Elements of Civil Government Part 29

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.

SECTION II. Privileges of Citizens, etc.

Clause 1. The citizens of each state shall be ent.i.tled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states.

Clause 2. A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice and be found in another state, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime.

Clause 3. 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.

SECTION III. New States and Territories.

Clause 1. 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 parts of states, without the consent of the Legislatures of the states concerned, as well as of the Congress.

Clause 2. The Congress shall have power to dispose of, and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other properly belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Const.i.tution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States or of any particular state.

SECTION IV. Guarantee to the States.

The United States shall guarantee to every state in this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and, on application of the Legislature, or of the executive (when the Legislature can not be convened), against domestic violence.

ARTICLE V. POWER OF AMENDMENT.

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 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. PUBLIC DEBT, SUPREMACY OF THE CONSt.i.tUTION, OATH OF OFFICE, RELIGIOUS TEST.

Clause 1. 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.

Clause 2. 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.

Clause 3. 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. RATIFICATION OF THE CONSt.i.tUTION.

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 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.

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.--Wm. Samuel Johnson, Roger Sherman.

New York.--Alexander Hamilton.

New Jersey.--William Livingston, William Patterson, David Brearley, Jonathan Dayton.

Pennsylvania,--Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, Thomas Fitzsimons, James Wilson, Thomas Mifflin, George Clymer, Jared Ingersoll, Gouverneur Morris.

Delaware.--George Read, John d.i.c.kinson, Jacob Broom, Gunning Bedford, Jr., Richard Ba.s.sett.

Maryland.--James M'Henry, Daniel Carroll, Daniel of St. Tho. Jenifer.

Virginia.--John Blair, James Madison, Jr.

North Carolina.--William Blount, Hugh Williamson, Richard Dobbs Spaight.

South Carolina.--John Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Pierce Butler.

Georgia.--William Few, Abraham Baldwin.

Attest, WILLIAM JACKSON, Secretary.

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSt.i.tUTION.

ARTICLES I--X. _Bill of Rights._

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 a.s.semble, and to pet.i.tion 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 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; 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 a.s.sistance of counsel for his defense.

ARTICLE VII. In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, 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 Const.i.tution 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 Const.i.tution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively or to the people.

ARTICLE XI.