IN CONVENTION, September 17, 1787.

Sir: We have now the honor to submit to the consideration of the United States in Congress assembled, that Constitution which has appeared to us the most advisable.

The friends of our country have long seen and desired that the power of making war, peace, and treaties, that of levying money and regulating commerce, and the correspondent executive and judicial authorities should be fully and effectually vested in the General Government of the Union; but the impropriety of delegating such extensive trust to one body of men is evident; hence results the necessity of a different organization.

It is obviously impracticable, in the Federal Government of these States, to secure all rights of independent sovereignty to each, and yet provide for the interest and safety of all. Individuals entering into society must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest. The magnitude of the sacrifice must depend as well on situation and circumstance as on the object to be obtained. It is at all times difficult to draw with precision the line between those rights, which must be surrendered and those which may be reserved; and on the present occasion this difficulty was increased by a difference among the several States as to their situation, extent, habits and particular interests.

In all our deliberations on this subject, we kept steadily in our view that which appears to us the greatest interest to every true American, the consolidation of our Union, in which is involved our prosperity, felicity, safety, perhaps our national existence. This important consideration, seriously and deeply impressed on our minds, led each State in the convention to be less rigid on points of inferior magnitude than might have been otherwise expected; and thus the Constitution, which we now present, is the result of a spirit of amity, and of that mutual deference and concession which the peculiarity of our political situation rendered indispensable.

That it will meet the full and entire approbation of every State, is not, perhaps, to be expected; but each will doubtless consider that, had her interest been alone consulted, the consequences might have been particularly disagreeable or injurious to others; that it is liable to as few exceptions as could reasonably have been expected, we hope and believe; that it may promote the lasting welfare of that country so dear to us all, and secure her freedom and happiness, is our most ardent wish.

With great respect, we have the honor to be, sir, your excellency's most obedient and humble servants, (By unanimous order of the Convention),

GEORGE WASHINGTON, President.

HIS EXCELLENCY, The President of Congress.

Religion, free

speech, re

dress for

grievances.

Bearing arms.

Soldiery.

Right of search.

Capital and

criminal arrest.

Right of speedy trial.

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 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 other 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 crine 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 favour, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Trial by jury.

Excessive bail. Enumeration of rights.

State rights.

Judicial power.

Electors in presidential elections.

Vice-
President.

Eligibility to
Vice-Presi-

dency.

Slavery forbidden.

Equal protection.

Appointment

of Representatives.

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 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 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 distinet 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 Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation 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 following, 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 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. 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.

2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

ARTICLE XIV. 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.

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 VicePresident 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 members of such State, being of twenty-one 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.

Public official debarred.

3. No person shall be a senator or representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or holding any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a 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 aid and comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two thirds of each house, remove such disability.

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 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 responsibility. 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.

Public debt

Right of Suffrage.

5. The Congress shall have power to enforce by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

ARTICLE XV. 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.

2. The Congress shall have power to enforce the provisions of this article by appropriate legislation.

Notes on the Amendments.

ARTICLES I. to X. Offered at first session of the first Congress at New York, September 25, 1789; ratified by 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 legislatures of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Georgia do not, by the record, appear to have ratified.

Proclaimed to be in force December 15, 1791.

There were twelve Articles offered; the following were not ratified: Article the First. After the first enumeration required by the first Article of the Constitution, there shall be one Representative for every thirty thousand, until the number shall amount to one hundred, after which, the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress that there shall not be less than one hundred Representatives, nor less than one Representative for every forty thousand persons, until the number of Representatives shall amount to two hundred, after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress that there shall not be less than two hundred Representatives, nor more than one Representative for every fifty thousand persons.

Article Second. No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.

The State conventions, when acting on the Constitution, presented five Amendments, which constituted a Bill of Rights; the Constitutional Convention not having considered a specific bill of rights necessary, because its republican nature so provided.

Articles I. to X. are known as the Bill of Rights.

I. Declares rights under a free government and legally specifies them. II. Teaches the people how to protect themselves.

III. Prevents despotic exercise of power, as was the course with England at the time.

IV. Secures privacy and protection, making good cause necessary.

V. This, together with VI. and VII., are additions to Amendment III. A grand jury must find guilt before a trial can take place (when martial law exists, and in the army it is the exception, because more rapid measures demanded); self-crimination prohibited; public seizure of private property permitted only upon a fair equivalent.

VI. A prisoner innocent until proved guilty, the burden of proof being with the government. Counsel and witnesses at the state's expense, if prisoner unable to pay the same.

VII. Trial by jury, even in trivial cases.

VIII. All punishments of exceptional character forbidden, bail reasonable, and usual and just punishment.

IX. Establish the rights of the people, and restrict the government to its constitutional powers.

X. Powers not included in the Constitution shall belong to the States or the people. This measure was to indicate a limit to the powers granted in the Constitution. The powers "delegated" to the United States include every enumerated and implied power.

ARTICLE XI. Proposed March 5, 1794, passed by two-thirds of both branches of Congress of sixteen States, March 5, 1794. Declared by the President, January 8, 1798, to Congress, as adopted by a majority of States.

Carried by the advocates of State sovereignty, incident to a suit brought by a citizen in the United States Court against the State of Georgia. The Amendment renders a State privileged to repudiate its just debts, as suit cannot be brought for a recovery.

ARTICLE XII.

Adopted by the House of seventeen States, May 1, 1802, by 47 to 17; rejected by the Senate, 15 to 8. At next session of Congress it was again lost. On the third trial in October, 1803, after a long debate, it passed the Senate 22 to 10, and the House 84 to 42; the Speaker, Mr. Macon, voting aye, made the necessary two-thirds of the 42 in the minority. Twenty-four votes came from New England. Ratified by

Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia; rejected by Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire.

Declared ratified constitutionally by public notice of the Secretary of State, September 25, 1804.

Incident to the long contest of the House at Jefferson's election. The provisions intended to render certain the election of a President.

ARTICLE XIII. Passed Senate, April 8, 1864, by a vote of 38 to 6; failed in the House, vote 95 to 66, on June 15, 1864, but on reconsideration, January 31, 1865, it passed 119 to 56. Ratified by 31 out 36 States; rejected by Delaware and Kentucky, not acted on by Texas, and conditionally ratified by Alabama and Mississippi. Proclamation by the President, December 18, 1865.

The result of the Civil War; slavery, the political basis of the Southern States, abolished, and State sovereignty defeated.

ARTICLE XIV. Passed Senate, June 8, 1866, by 33 to 11, and the House, June 13, 1866, by 138 to 36. Ratified by 33 out 37 States. Rejected by Delaware, Kentucky, Texas, and Maryland; Virginia also, but on October 8, 1869, subsequent to the date of proclamation of the Secretary of State, ratified the Amendment. New Jersey withdrew her consent, April, 1868, Oregon, October 15, 1868, and Ohio, January, 1868. California did not act. Ten of the Southern States at first rejected the Amendment, but the reconstruction act of March 2, 1867, declared these State governments provisional only until its ratification. They then ratified it, and it was declared in force, July 20, 1868.

Clause 1. Slaves became arrogant, and some States took action to suppress the negro, deprive them of their rights, and deny them legal protection.

Clause 2. Incident to a reign of terror and intimidation by the Southerners in order to control the negro.

Clause 3. Persons engaged in the Confederate service, or in rebellion, ineligible to public office unless Congress permitted.

Clause 4. The validity and constitutionality of the Civil War recognized by the North, declaring void Confederate States debt, and a guarantee of the national debt.

ARTICLE XV. Proposed in Congress of thirty-seven States, February 26, 1869, passed the Senate 39 to 13, the House 144 to 44. Ratified by thirty States. Rejected by California, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey (later, January 21, 1871, subsequent to proclamation of Secretary of State, she ratified the Amendment), and Oregon; not acted on by Tennessee. New York rescinded its ratification, January 5, 1870. Ohio rejected it, May 4, 1869, but later, January 27, 1870, ratified it. Declared in force, March 30, 1870.

A supplement to Article XIV., as that Amendment did not give the protection the ballot conferred.