Life and Times of Washington Part 34

ARTICLE V.

The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this const.i.tution; 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 const.i.tution, 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 1808, 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.

All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the adoption of this const.i.tution, shall be as valid against the United States under this const.i.tution as under the confederation.

This const.i.tution, 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 const.i.tution 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 const.i.tution; 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 const.i.tution between the States so ratifying the same.

Done in convention, by the unanimous consent of the States present, the 17th day of September, in the year of our Lord 1787, and of the independence of the United States of America, the twelfth. In witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names.

GEORGE WAs.h.i.+NGTON,

_President, and Deputy from Virginia._

_New Hamps.h.i.+re_.

JOHN LANGDON,

NICHOLAS GILMAN.

_Ma.s.sachusetts_.

NATHANIEL GORHAM,

RUFUS KING.

_Connecticut._

WILLIAM SAMUEL JOHNSON,

ROGER SHERMAN.

_New York_.

ALEXANDER HAMILTON.

_New Jersey_.

WILLIAM LIVINGSTON,

DAVID BREARLY,

WILLIAM PATTERSON,

JONATHAN DAYTON.

_Pennsylvania_.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN,

THOMAS MIFFLIN,

ROBERT MORRIS, G

GEORGE CLYMER,

THOMAS FITZSIMONS,

JARED INGERSOLL,

JAMES WILSON,

GOUVERNEUR MORRIS.

_Delaware_.

GEORGE READ,

GUNNING BEDFORD, JR.,

JOHN d.i.c.kINSON,

RICHARD Ba.s.sETT,

JACOB BROOM.

_Maryland_.

JAMES M'HENRY,

DANIEL OF ST. THOMAS JENIFER,

DANIEL CARROLL.

_Virginia_.

JOHN BLAIR,

JAMES MADISON, JR.

_North Carolina_.