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 property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution 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 cannot 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 Constitution, 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 Constitution, 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 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 Constitution, Oath of Office, Religious Test.

CLAUSE 1. All debts contracted and engagements entered into before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution as under the Confederation.

CLAUSE 2. 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, anything in the Constitution 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 Constitution; 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 Constitution.

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 have hereunto subscribed our names.

GEORGE WASHINGTON, President and Deputy from Virginia.

New Hampshire.-John Langdon, Nicholas

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 Dickinson, Jacob Broom, Gunning Bedford, Jr., Richard Bassett.

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

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

North Carolina.—Wm. 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 CONSTITUTION.

Article I.-Freedom of Religion, Etc.

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.-Right to Bear Arms.

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. Quartering Soldiers on Citizens. 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.-Search Warrants.

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