1,000,000 Jan. 14, and May 7.. 50,000,400 10,000,100 1,000,000 5,000,100 1778, Jan. 8. 1,000,000 10,000,100 5,000,180 2,000,000 10,000,180 5,000,180 6,000,040 5,050,500 10,000,140 1778, May 22 5,000,000 June 20. 5,000,000 $246,052,400 Note B.-Page 146. To readers unacquainted with the rules of proceeding in legislative assemblies, it may be of service to explain the difference between the forms of deliberation and action in committees of the whole and those observed in the house. While sitting as a committee of the whole, the body is not called the house, or the senate. The members, on motion, resolve themselves, by vote, into a committee of the whole; and the presiding officer calls to the chair another member, who is not addressed as speaker or president, but as chairman. Important measures are usually . referred to the committee of the whole to be considered and amended before they are disposed of by the house. The one object of instituting such committee is to afford greater freedom of discussion, as members, in committee speak as often as they please, provided they can obtain the floor. When a bill has been duly considered and amended, the speaker resumes the chair, and the chairman of the committee of the whole reports the bill to the house, or to the senate, as the case may be. NOTE C.-Page 202. "Essex Junto" was the name given to certain ultra federalists, op posed to John Adams, and entertaining, as was alleged, strong par tialities for England. Among them were the members of the cabinet who were dissatisfied with his mildness towards France. Some of the leading ones resided in Essex county, Massachusetts: Hence the name. NOTE D.-Page 420. During the excitement caused by the passage of the tariff act of 1828, which was so vehemently denounced at the south, as both unconstitu tional and impolitic, Mr. Madison addressed to Joseph C. Cabell, Esq., in September and October of that year, two letters in vindication of the protective system; one on its constitutionality, and the other on its expediency. Extracts from these letters are here given : "The constitution vests in congress, expressly, the power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises; and the power to regulate trade.' "That the former power, if not particularly expressed, would have been included in the latter as one of the objects of a general power to regulate trade, is not necessarily impugned by its being so expressed. Examples of this sort can not sometimes be easily avoided, and are to be seen elsewhere in the constitution. Thus the power to define and punish offenses against the law of nations,' includes the power, afterwards particularly expressed, to make rules concerning captures,' &c., from offending neutrals. So also a power to coin money' would doubtless include that of regulating its value,' had not the latter power been expressly inserted. The term taxes, if standing alone, would certainly have included duties, imposts and excises. In another clause it is said, 'no tax or duties shall be laid on exports,' &c. Here, the two terms are used as synonymous. And in another clause, where it is said 'no state shall lay any imposts or duties,' &c., the terms imposts and duties are synonymous. "It is a simple question under the constitution of the United States, whether the power to regulate trade with foreign nations' as a distinct and substantive item in the enumerated powers, embraces the object of encouraging by duties, restrictions, and prohibitions, the manufactures and products of the country? And the affirmative must be inferred from the following considerations: "1. The meaning of the phrase ' to regulate trade,' must be sought in the general use of it; in other words, in the objects to which the power was generally understood to be applicable, when the phrase was inserted in the constitution. "2. The power has been understood and used by all commercial and manufacturing nations, as embracing the object of encouraging manufactures. It is believed that not a single exception can be named. "3. This had been particularly the case with Great Britain, whose commercial vocabulary is the parent of ours. A primary object of her commercial regulations is well known to have been the protection and encouragement of her manufactures. "4. Such was understood to be a proper use of the power by the states |