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title: Constitution of the United States of America

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# Constitution of the United States of America

### **Preamble**
**We the people** of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, ensure 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**
- All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. 
- If vacancies happen by resignation, removal or impeachment, the President of the United States may make temporary appointment until a writ of election is issued.
#### **Section II**
- The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second month by the citizens of the United States, the House shall have no more than eleven members.
- No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to the age of fifty days and does not hold citizenship within the United States.
- The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment.
#### **Section III**
- The Senate of the United States shall be composed of seven senators, who shall be chosen every fourth month by the citizens of the United States.
- No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the age of one hundred and fifty days and does not hold citizenship within the United States.
- The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.
- 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.
- 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 or Vice 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. The Chief Justice shall not restricted in governing the trial, as any other judge would govern a trial.
#### **Section IV**
- Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two thirds, expel a member.
- Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either House on any question shall, at the desire of one fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.
- Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than five days, nor to any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.
- No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which 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 encreased 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.
- Except in cases of the President or Vice President of the United States, no member of any government branch shall act in an official capacity for any political party operating in the United States, nor shall they engage in leadership roles in such party.
#### **Section V**
- 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.
- Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his objections to that House in which 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. If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days 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.
- Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the Senate and House of representatives may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.
#### **Section VI**
- The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
- To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations,
- To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;
- To constitute tribunals inferior to the supreme court;
- To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on Land and water in regards to private citizens;
- To provide for requesting the President to call forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;
- To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing Powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.
#### **Section VII**
* The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion whereas the public safety may require it. The President of the United States shall suspend habeas corpus no more than ten days at a time.
* No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed.
* No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and no person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the consent of the congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or ritle, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.
* 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.



### **Article II**
#### **Section I**
- The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the term of six months, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same term, be elected by popular vote of the citizens of the United States.
- No person shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the two hundred days.
- In case of the removal of the President from office, resignation, or inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, resignation or inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.
- Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:—"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
#### **Section II**
- The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the military of the several states, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States, except in cases of Impeachment. Pardons shall be subject to review of the Supreme Court, and the President shall not pardon himself or the Vice President, or any member of his cabinet.
- He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the ddvice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law: but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.
- The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session.
#### **Section III**
- He may from time to time give to the congress information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in case of cisagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.
#### **Section IV**
- The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

### **Article III**
#### **Section I**
- The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior.
#### **Section II**
- The judicial power shall extend to all Cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority;—to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls;—to all ccases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction;—to controversies to which the United States shall be a Party.
- In all Cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a State shall be party, the supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.
- The trial of all crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by jury; and such trial shall be held in the State where the said crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the trial shall be at such Place or places as the Congress may by law have directed.
#### **Section III**
- Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.
### **Article IV**
#### **Section I**
- 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.








































































