the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation,

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections among us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connexions and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice, and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace, friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in general Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world, for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connexion between them and the state of Great Britain, is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

New Hampshire.
Josiah Bartlet,
William Whipple,
Matthew Thornton.
Massachusetts Bay.
Samuel Adams,
John Adams,

Robert Treat Paine,
Elbridge Gerry.

Rhode Island.
Stephen Hopkins,
William. Ellery.

Maryland.

Samuel Chase,
William Paca,

Thomas Stone,

Charles Carroll, of
Carrolton.
Virginia.

George Wythe,
Richard Henry Lee,
Thomas Jefferson,
Benjamin Harrison,
Thomas Nelson, Jr.,
Carter Braxton.

JOHN HANCOCK.

John Morton,
George Clymer,
James Smith,
George Taylor,
James Wilson,
George Ross.
Delaware.
Cæsar Rodney,
George Read,

Thomas M'Kean.

North Carolina.
William Hooper,
Joseph Hewes,

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.

We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more per- Preamble. fect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty, to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.

ARTICLE I.
SECTION I.

er.

1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a con- Legislative pow gress of the United States, which shall consist of a senate and house of representatives.

SECTION II.

1. The house of representatives shall be composed of members House of reprechosen every second year by the people of the several states; and sentatives and qualifications of the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors. electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature.

tives.

2. No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained of representato the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen.

Apportionmentof

tio of representationment.

3. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this union, according representatives; to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to enumeration; rathe whole number of free persons, including those bound to service tion; first appor for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least one representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the state of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three; Massachusetts, eight; Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, one; Connecticut, five; New York, six; New Jersey, four; Pennsylvania, eight; Delaware, one; Maryland, six; Virginia, ten; North Carolina, five; South Carolina, five; and Georgia, three.

4. When vacancies happen in the representation from any state, the vacancies.

Speaker of the
House.

Senate; each senator a vote.

Senators classed; when seats vacated and filled; va

pointments.

executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such

vacancies.

5. The house of representatives shall choose their speaker and other officers, and shall have the sole power of impeachment.

SECTION III.

1. The senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years; and each senator shall have one vote.

2. Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided, as equally as may be, into cancies and ap- three classes. The seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one-third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen, by resignation or otherwise, during the recess of the legislature of any state, the executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies.

Qualifications of senators.

President of the senate.

Officers.

Impeachments.

Extent of judg.

ment.

Elections, how regulated.

Meetings of con. gress.

Each house to

bers; quorum.

3. No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years; and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he shall be chosen.

4. The vice-president of the United States shall be president of the senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.

5. The senate shall choose their other officers, and also a president pro tempore, in the absence of the vice-president, or when he shall exercise the office of president of the United States.

6. The senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the president of the United States is tried, the chief justice. shall preside; and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present.

7. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States; but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment, according to law.

SECTION IV.

1. The times, places and manner, of holding elections for senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the congress may at any time, by law, make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators.

2. The congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such, meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.

SECTION V.

1. Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qual.. judge of its mem- ifications of its own members; and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each house. may provide.

own rules.

2. Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish To determine its its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of twothirds, expel a member.

3. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time To keep and pub. to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judg- proceedings. ment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of eith

er house, on any question, shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those pre

sent, be entered on the journal.

4. Neither house, during the session of congress, shall, without the Adjournment. consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting.

SECTION VI.

privilege.

1. The senators and representatives shall receive a compensation Compensation; for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States. They shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either house, they shall not be questioned in any other place.

Their disability

2. No senator or representative shall, during the time for which to hold offices. he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased, during such time; and no person holding any office under the United States shall be a member of either house during his continuance in office.

SECTION VII.

1. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the house of representatives; but the senate may propose or concur with amendments, as on other bills.

Revenue bills.

dings on bills re

2. Every bill which shall have passed the house of representa- President to sign tives and the senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to bill, &c.; proceethe president of the United States; if he approve, he shall sign it; turned by presi but if not, he shall return it with his objections, to that house in which dent. it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of that house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that house, it shall become a law. But in all such cases, the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the president within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law.

except for ad

sanction as bills.

3. Every order, resolution or vote, to which the concurrence of the Joint resolutions, senate and house of representatives may be necessary, (except on a journment to requestion of adjournment,) shall be presented to the president of the ceive the same United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be re-passed by twothirds of the senate and house of representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.