Elements of Civil Government online

the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-president; and the
Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, 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.

Clause 7. The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services
a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during
the period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not
receive within that period any other emolument from the United States,
or any of them.

Clause 8. 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. Powers of the President.

Clause 1. The President shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy
of the United States and of the militia 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
offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.

Clause 2. 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 advice 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.

Clause 3. 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. Duties of the President.

He shall, 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
disagreement 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. Impeachment of the President.

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. JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT.

SECTION I. United States Courts.

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; and shall, at
stated times, receive for their services a compensation, which shall not
be diminished during their continuance in office.


SECTION II. Jurisdiction of the United States Courts.

Clause 1. 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
cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to which
the United States shall be a party; to controversies between two or more
states; between a state and citizens of another state; between citizens
of different states; between citizens of the same state claiming lands
under grants of different states; and between a state, or the citizens
thereof, and foreign states, citizens, or subjects.[3]

Clause 2. 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.

Clause 3. 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.

Clause 1. 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.

Clause 2. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of
treason; but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or
forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted.


ARTICLE IV.

SECTION I. State Records.

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 entitled 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 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 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 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 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 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, any thing 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 Gilman.

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

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 CONSTITUTION.

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 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 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 assistance 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 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. _Mode of choosing the President and Vice-president_.

Clause 1. 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 distinct
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
list 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.

Clause 2. 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.

Clause 3. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of
President shall be eligible to that of Vice-president of the United
States.


ARTICLE XIII.

SECTION I. 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.

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


ARTICLE XIV.

SECTION 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.

SECTION 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
Vice-president 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 inhabitants of such
state, being 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.

SECTION 3. No person shall be a senator or representative in Congress,
or elector of President and Vice-president, or hold 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 or comfort to the enemies thereof. But
Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each house, remove such
disability.

SECTION 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 States, or any claim for the loss or
emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations, and claims
shall he held illegal and void.

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


ARTICLE XV.

SECTION 1. The right of 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.

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


ARTICLE XVI.

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes from
whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states,
and without regard to any census or enumeration.


ARTICLE XVII.

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from
each state, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each
senator shall have one vote. The electors in each state shall have the
qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the
state legislatures.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any state in the Senate,
the executive authority of such state shall issue writs of election to
fill such vacancies: _Provided_, That the legislature of any state may
empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the
people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or
term of any senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the
Constitution.


[1]Altered by the 17th Amendment.

[2]Altered by the 12th Amendment.

[3]Altered by the 11th Amendment.




Absolute monarchy, 159
Academy, naval, 142.
Accused, rights of, 74.
Actions, 171.
Adjutant general, 84, 146.
functions of, 89.
Administrators, 54.
Admiralty courts, 171.
Agriculture, commissioner of, 84, 89.
Alaska, 96.
Aldermen, board of, 61.
Aliens, 105.
Alternate delegates, 194.
Amendments, 199.
Appropriation by State, 67.
Area of counties, 49.
Aristocracy, 159, 160.
Assembly - general or legislative, 177.
Assessor, Authority of, 61.
duties of, 67.
of township, 43, 44.
Attorney, 174.
county, 49.
duties of, 50.
general, 88.
Auditor, township, 45.
Australian ballot-system, 176, 179, 184.

Ballot, 176.
blanket, 180, 181.
box, 176, 177.
forms of, 183.
individual, 180.
in Indiana, 183, 187.
in Louisville, 183, 185.
in Mass., 183, 186.
official, 180, 182.
secret, 179, 182.
voting by, 176.
Bank inspectors, 90.
national, 138.
Bargaining and trading, 183.
Beat, the, 28, 30.
Bill, 197, 199.
of rights, 68, 72.
of attainder, 197, 200.
true, 173.
Blind, voting of the, 182.
Board of aldermen, 61.
of education, 61.
Board of pardons, 86.
of public works, 61.
of supervisors, 50.
Boroughs, 57.
Bribery, 177, 182.
Buildings, county, 49.
Bureau of construction and repair, 142.
of medicine and surgery, 142.
of navigation, 141.
of ordnance, 141.
of supplies and accounts, 142.
of steam engineering, 142.
of yards and docks, 141.
Bureaus of navy department, 141.
of treasury department, 136.
of war department, 140.
By-laws, township, 42.

Cabinet, presidential, 132, 149.
Cadet, 141.
Campaign, 194.
Candidates, 176, 190.
Canvass, 177.
Cases, 171.
Causes, civil, 171.
criminal, 172.
Census, 121.
Challenge, 173.
Chaplain, 123.
Charges, 172.
Chief of engraving and printing, 139.
of bureau of statistics, 138.
of fire department, 62.
of ordnance, 145.
of police, 62.
Children, 22, 23.
rights of, 22.
duties of, 23.
Circuit clerk, 54.
court, 152.
court of appeals, 152.
Citizen, 67-69.
duties of, 17.
naturalization of, 102, 168.
of civil district, 32, 33.
duties of, 33.
rights of, 32.
of township, 38, 40.
duties of, 39, 40.
rights of, 38.
Citizen, rights of, 32, 60.
Citizenship, 38.
City council, 61.
court, 61.
election, 61.
engineer, 61.
government, 60-63.
incorporation, 58.
institution, 59.
judge, 62.
officers, 61, 62.
physician, 62.
solicitor, 61.
wards, 59.
Civil district, 27, 36.
government, 159.
Civil law, 170.
Civil rights, 163, 165.
Civil unit, 28, 30.
Clerks, 57, 174, 176.
chief of Senate, 81.
circuit, 54.
common pleas, 49.
of county, 41, 49, 52, 53.
of township, 43.
Collection of taxes, 45.
Collector of city, 61, 62.
of county, 54.
of township, 45.
of village, 57, 58.
Commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States, 130.
Commerce, regulation of, 113, 153.
Commercial law, 171.
Commission plan of city government, 62.
Commissioner, 135.
of agriculture, 84.
county, 50.
court, 173.
of general land office, 144.