North Carolina manual [serial] (Volume 1951) online

any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States; but



*See Article XIV, Amendments.
tSee Article XVII, Amendments,



Constitution of the United States 95

the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to in-
dictment, trial, judgment, and punishment, according to law.

Sec. 4 — 1. The times, places, and manner of holding elections
for Senators and Representatives shall be presci'ibed 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 Congi'ess 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.

Sec. 5 — 1. Each House shall be the judge of the elections, re-
turns, and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of
each shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller num-
ber may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to com-
pel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under
such penalties as each House may provide.

2. Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings,
punish its members for disorderly behaviour, and, with the concur-
rence of two-thirds, expel a member.

3. 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.

4. Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without
the 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.

Sec. 6 — 1. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a
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.

2. 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



96 North Carolina Manual

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.
Sec. 7 — 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.

2. Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representa-
tives and the Senate shall, before it becomes a law, be presented
to the President of the United States; if he approves, 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 objec-
tions 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 re-
spectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the President with-
in 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.

3. Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of
the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessai-y (ex-
cept on a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the Presi-
dent of the United States; and before the same shall take eifect,
shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be
repassed by two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representa-
tives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case
of a bill.

Sec. 8 — 1. The Congress shall have power:

To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay
the debts and provide for the common defense and general wel-
fare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall
be uniform throughout the United States ;

2. To borrow money on the credit of the United States ;

3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the
several States, and with the Indian tribes;



Constitution of the United States 97

4. To establish an unifoim rule of naturalization, and uniform
laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;

5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign
coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;

6. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securi-
ties and current coin of the United States;

7. To establish postoffices and postroads;

8. To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by secur-
ing, for limited times, to authors and inventors, the exclusive
right to their respective writings and discoveries;

9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;

10. To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the
high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;

11. To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and
make rules concerning captures on land and water;

12. To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money
to that use shall be for a longer term than two years ;

13. To provide and maintain a navy;

14. To make rules for the government and regulation of the
land and naval forces;

15. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws
of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions;

16. To provide for or^-anizing, arming, and disciplining the
militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed
in the service of the United States, reserving to the States respec-
tively the appointment of the officers and the authority of train-
ing the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

17. To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over
such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may by cession
of particular States and the acceptance of Congress, become the
seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like
authority over all places purchased by the consent of the Legisla-
ture of the State in which the same shall be, for the erection of
forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful build-
ings; — and

18. 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 ofl[icer thereof.



&8 MoRTH Carolina Manual

Sec. 9 — 1. The migration or importation of such persons as arty
of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be
prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight
hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such im-
portation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.

2. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be sus-
pended, unless when in cases of i-ebellion or invasion the public
safety may require it.

3. No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed.

4. No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in
proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to
be taken.*

5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any
State.

6. No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce
or revenue to the ports of one State over those of another; nor
shall vessels bound to, or from, one State be obliged to enter, clear,
or pay duties in another.

7. No money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in conse-
quence of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement
and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money
shall be published from time to time.

8. 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 title, of any kind whatever, from any king,
prince, or foreign state.

Sec. 10 — ]. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or
confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money;
emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a ten-
der in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto
law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any
title of nobility.

2. No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any
imposts or duties on imports or exports except what may be abso-
lutely necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net pro-
duce of all duties and imposts, laid by any State on imports or



♦See Article XVI. Amendments.



Constitution of the United States 99

expoi-ts, shall be for the use of the Treasury of the United States;
and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of
the Congress.

3. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty
of tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, enter
into any agreement or compact with another State, or with a
foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in
such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.

Article II

Section 1 — 1. The Executive power shall be vested in a Presi-
dent of the United States of America. He shall hold his office dur-
ing the term of four years, and, together with the Vice President,
chosen for the same term, be elected as follows:

2. Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature
thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole num-
ber of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be en-
titled in the Congress; but no Senator or Representative or per-
son holding an office of trust or profit under the United States,
shall be appointed an elector.

3. The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote
by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an in-
habitant of the same state with themselves. And they shall make a
list of all the persons voted for, 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 per-
son having the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if
such number be a majority of the whole number of electors ap-
pointed; and if there be more than one who have such majority,
and have an equal number of votes, then the House of Representa-
tives shall immediately choose by ballot one of them for President;
and if no person have a majority, then from the five highest on
the list the said House shall in like manner choose 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-



100 North Carolina Manual

thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be nec-
essary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of the President,
the person having- the greatest number of votes of the electors
shall be the Vice-President. But if there should remain two or
more who have equal votes, the Senate shall choose from them by
ballot the Vice President.'-'

4. The Congress may determine the time of choosing the elec-
tors and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day
shall be the same throughout the United States.

5. No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the
United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution,
shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any per-
son be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the
age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident with-
in the United States.

6. In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his
death, 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, 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.

7. The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a
compensation which shall neither be increased nor diminished dur-
ing 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.

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."

Sec. 2 — 1. The President shall be Commander-in-Chief of the
Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the sev-
eral States, when called into the actual service of the United
States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal



♦ This clause is superseded by Article XII, Amendrtients,



Constitution of the United States 101

officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject re-
lating 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.

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.

3. The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that
may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commis-
sions which shall expire at the end of their next session.

Sec. 3 — He shall from time to time give to the Congress infor-
mation of the State of the Union, and recommend to their consid-
eration 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.

Sec. 4 — 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 1 — 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,



102 North Carolina Manual

Sec. 2 — 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 min-
isters and consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdic-
tion;— 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.

2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and
consuls, and those in which a State shall be a 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 regu-
lations as the Congress shall make.

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.

Sec. 3 — 1. Treason against the United States shall consist only
in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giv-
ing 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.

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 1 — 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 man-
ner in which such acts, records and proceedings shall be proved,
and the effect thereof.

Sec. 2—1. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all
privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States.



Constitution of the United States 103

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.

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.

Sec. 3 — 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 con-
sent of the Legislatures of the States concerned, as well as of the
Congress.

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 Con-
stitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the
United States, or of any particular State.

Sec. 4 — 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

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 pro-
posed 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



104 North Carolina Manual

Section of the First Article; and that no State, without its con-
sent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.

Article VI

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.

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.

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 Con-
stitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualifi-
cation to any office or public trust under the United States.

Article VII

The ratification of the Conventions of nine States shall be suf-
ficient 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.

GEO. WASHINGTON, President and deputy from Virginia,
New Hampshire — John Langdon, Nicholas Oilman, Massachusetts
— Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King, Connecticut — Wm. Saml. John-
son, Roger Sherman, New York — Alexander Hamilton, New Jersey
— Wil. Livingston, David Brearley, Wm. Patterson, Jona. Dayton,
Pennsylvania — B. Franklin, Robt. Morris, Thos. Fitzsimmons,
James Wilson, Thomas Mifflin, Geo. Clymer, Jared Ingersoll, Gouv.
Morris, Delaware — Geo. Read, John Dickinson, Jaco. Broom, Gun-
ning Bedford, Jr., Richard Bassett, Maryland — James McHenry,



Constitution of the United States 105

Danl. Carroll, Dan. of St. Thos. Jenifer, Virginia — John Blair,
Jas. Madison, Jr. North Carolina — Wm. Blount, Hu. Williamson,
Richd. Dobbs Spaight, South Carolina — J. Rutledge, Charles
Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Pierce Butler, Georgia —
William Few, Abr. Baldwin. Attest: William Jackson, Secretary.

The Constitution was declared in effect on the first Wednesday
in March, 1789.

Amendments to the Constitution of the United States

The following amendments to the Constitution, Article I to X,
inclusive, were proposed at the First Session of the First Congress,
begun and held at the City of New York, on Wednesday, March 4,
1789, and were adopted by the necessary number of States. The
original proposal of the ten amendments was preceded by this
preamble and resolution:

"The conventions of a number of the States having, at the time
of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to
prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further de-
claratory and restrictive clauses should be added, and as extending
the ground of public confidence in the Government will best insure
the beneficient ends of its institution:

"RESOLVED, By the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two-thirds of
both Houses concurring, that the following articles be proposed to