text:
United States Constitution
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
United States Constitution
Page one of the original copy of the Constitution
Created
September 17, 1787
Ratified
June 21, 1788
Date effective
March 4, 1789; 228 years ago (1789-03-04)
Location
National Archives,
Washington, D.C.
Author(s)
Philadelphia Convention
Signatories
39 of the 55 delegates
Purpose
To replace the Articles of Confederation (1777)
This article is part of a series on the
Constitution of the
United States of America
Preamble and Articles
of the Constitution
Preamble
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
Amendments to the Constitution
Bill of Rights
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
X
XI
XII
XIII
XIV
XV
XVI
XVII
XVIII
XIX
XX
XXI
XXII
XXIII
XXIV
XXV
XXVI
XXVII
Unratified Amendments
Congressional Apportionment
Titles of Nobility
Corwin
Child Labor
Equal Rights
D.C. Voting Rights
History
Drafting and ratification timeline
Convention
Signing
Federalism
Republicanism
Full text of the Constitution and Amendments
Preamble and Articles I–VII
Amendments I–X
Amendments XI–XXVII
Unratified Amendments
United States portal
U.S. Government portal
Law portal
Wikipedia book
v
t
e
This article is part of a series on the
Politics of the
United States of America
Federal Government[show]
Constitution of the United States
Law
Taxation
Legislature[show]
United States Congress
House of Representatives
Speaker Paul Ryan (R)
Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R)
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D)
Congressional districts
United States Senate
President Mike Pence (R)
President Pro Tempore Orrin Hatch (R)
President Pro Tempore Emeritus Patrick Leahy (D)
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R)
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D)
Executive[show]
President of the United States
Donald Trump (R)
Vice President of the United States
Mike Pence (R)
Cabinet
Federal agencies
Executive Office
Judiciary[show]
Supreme Court of the United States
Chief Justice John Roberts
Kennedy
Thomas
Ginsburg
Breyer
Alito
Sotomayor
Kagan
Gorsuch
Courts of Appeals
District Courts (list)
Other tribunals
Elections[show]
Presidential elections
Midterm elections
Off-year elections
Political parties[show]
Democratic
Republican
Third parties
Federalism[show]
State Government
Governors
Legislatures (List)
State courts
Local government
Other countries
Atlas
v
t
e
The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States.[1] The Constitution, originally comprising seven articles, delineates the national frame of government. Its first three articles entrench the doctrine of the separation of powers, whereby the federal government is divided into three branches: the legislative, consisting of the bicameral Congress; the executive, consisting of the President; and the judicial, consisting of the Supreme Court and other federal courts. Articles Four, Five and Six entrench concepts of federalism, describing the rights and responsibilities of state governments and of the states in relationship to the federal government. Article Seven establishes the procedure subsequently used by the thirteen States to ratify it.
Since the Constitution came into force in 1789, it has been amended 27 times[2] to meet the changing needs of a nation now profoundly different from the eighteenth-century world in which its creators lived.[3] In general, the first ten amendments, known collectively as the Bill of Rights, offer specific protections of individual liberty and justice and place restrictions on the powers of government.[4][5] The majority of the seventeen later amendments expand individual civil rights protections. Others address issues related to federal authority or modify government processes and procedures. Amendments to the United States Constitution, unlike ones made to many constitutions worldwide, are appended to the document. All four pages[6] of the original U.S. Constitution are written on parchment.[7]
According to the United States Senate: "The Constitution's first three words—We the People—affirm that the government of the United States exists to serve its citizens. For over two centuries the Constitution has remained in force because its framers wisely separated and balanced governmental powers to safeguard the interests of majority rule and minority rights, of liberty and equality, and of the federal and state governments."[3]
The first permanent constitution of its kind,[a] adopted by the people's representatives for an expansive nation, it is interpreted, supplemented, and implemented by a large body of constitutional law, and has influenced the constitutions of other nations.
Contents
[hide]
1 Background
1.1 First government
1.2 Articles of Confederation
2 History
2.1 1787 Drafting
2.2 1788 Ratification
3 Influences
4 Original frame
4.1 Preamble
4.2 Article One
4.3 Article Two
4.4 Article Three
4.5 Article Four
4.6 Article Five
4.7 Article Six
4.8 Article Seven
4.9 Closing endorsement
5 Ratified amendments
5.1 Safeguards of liberty (Amendments 1, 2, and 3)
5.2 Safeguards of justice (Amendments 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8)
5.3 Unenumerated rights and reserved powers (Amendments 9 and 10)
5.4 Governmental authority (Amendments 11, 16, 18, and 21)
5.5 Safeguards of civil rights (Amendments 13, 14, 15, 19, 23, 24, and 26)
5.6 Government processes and procedures (Amendments 12, 17, 20, 22, 25, and 27)
6 Unratified amendments
6.1 Still pending
6.2 No longer pending
7 Judicial review
7.1 Scope and theory
7.2 Establishment
7.2.1 Self-restraint
7.2.2 Separation of powers
7.3 Subsequent Courts
8 Civic religion
9 Worldwide influence
10 Criticisms
11 See also
12 Notes
13 References
13.1 Footnotes
13.2 Works cited
14 Further reading
15 External links
15.1 U.S. government sources
15.2 Non-governmental sources
Background
See also: History of the United States Constitution
First government
From September 5, 1774 to March 1, 1781, the Continental Congress functioned as the provisional government of the United States. Delegates to the First (1774) and then the Second (1775–1781) Continental Congress were chosen largely through the action of committees of correspondence in various colonies rather than through the colonial or later state legislatures. In no formal sense was it a gathering representative of existing colonial governments; it represented the dissatisfied elements of the people, such persons as were sufficiently interested to act, despite the strenuous opposition of the loyalists and the obstruction or disfavor of colonial governors.[10] The process of selecting the delegates for the First and Second Continental Congresses underscores the revolutionary role of the people of the colonies in establishing a central governing body. Endowed by the people collectively, the Continental Congress alone possessed those attributes of external sovereignty which entitled it to be called a state in the international sense, while the separate states, exercising a limited or internal sovereignty, may rightly be considered a creation of the Continental Congress, which preceded them and brought them into being.[11]
Articles of Confederation
Main article: Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was the first constitution of the United States.[12] It was drafted by the Second Continental Congress from mid-1776 through late-1777, and ratification by all 13 states was completed by early 1781. Under the Articles of Confederation, the central government's power was quite limited. The Confederation Congress could make decisions, but lacked enforcement powers. Implementation of most decisions, including modifications to the Articles, required unanimous approval of all thirteen state legislatures.[13]
Although, in a way, the Congressional powers in Article 9 made the "league of states as cohesive and strong as any similar sort of republican confederation in history",[14] the chief problem was, in the words of George Washington, "no money".[15] The Continental Congress could print money but the currency was worthless. (A popular phrase of the times called a useless object or person ... not worth a Continental, referring to the Continental dollar.) Congress could borrow money, but couldn't pay it back.[15] No state paid all their U.S. taxes; some paid nothing. Some few paid an amount equal to interest on the national debt owed to their citizens, but no more.[15] No interest was paid on debt owed foreign governments. By 1786, the United States would default on outstanding debts as their dates came due.[15]
Internationally, the Articles of Confederation did little to enhance the United States' ability to defend its sovereignty. Most of the troops in the 625-man United States Army were deployed facing – but not threatening – British forts on American soil. They had not been paid; some were deserting and others threatening mutiny.[16] Spain closed New Orleans to American commerce; U.S. officials protested, but to no effect. Barbary pirates began seizing American ships of commerce; the Treasury had no funds to pay their ransom. If any military crisis required action, the Congress had no credit or taxing power to finance a response.[15]
Domestically, the Articles of Confederation was failing to bring unity to the diverse sentiments and interests of the various states. Although the Treaty of Paris (1783) was signed between Great Britain and the U.S., and named each of the American states, various individual states proceeded blithely to violate it. New York and South Carolina repeatedly prosecuted Loyalists for wartime activity and redistributed their lands.[15] Individual state legislatures independently laid embargoes, negotiated directly with foreign authorities, raised armies, and made war, all violating the letter and the spirit of the Articles.
In September 1786, during an inter–state convention to discuss and develop a consensus about reversing the protectionist trade barriers that each state had erected, James Madison angrily questioned whether the Articles of Confederation was a binding compact or even a viable government. Connecticut paid nothing and "positively refused" to pay U.S. assessments for two years.[17] A rumor had it that a "seditious party" of New York legislators had opened a conversation with the Viceroy of Canada. To the south, the British were said to be openly funding Creek Indian raids on white settlers in Georgia and adjacent territory. Savannah (then-capital of Georgia) had been fortified, and the state of Georgia was under martial law.[18] Additionally, during Shays' Rebellion (August 1786 – June 1787) in Massachusetts, Congress could provide no money to support an endangered constituent state. General Benjamin Lincoln was obliged to raise funds from Boston merchants to pay for a volunteer army.[19]
Congress was paralyzed. It could do nothing significant without nine states, and some legislation required all thirteen. When a state produced only one member in attendance, its vote was not counted. If a state's delegation were evenly divided, its vote could not be counted towards the nine-count requirement.[20] The Articles Congress had "virtually ceased trying to govern".[21] The vision of a "respectable nation" among nations seemed to be fading in the eyes of revolutionaries such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Rufus King. Their dream of a republic, a nation without hereditary rulers, with power derived from the people in frequent elections, was in doubt.[22]
On February 21, 1787, the Confederation Congress called a convention of state delegates at Philadelphia to propose a plan of government.[23] Unlike earlier attempts, the convention was not meant for new laws or piecemeal alterations, but for the "sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation". The convention was not limited to commerce; rather, it was intended to "render the federal constitution adequate to the exigencies of government and the preservation of the Union." The proposal might take effect when approved by Congress and the states.[24]
History
1787 Drafting
Main article: Constitutional Convention (United States)
Signing the Constitution, September 17, 1787
On the appointed day, May 14, 1787, only the Virginia and Pennsylvania delegations were present, and so the convention's opening meeting was postponed for lack of a quorum.[25] A quorum of seven states met and deliberations began on May 25. Eventually twelve states were represented; 74 delegates were named, 55 attended and 39 signed.[26] The delegates were generally convinced that an effective central government with a wide range of enforceable powers must replace the weaker Congress established by the Articles of Confederation. Their depth of knowledge and experience in self-government was remarkable. As Thomas Jefferson in Paris wrote to John Adams in London, "It really is an assembly of demigods."
Delegates used two streams of intellectual tradition, and any one delegate could be found using both or a mixture depending on the subject under discussion: foreign affairs, the economy, national government, or federal relationships among the states. Two plans for structuring the federal government arose at the convention's outset:
The Virginia Plan (also known as the Large State Plan or the Randolph Plan) proposed that the legislative department of the national government be composed of a Bicameral Congress, with both chambers elected with apportionment according to population. Generally favoring the most highly populated states, it used the philosophy of John Locke to rely on consent of the governed, Montesquieu for divided government, and Edward Coke to emphasize civil liberties.[27]
The New Jersey Plan proposed that the legislative department be a unicameral body with one vote per state. Generally favoring the less-populous states, it used the philosophy of English Whigs such as Edmund Burke to rely on received procedure and William Blackstone to emphasize sovereignty of the legislature. This position reflected the belief that the states were independent entities and, as they entered the United States of America freely and individually, remained so.[28]
On May 31, the Convention devolved into a "Committee of the Whole" to consider the Virginia Plan. On June 13, the Virginia resolutions in amended form were reported out of committee. The New Jersey plan was put forward in response to the Virginia Plan.
A "Committee of Eleven" (one delegate from each state represented) met from July 2 to 16[29] to work out a compromise on the issue of representation in the federal legislature. All agreed to a republican form of government grounded in representing the people in the states. For the legislature, two issues were to be decided: how the votes were to be allocated among the states in the Congress, and how the representatives should be elected. In its report, now known as the Connecticut Compromise (or "Great Compromise"), the committee proposed proportional representation for seats in the House of Representatives based on population (with the people voting for representatives), and equal representation for each State in the Senate (with each state's legislators generally choosing their respective senators), and that all money bills would originate in the House.[30]
The Great Compromise ended the stalemate between "patriots" and "nationalists", leading to numerous other compromises in a spirit of accommodation. There were sectional interests to be balanced by the Three-Fifths Compromise; reconciliation on Presidential term, powers, and method of selection; and jurisdiction of the federal judiciary.
On July 24, a "Committee of Detail" – John Rutledge (South Carolina), Edmund Randolph (Virginia), Nathaniel Gorham (Massachusetts), Oliver Ellsworth (Connecticut), and James Wilson (Pennsylvania) – was elected to draft a detailed constitution reflective of the Resolutions passed by the convention up to that point.[31] The Convention recessed from July 26 to August 6 to await the report of this "Committee of Detail". Overall, the report of the committee conformed to the resolutions adopted by the Convention, adding some elements. A twenty-three article (plus preamble) constitution was presented.[32]
From August 6 to September 10, the report of the committee of detail was discussed, section by section and clause by clause. Details were attended to, and further compromises were effected.[29][31] Toward the close of these discussions, on September 8, a "Committee of Style and Arrangement" – Alexander Hamilton (New York), William Samuel Johnson (Connecticut), Rufus King (Massachusetts), James Madison (Virginia), and Gouverneur Morris (Pennsylvania) – was appointed to distill a final draft constitution from the twenty-three approved articles.[31] The final draft, presented to the convention on September 12, contained seven articles, a preamble and a closing endorsement, of which Morris was the primary author.[26] The committee also presented a proposed letter to accompany the constitution when delivered to Congress.[33]
The final document, engrossed by Jacob Shallus,[34] was taken up on Monday, September 17, at the Convention's final session. Several of the delegates were disappointed in the result, a makeshift series of unfortunate compromises. Some delegates left before the ceremony, and three others refused to sign. Of the thirty-nine signers, Benjamin Franklin summed up, addressing the Convention: "There are several parts of this Constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them." He would accept the Constitution, "because I expect no better and because I am not sure that it is not the best".[35]
The advocates of the Constitution were anxious to obtain unanimous support of all twelve states represented in the Convention. Their accepted formula for the closing endorsement was "Done in Convention, by the unanimous consent of the States present." At the end of the convention, the proposal was agreed to by eleven state delegations and the lone remaining delegate from New York, Alexander Hamilton.[36]
1788 Ratification
Transmitted to the United States in Congress Assembled then sitting in New York City, the new Constitution was forwarded to the states by Congress recommending the ratification process outlined in the Constitution. Each state legislature was to call elections for a "Federal Convention" to ratify the new Constitution. They expanded the franchise beyond the Constitutional requirement to more nearly embrace "the people". Eleven ratified in 1787 or 1788, and all thirteen had done so by 1790. The Congress of the Confederation certified eleven states to begin the new government, and called the states to hold elections to begin operation. It then dissolved itself on March 4, 1789, the day the first session of the Congress of the United States began. George Washington was inaugurated as President two months later.
Territorial extent of the United States, 1790
It was within the power of the old Congress of the Confederation to expedite or block the ratification of the new Constitution. The document that the Philadelphia Convention presented was technically only a revision of the Articles of Confederation. But the last article of the new instrument provided that when ratified by conventions in nine states (or two-thirds at the time), it should go into effect among the States so acting.
Then followed an arduous process of ratification of the Constitution by specially constituted conventions. The need for only nine states' approval was a controversial decision at the time, since the Articles of Confederation could only be amended by unanimous vote of all the states.
Three members of the Convention – Madison, Gorham, and King – were also Members of Congress. They proceeded at once to New York, where Congress was in session, to placate the expected opposition. Aware of their vanishing authority, Congress, on September 28, after some debate, resolved unanimously to submit the Constitution to the States for action, "in conformity to the resolves of the Convention",[37] but with no recommendation either for or against its adoption.
Two parties soon developed, one in opposition, the Anti-Federalists, and one in support, the Federalists, of the Constitution; and the Constitution was debated, criticized, and expounded upon clause by clause. Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, under the name of Publius, wrote a series of commentaries, now known as The Federalist Papers, in support of ratification in the state of New York, at that time a hotbed of anti-Federalism. These commentaries on the Constitution, written during the struggle for ratification, have been frequently cited by the Supreme Court as an authoritative contemporary interpretation of the meaning of its provisions. The dispute over additional powers for the central government was close, and in some states ratification was effected only after a bitter struggle in the state convention itself.
The Continental Congress – which still functioned at irregular intervals – passed a resolution on September 13, 1788, to put the new Constitution into operation with eleven states.[38] North Carolina and Rhode Island ratified by May 1790.
Influences
Further information: History of the United States Constitution
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: not encyclopedic Please help improve this section if you can. (February 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Enlightenment and Rule of law
John Locke
Two Treatises of Government
life, liberty and property
Several ideas in the Constitution were new. These were associated with the combination of consolidated government along with federal relationships with constituent states.
The Due Process Clause of the Constitution was partly based on common law and on Magna Carta (1215), which had become a foundation of English liberty against arbitrary power wielded by a ruler.
Among the most prominent political theorists of the late eighteenth century were William Blackstone, John Locke, and Montesquieu.[39]
Both the influence of Edward Coke and William Blackstone were evident at the Convention. In his Institutes of the Lawes of England, Edward Coke interpreted Magna Carta protections and rights to apply not just to nobles, but to all British subjects. In writing the Virginia Charter of 1606, he enabled the King in Parliament to give those to be born in the colonies all rights and liberties as though they were born in England. William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England were the most influential books on law in the new republic.
British political philosopher John Locke following the Glorious Revolution (1688) was a major influence expanding on the contract theory of government advanced by Thomas Hobbes. Locke advanced the principle of consent of the governed in his Two Treatises of Government. Government's duty under a social contract among the sovereign people was to serve the people by protecting their rights. These basic rights were life, liberty and property.
Montesquieu's influence on the framers is evident in Madison's Federalist No. 47 and Hamilton's Federalist No. 78. Jefferson, Adams, and Mason were known to read Montesquieu.[40] Supreme Court Justices, the ultimate interpreters of the Constitution, have cited to Montesquieu throughout the Court's history.[41] (See, e.g., Green v. Biddle , 21 U.S. 1, 1, 36 (1823). United States v. Wood , 39 U.S. 430, 438 (1840). Myers v. United States , 272 U.S. 52, 116 (1926). Nixon v. Administrator of General Services , 433 U.S. 425, 442 (1977). Bank Markazi v. Peterson , 136 U.S. 1310, 1330 (2016). ) Montesquieu emphasized the need for balanced forces pushing against each other to prevent tyranny (reflecting the influence of Polybius's 2nd century BC treatise on the checks and balances of the Roman Republic). In his The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu argues that the separation of state powers should be by its service to the people's liberty: legislative, executive and judicial.
A substantial body of thought had been developed from the literature of republicanism in the United States, including work by John Adams and applied to the creation of state constitutions.
The constitution was a federal one, and was influenced by the study of other federations, both ancient and extant.
The United States Bill of Rights consists of 10 amendments added to the Constitution in 1791, as supporters of the Constitution had promised critics during the debates of 1788.[42] The English Bill of Rights (1689) was an inspiration for the American Bill of Rights. Both require jury trials, contain a right to keep and bear arms, prohibit excessive bail and forbid "cruel and unusual punishments". Many liberties protected by state constitutions and the Virginia Declaration of Rights were incorporated into the Bill of Rights.
Original frame
Neither the Convention which drafted the Constitution, nor the Congress which sent it to the thirteen states for ratification in the autumn of 1787, gave it a lead caption. To fill this void, the document was most often titled "A frame of Government" when it was printed for the convenience of ratifying conventions and the information of the public.[43] This Frame of Government consisted of a preamble, seven articles and a signed closing endorsement.
Preamble
"We the People" in an original edition
The preamble to the Constitution serves as an introductory statement of the document's fundamental purposes and guiding principles. It neither assigns powers to the federal government,[44] nor does it place specific limitations on government action. Rather, it sets out the origin, scope and purpose of the Constitution. Its origin and authority is in "We, the people of the United States". This echoes the Declaration of Independence. "One people" dissolved their connection with another, and assumed among the powers of the earth, a sovereign nation-state. The scope of the Constitution is twofold. First, "to form a more perfect Union" than had previously existed in the "perpetual Union" of the Articles of Confederation. Second, to "secure the blessings of liberty", which were to be enjoyed by not only the first generation, but for all who came after, "our posterity".[45]
Article One
Article One describes the Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government. Section 1, reads, "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." The article establishes the manner of election and the qualifications of members of each body. Representatives must be at least 25 years old, be a citizen of the United States for seven years, and live in the state they represent. Senators must be at least 30 years old, be a citizen for nine years, and live in the state they represent.
Article I, Section 8 enumerates the powers delegated to the legislature. Financially, Congress has the power to tax, borrow, pay debt and provide for the common defense and the general welfare; to regulate commerce, bankruptcies, and coin money. To regulate internal affairs, it has the power to regulate and govern military forces and militias, suppress insurrections and repel invasions. It is to provide for naturalization, standards of weights and measures, post offices and roads, and patents; to directly govern the federal district and cessions of land by the states for forts and arsenals. Internationally, Congress has the power to define and punish piracies and offenses against the Law of Nations, to declare war and make rules of war. The final Necessary and Proper Clause, also known as the Elastic Clause, expressly confers incidental powers upon Congress without the Articles' requirement for express delegation for each and every power. Article I, Section 9 lists eight specific limits on congressional power.
The Supreme Court has sometimes broadly interpreted the Commerce Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause in Article One to allow Congress to enact legislation that is neither expressly allowed by the enumerated powers nor expressly denied in the limitations on Congress. In McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), the Supreme Court read the Necessary and Proper Clause to permit the federal government to take action that would "enable [it] to perform the high duties assigned to it [by the Constitution] in the manner most beneficial to the people",[46] even if that action is not itself within the enumerated powers. Chief Justice Marshall clarified: "Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the Constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consist with the letter and spirit of the Constitution, are Constitutional."[46]
Article Two
Article Two describes the office of the President of the United States. The President is head of the executive branch of the federal government, as well as the nation's head of state and head of government.
Article Two describes the office, qualifications and duties of the President of the United States and the Vice President. It is modified by the 12th Amendment which tacitly acknowledges political parties, and the 25th Amendment relating to office succession. The president is to receive only one compensation from the federal government. The inaugural oath is specified to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.
The president is the Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces and state militias when they are mobilized. He or she makes treaties with the advice and consent of a two-thirds quorum of the Senate. To administer the federal government, the president commissions all the offices of the federal government as Congress directs; he or she may require the opinions of its principal officers and make "recess appointments" for vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate. The president is to see that the laws are faithfully executed, though he or she may grant reprieves and pardons except regarding Congressional impeachment of himself or other federal officers. The president reports to Congress on the State of the Union, and by the Recommendation Clause, recommends "necessary and expedient" national measures. The president may convene and adjourn Congress under special circumstances.
Section 4 provides for removal of the president and other federal officers. The president is removed on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
Article Three
Article Three describes the court system (the judicial branch), including the Supreme Court. There shall be one court called the Supreme Court. The article describes the kinds of cases the court takes as original jurisdiction. Congress can create lower courts and an appeals process. Congress enacts law defining crimes and providing for punishment. Article Three also protects the right to trial by jury in all criminal cases, and defines the crime of treason.
Section 1 vests the judicial power of the United States in federal courts, and with it, the authority to interpret and apply the law to a particular case. Also included is the power to punish, sentence, and direct future action to resolve conflicts. The Constitution outlines the U.S. judicial system. In the Judiciary Act of 1789, Congress began to fill in details. Currently, Title 28 of the U.S. Code[47] describes judicial powers and administration.
As of the First Congress, the Supreme Court justices rode circuit to sit as panels to hear appeals from the district courts.[b] In 1891, Congress enacted a new system. District courts would have original jurisdiction. Intermediate appellate courts (circuit courts) with exclusive jurisdiction heard regional appeals before consideration by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court holds discretionary jurisdiction, meaning that it does not have to hear every case that is brought to it.[47]
To enforce judicial decisions, the Constitution grants federal courts both criminal contempt and civil contempt powers. The court's summary punishment for contempt immediately overrides all other punishments applicable to the subject party. Other implied powers include injunctive relief and the habeas corpus remedy. The Court may imprison for contumacy, bad-faith litigation, and failure to obey a writ of mandamus. Judicial power includes that granted by Acts of Congress for rules of law and punishment. Judicial power also extends to areas not covered by statute. Generally, federal courts cannot interrupt state court proceedings.[47]
Clause 1 of Section 2 authorizes the federal courts to hear actual cases and controversies only. Their judicial power does not extend to cases which are hypothetical, or which are proscribed due to standing, mootness, or ripeness issues. Generally, a case or controversy requires the presence of adverse parties who have some interest genuinely at stake in the case. Also required is of broad enough concern in the Court's jurisdiction that a lower court, either federal or state, does not geographically cover all the existing cases before law. Courts following these guidelines exercise judicial restraint. Those making an exception are said to be judicial activist.[c]
Clause 2 of Section 2 provides that the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in cases involving ambassadors, ministers and consuls, for all cases respecting foreign nation-states,[48] and also in those controversies which are subject to federal judicial power because at least one state is a party. Cases arising under the laws of the United States and its treaties come under the jurisdiction of federal courts. Cases under international maritime law and conflicting land grants of different states come under federal courts. Cases between U.S. citizens in different states, and cases between U.S. citizens and foreign states and their citizens, come under federal jurisdiction. The trials will be in the state where the crime was committed.[47]
No part of the Constitution expressly authorizes judicial review, but the Framers did contemplate the idea. The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. Precedent has since established that the courts could exercise judicial review over the actions of Congress or the executive branch. Two conflicting federal laws are under "pendent" jurisdiction if one presents a strict constitutional issue. Federal court jurisdiction is rare when a state legislature enacts something as under federal jurisdiction.[d] To establish a federal system of national law, considerable effort goes into developing a spirit of comity between federal government and states. By the doctrine of 'Res judicata', federal courts give "full faith and credit" to State Courts.[e] The Supreme Court will decide Constitutional issues of state law only on a case by case basis, and only by strict Constitutional necessity, independent of state legislators motives, their policy outcomes or its national wisdom.[f]
Section 3 bars Congress from changing or modifying Federal law on treason by simple majority statute. Treason is also defined in this section. It's not enough merely to think a treasonous thought, there must be an overt act of making war or materially helping those at war with the United States. Accusations must be corroborated by at least two witnesses. Congress is a political body and political disagreements routinely encountered should never be considered as treason. This allows for nonviolent resistance to the government because opposition is not a life or death proposition. However, Congress does provide for other less subversive crimes and punishments such as conspiracy.[g]
Article Four
Article Four outlines the relations among the states and between each state and the federal government. In addition, it provides for such matters as admitting new states and border changes between the states. For instance, it requires states to give "full faith and credit" to the public acts, records, and court proceedings of the other states. Congress is permitted to regulate the manner in which proof of such acts may be admitted. The "privileges and immunities" clause prohibits state governments from discriminating against citizens of other states in favor of resident citizens, e.g., having tougher penalties for residents of Ohio convicted of crimes within Michigan.
It also establishes extradition between the states, as well as laying down a legal basis for freedom of movement and travel amongst the states. Today, this provision is sometimes taken for granted, but in the days of the Articles of Confederation, crossing state lines was often arduous and costly. The Territorial Clause gives Congress the power to make rules for disposing of federal property and governing non-state territories of the United States. Finally, the fourth section of Article Four requires the United States to guarantee to each state a republican form of government, and to protect them from invasion and violence.
Article Five
Article Five outlines the process for amending the Constitution. Eight state constitutions in effect in 1787 included an amendment mechanism. Amendment making power rested with the legislature in three of the states and in the other five it was given to specially elected conventions. The Articles of Confederation provided that amendments were to be proposed by Congress and ratified by the unanimous vote of all thirteen state legislatures. This proved to be a major flaw in the Articles, as it created an insurmountable obstacle to constitutional reform. The amendment process crafted during the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention was, according to The Federalist No. 43, designed to establish a balance between pliancy and rigidity:[49]
It guards equally against that extreme facility which would render the Constitution too mutable; and that extreme difficulty which might perpetuate its discovered faults. It moreover equally enables the General and the State Governments to originate the amendment of errors, as they may be pointed out by the experience on one side, or on the other.
There are two steps in the amendment process. Proposals to amend the Constitution must be properly adopted and ratified before they change the Constitution. First, there are two procedures for adopting the language of a proposed amendment, either by (a) Congress, by two-thirds majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, or (b) national convention (which shall take place whenever two-thirds of the state legislatures collectively call for one). Second, there are two procedures for ratifying the proposed amendment, which requires three-fourths of the states' (presently 38 of 50) approval: (a) consent of the state legislatures, or (b) consent of state ratifying conventions. The ratification method is chosen by Congress for each amendment.[50] State ratifying conventions were used only once, for the Twenty-first Amendment.[51]
Presently, the Archivist of the United States is charged with responsibility for administering the ratification process under the provisions of 1 U.S. Code § 106b. The Archivist submits the proposed amendment to the states for their consideration by sending a letter of notification to each Governor. Each Governor then formally submits the amendment to their state's legislature. When a state ratifies a proposed amendment, it sends the Archivist an original or certified copy of the state's action. Ratification documents are examined by the Office of the Federal Register for facial legal sufficiency and an authenticating signature.[52]
Article Five ends by shielding certain clauses in the new frame of government from being amended. Article One, Section 9, Clauses 1 prevents Congress from passing any law that would restrict the importation of slaves into the United States prior to 1808, plus the fourth clause from that same section, which reiterates the Constitutional rule that direct taxes must be apportioned according state populations. These clauses were explicitly shielded from Constitutional amendment prior to 1808. On January 1, 1808, the first day it was permitted to do so, Congress approved legislation prohibiting the importation of slaves into the country. On February 3, 1913, with ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment, Congress gained the authority to levy an income tax without apportioning it among the states or basing it on the United States Census. The third textually entrenched provision is Article One, Section 3, Clauses 1, which provides for equal representation of the states in the Senate. The shield protecting this clause from the amendment process is less absolute – "no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate" – but permanent.
Article Six
Article Six establishes the Constitution, and all federal laws and treaties of the United States made according to it, to be the supreme law of the land, and that "the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, any thing in the laws or constitutions of any state notwithstanding." It validates national debt created under the Articles of Confederation and requires that all federal and state legislators, officers, and judges take oaths or affirmations to support the Constitution. This means that the states' constitutions and laws should not conflict with the laws of the federal constitution and that in case of a conflict, state judges are legally bound to honor the federal laws and constitution over those of any state. Article Six also states "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."
Article Seven
Article Seven describes the process for establishing the proposed new frame of government. Anticipating that the influence of many state politicians would be Antifederalist, delegates to the Philadelphia Convention provided for ratification of the Constitution by popularly elected ratifying conventions in each state. The convention method also made it possible that judges, ministers and others ineligible to serve in state legislatures, could be elected to a convention. Suspecting that Rhode Island, at least, might not ratify, delegates decided that the Constitution would go into effect as soon as nine states (two-thirds rounded up) ratified.[53] Once ratified by this minimum number of states, it was anticipated that the proposed Constitution would become this Constitution between the nine or more that signed. It would not cover the four or fewer states that might not have signed.[54]
Closing endorsement
Closing endorsement section of the United States Constitution
The Signing of the United States Constitution occurred on September 17, 1787 when 39 delegates to the Constitutional Convention endorsed the constitution created during the convention. In addition to signatures, this closing endorsement, the Constitution's eschatocol, included a brief declaration that the delegates' work has been successfully completed and that those whose signatures appear on it subscribe to the final document. Included are, a statement pronouncing the document's adoption by the states present, a formulaic dating of its adoption, and the signatures of those endorsing it. Additionally, the convention's secretary, William Jackson, signed the document to authenticate the validity of the delegate signatures. He also made a few secretarial notes.
The language of the concluding endorsement, conceived by Gouverneur Morris and presented to the convention by Benjamin Franklin, was made intentionally ambiguous in hopes of winning over the votes of dissenting delegates. Advocates for the new frame of government, realizing the impending difficulty of obtaining the consent of the states needed to make it operational, were anxious to obtain the unanimous support of the delegations from each state. It was feared that many of the delegates would refuse to give their individual assent to the Constitution. Therefore, in order that the action of the Convention would appear to be unanimous, the formula, Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the states present ... was devised.[55]
The document is dated: "the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord" 1787, and "of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth." This two-fold epoch dating serves to place the Constitution in the context of the religious traditions of Western civilization and, at the same time, links it to the regime principles proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence. This dual reference can also be found in the Articles of Confederation and the Northwest Ordinance.[55]
The closing endorsement serves an authentication function only. It neither assigns powers to the federal government nor does it provide specific limitations on government action. It does however, provide essential documentation of the Constitution's validity, a statement of "This is what was agreed to." It records who signed the Constitution, and when and where.
Ratified amendments
United States Bill of Rights
Currently housed in the National Archives.
See also: List of amendments to the United States Constitution
The Constitution has twenty-seven amendments. Structurally, the Constitution's original text and all prior amendments remain untouched. The precedent for this practice was set in 1789, when Congress considered and proposed the first several Constitutional amendments. Among these, Amendments 1–10 are collectively known as the Bill of Rights, and Amendments 13–15 are known as the Reconstruction Amendments. Excluding the Twenty-seventh Amendment, which was pending before the states for 7004740030000000000♠202 years, 225 days, the longest pending amendment that was successfully ratified was the Twenty-second Amendment, which took 7003143900000000000♠3 years, 343 days. The Twenty-sixth Amendment was ratified in the shortest time, 100 days. The average ratification time for the first twenty-six amendments was 1 year, 252 days, for all twenty-seven, 9 years, 48 days.
A proposed amendment becomes an operative part of the Constitution as soon as it is ratified by three-fourths of the States (currently 38 of the 50 States). There is no further step. The text requires no additional action by Congress or anyone else after ratification by the required number of states.[56] Thus, when the Office of the Federal Register verifies that it has received the required number of authenticated ratification documents, it drafts a formal proclamation for the Archivist to certify that the amendment is valid and has become part of the nation's frame of government. This certification is published in the Federal Register and United States Statutes at Large and serves as official notice to Congress and to the nation that the ratification process has been successfully completed.[52]
Safeguards of liberty (Amendments 1, 2, and 3)
The First Amendment (1791) prohibits Congress from obstructing the exercise of certain individual freedoms: freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and right to petition. Its Free Exercise Clause guarantees a person's right to hold whatever religious beliefs he or she wants, and to freely exercise that belief, and its Establishment Clause prevents the federal government from creating an official national church or favoring one set of religious beliefs over another. The amendment guarantees an individual's right to express and to be exposed to a wide range of opinions and views. It was intended to ensure a free exchange of ideas, even unpopular ones. It also guarantees an individual's right to physically gather or associate with others in groups for economic, political or religious purposes. Additionally, it guarantees an individual's right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.[57]
The Second Amendment (1791) protects the right of individuals[58][59] to keep and bear arms.[60][61][62][63] Although the Supreme Court has ruled that this right applies to individuals, not merely to collective militias, it has also held that the government may regulate or place some limits on the manufacture, ownership and sale of firearms or other weapons.[64][65] Requested by several states during the Constitutional ratification debates, the amendment reflected the lingering resentment over the widespread efforts of the British to confiscate the colonists' firearms at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. Patrick Henry had rhetorically asked, shall we be stronger, "when we are totally disarmed, and when a British Guard shall be stationed in every house?"[66]
The Third Amendment (1791) prohibits the federal government from forcing individuals to provide lodging to soldiers in their homes during peacetime without their consent. Requested by several states during the Constitutional ratification debates, the amendment reflected the lingering resentment over the Quartering Acts passed by the British Parliament during the Revolutionary War, which had allowed British soldiers to take over private homes for their own use.[67]
Safeguards of justice (Amendments 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8)
The Fourth Amendment (1791) protects people against unreasonable searches and seizures of either self or property by government officials. A search can mean everything from a frisking by a police officer or to a demand for a blood test to a search of an individual's home or car. A seizure occurs when the government takes control of an individual or something in his or her possession. Items that are seized often are used as evidence when the individual is charged with a crime. It also imposes certain limitations on police investigating a crime and prevents the use of illegally obtained evidence at trial.[68]
The Fifth Amendment (1791) establishes the requirement that a trial for a major crime may commence only after an indictment has been handed down by a grand jury; protects individuals from double jeopardy, being tried and put in danger of being punished more than once for the same criminal act; prohibits punishment without due process of law, thus protecting individuals from being imprisoned without fair procedures; and provides that an accused person may not be compelled to reveal to the police, prosecutor, judge, or jury any information that might incriminate or be used against him or her in a court of law. Additionally, the Fifth Amendment also prohibits government from taking private property for public use without "just compensation", the basis of eminent domain in the United States.[69]
The Sixth Amendment (1791) provides several protections and rights to an individual accused of a crime. The accused has the right to a fair and speedy trial by a local and impartial jury. Likewise, a person has the right to a public trial. This right protects defendants from secret proceedings that might encourage abuse of the justice system, and serves to keep the public informed. This amendment also guarantees a right to legal counsel if accused of a crime, guarantees that the accused may require witnesses to attend the trial and testify in the presence of the accused, and guarantees the accused a right to know the charges against them. In 1966, the Supreme Court ruled that, with the Fifth Amendment, this amendment requires what has become known as the Miranda warning.[70]
The Seventh Amendment (1791) extends the right to a jury trial to federal civil cases, and inhibits courts from overturning a jury's findings of fact. Although the Seventh Amendment itself says that it is limited to "suits at common law", meaning cases that triggered the right to a jury under English law, the amendment has been found to apply in lawsuits that are similar to the old common law cases. For example, the right to a jury trial applies to cases brought under federal statutes that prohibit race or gender discrimination in housing or employment. Importantly, this amendment guarantees the right to a jury trial only in federal court, not in state court.[71]
The Eighth Amendment (1791) protects people from having bail or fines set at an amount so high that it would be impossible for all but the richest defendants to pay and also protects people from being subjected to cruel and unusual punishment. Although this phrase originally was intended to outlaw certain gruesome methods of punishment, it has been broadened over the years to protect against punishments that are grossly disproportionate to or too harsh for the particular crime. This provision has also been used to challenge prison conditions such as extremely unsanitary cells, overcrowding, insufficient medical care and deliberate failure by officials to protect inmates from one another.[72]
Unenumerated rights and reserved powers (Amendments 9 and 10)
The Ninth Amendment (1791) declares that individuals have other fundamental rights, in addition to those stated in the Constitution. During the Constitutional ratification debates Anti-Federalists argued that a Bill of Rights should be added. The Federalists opposed it on grounds that a list would necessarily be incomplete but would be taken as explicit and exhaustive, thus enlarging the power of the federal government by implication. The Anti-Federalists persisted, and several state ratification conventions refused to ratify the Constitution without a more specific list of protections, so the First Congress added what became the Ninth Amendment as a compromise. Because the rights protected by the Ninth Amendment are not specified, they are referred to as "unenumerated". The Supreme Court has found that unenumerated rights include such important rights as the right to travel, the right to vote, the right to privacy, and the right to make important decisions about one's health care or body.[73]
The Tenth Amendment (1791) was included in the Bill of Rights to further define the balance of power between the federal government and the states. The amendment states that the federal government has only those powers specifically granted by the Constitution. These powers include the power to declare war, to collect taxes, to regulate interstate business activities and others that are listed in the articles or in subsequent constitutional amendments. Any power not listed is, says the Tenth Amendment, left to the states or the people. While there is no specific list of what these "reserved powers" may be, the Supreme Court has ruled that laws affecting family relations, commerce within a state's own borders, and local law enforcement activities, are among those specifically reserved to the states or the people.[74]
Governmental authority (Amendments 11, 16, 18, and 21)
The Eleventh Amendment (1795) specifically prohibits federal courts from hearing cases in which a state is sued by an individual from another state or another country, thus extending to the states sovereign immunity protection from certain types of legal liability. Article Three, Section 2, Clause 1 has been affected by this amendment, which also overturned the Supreme Court's decision in Chisholm v. Georgia.[75][76]
The Sixteenth Amendment (1913) removed existing Constitutional constraints that limited the power of Congress to lay and collect taxes on income. Specifically, the apportionment constraints delineated in Article 1, Section 9, Clause 4 have been removed by this amendment, which also overturned an 1895 Supreme Court decision, in Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co., that declared an unapportioned federal income tax on rents, dividends, and interest unconstitutional. This amendment has become the basis for all subsequent federal income tax legislation and has greatly expanded the scope of federal taxing and spending in the years since.[77]
The Eighteenth Amendment (1919) prohibited the making, transporting, and selling of alcoholic beverages nationwide. It also authorized Congress to enact legislation enforcing this prohibition. Adopted at the urging of a national temperance movement, proponents believed that the use of alcohol was reckless and destructive and that prohibition would reduce crime and corruption, solve social problems, decrease the need for welfare and prisons, and improve the health of all Americans. During prohibition, it is estimated that alcohol consumption and alcohol related deaths declined dramatically. But prohibition had other, more negative consequences. The amendment drove the lucrative alcohol business underground, giving rise to a large and pervasive black market. In addition, prohibition encouraged disrespect for the law and strengthened organized crime. Prohibition came to an end in 1933, when this amendment was repealed.[78]
The Twenty-first Amendment (1933) repealed the Eighteenth Amendment and returned the regulation of alcohol to the states. Each state sets its own rules for the sale and importation of alcohol, including the drinking age. Because a federal law provides federal funds to states that prohibit the sale of alcohol to minors under the age of twenty-one, all fifty states have set their drinking age there. Rules about how alcohol is sold vary greatly from state to state.[79]
Safeguards of civil rights (Amendments 13, 14, 15, 19, 23, 24, and 26)
The Thirteenth Amendment (1865) abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime, and authorized Congress to enforce abolition. Though millions of slaves had been declared free by the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, their post Civil War status was unclear, as was the status of other millions.[80] Congress intended the Thirteenth Amendment to be a proclamation of freedom for all slaves throughout the nation and to take the question of emancipation away from politics. This amendment rendered inoperative or moot several of the original parts of the constitution.[81]
The Fourteenth Amendment (1868) granted United States citizenship to former slaves and to all persons "subject to U.S. jurisdiction". It also contained three new limits on state power: a state shall not violate a citizen's privileges or immunities; shall not deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; and must guarantee all persons equal protection of the laws. These limitations dramatically expanded the protections of the Constitution. This amendment, according to the Supreme Court's Doctrine of Incorporation, makes most provisions of the Bill of Rights applicable to state and local governments as well. The mode of apportionment of representatives delineated in Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 has been superseded by that of this amendment, which also overturned the Supreme Court's decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford.[82]
The Fifteenth Amendment (1870) prohibits the use of race, color, or previous condition of servitude in determining which citizens may vote. The last of three post Civil War Reconstruction Amendments, it sought to abolish one of the key vestiges of slavery and to advance the civil rights and liberties of former slaves.[83]
The Nineteenth Amendment (1920) prohibits the government from denying women the right to vote on the same terms as men. Prior to the amendment's adoption, only a few states permitted women to vote and to hold office.[84]
The Twenty-third Amendment (1961) extends the right to vote in presidential elections to citizens residing in the District of Columbia by granting the District electors in the Electoral College, as if it were a state. When first established as the nation's capital in 1800, the District of Columbia's five thousand residents had neither a local government, nor the right to vote in federal elections. By 1960 the population of the District had grown to over 760,000 people. However, while its residents had all the responsibilities of citizenship, such as paying federal taxes, and could be drafted to serve in the military, citizens in thirteen states with lower populations had more voting rights than District residents.[85]
The Twenty-fourth Amendment (1964) prohibits a poll tax for voting. Although passage of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments helped remove many of the discriminatory laws left over from slavery, they did not eliminate all forms of discrimination. Along with literacy tests and durational residency requirements, poll taxes were used to keep low-income (primarily African American) citizens from participating in elections. The Supreme Court has since struck down these discriminatory measures, opening democratic participation to all, regardless of one's ability to pay.[86]
The Twenty-sixth Amendment (1971) prohibits the government from denying the right of United States citizens, eighteen years of age or older, to vote on account of age. The drive to lower the voting age was driven in large part by the broader student activism movement protesting the Vietnam War. It gained strength following the Supreme Court's decision in Oregon v. Mitchell, which held that Congress may set requirements for voting in federal elections, but not for state or local elections. The measure, which overturns the Mitchell decision, is another in a line of constitutional changes that expanded the right to vote to more citizens.[87]
Government processes and procedures (Amendments 12, 17, 20, 22, 25, and 27)
The Twelfth Amendment (1804) modifies the way the Electoral College chooses the President and Vice President. It stipulates that each elector must cast a distinct vote for President and Vice President, instead of two votes for President. It also suggests that the President and Vice President should not be from the same state. Article II, Section 1, Clause 3 is superseded by this amendment, which also extends the eligibility requirements to become President to the Vice President.[88]
The Seventeenth Amendment (1913) modifies the way senators are elected. It stipulates that senators are to be elected by direct popular vote. The amendment supersedes Article 1, Section 2, Clauses 1 and 2, under which the two senators from each state were elected by the state legislature. It also allows state legislatures to permit their governors to make temporary appointments until a special election can be held.[89]
The Twentieth Amendment (1933) changes the date on which a new President, Vice President and Congress take office, thus shortening the time between Election Day and the beginning of Presidential, Vice Presidential and Congressional terms.[90] Originally, the Constitution provided that the annual meeting was to be on the first Monday in December unless otherwise provided by law. This meant that, when a new Congress was elected in November, it did not come into office until the following March, with a "lame duck" Congress convening in the interim. By moving the beginning of the president's new term from March 4 to January 20 (and in the case of Congress, to January 3), proponents hoped to put an end to lame duck sessions, while allowing for a speedier transition for the new administration and legislators.[91]
The Twenty-second Amendment (1951) limits an elected president to two terms in office, a total of eight years. However, under some circumstances it is possible for an individual to serve more than eight years. Although nothing in the original frame of government limited how many presidential terms one could serve, the nation's first president, George Washington, declined to run for a third term, suggesting that two terms of four years were enough for any president. This precedent remained an unwritten rule of the presidency until broken by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was elected to a third term as president 1940 and in 1944 to a fourth.[92]
The Twenty-fifth Amendment (1967) clarifies what happens upon the death, removal, or resignation of the President or Vice President and how the Presidency is temporarily filled if the President becomes disabled and cannot fulfill the responsibilities of the office. It supersedes the ambiguous succession rule established in Article II, Section 1, Clause 6. A concrete plan of succession has been needed on multiple occasions since 1789. However, for nearly 20% of U.S. history, there has been no vice president in office who can assume the presidency.[93]
The Twenty-seventh Amendment (1992) prevents members of Congress from granting themselves pay raises during the current session. Rather, any raises that are adopted must take effect during the next session of Congress. Its proponents believed that Federal legislators would be more likely to be cautious about increasing congressional pay if they have no personal stake in the vote. Article One, section 6, Clause 1 has been affected by this amendment, which remained pending for over two centuries as it contained no time limit for ratification.[94]
Unratified amendments
Collectively, members of the House and Senate typically propose around 200 amendments during each two-year term of Congress.[95] Most however, never get out of the Congressional committees in which they were proposed, and only a fraction of those that do receive enough support to win Congressional approval to actually go through the constitutional ratification process.
Six amendments approved by Congress and proposed to the states for consideration have not been ratified by the required number of states to become part of the Constitution. Four of these are technically still pending, as Congress did not set a time limit (see also Coleman v. Miller) for their ratification. The other two are no longer pending, as both had a time limit attached and in both cases the time period set for their ratification expired.
Still pending
The Congressional Apportionment Amendment (proposed 1789) would, if ratified, establish a formula for determining the appropriate size of the House of Representatives and the appropriate apportionment of representatives among the states following each constitutionally mandated decennial census. At the time it was sent to the states for ratification, an affirmative vote by ten states would have made this amendment operational. In 1791 and 1792, when Vermont and Kentucky joined the Union, the number climbed to twelve. Thus, the amendment remained one state shy of the number needed for it to become part of the Constitution. No additional states have ratified this amendment since. To become part of the Constitution today, ratification by an additional twenty-seven would be required. The Apportionment Act of 1792 apportioned the House of Representatives at 33,000 persons per representative in consequence of the 1790 census. Reapportionment has since been effected by statute.
The Titles of Nobility Amendment (proposed 1810) would, if ratified, strip United States citizenship from any citizen who accepted a title of nobility from a foreign country. When submitted to the states, ratification by thirteen states was required for it to become part of the Constitution; eleven had done so by early 1812. However, with the addition of Louisiana into the Union that year (April 30, 1812), the ratification threshold rose to fourteen. Thus, when New Hampshire ratified it in December 1812, the amendment again came within two states of being ratified. No additional states have ratified this amendment since. To become part of the Constitution today, ratification by an additional twenty-six would be required.
The Corwin Amendment (proposed 1861) would, if ratified, shield "domestic institutions" of the states (which in 1861 included slavery) from the constitutional amendment process and from abolition or interference by Congress. This proposal was one of several measures considered by Congress in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to attract the seceding states back into the Union and to entice border slave states to stay.[96] Five states ratified the amendment in the early 1860s, but none have since. To become part of the Constitution today, ratification by an additional 33 states would be required. The subject of this proposal was subsequently addressed by the 1865 Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery.
The Child Labor Amendment (proposed 1924) would, if ratified, specifically authorize Congress to limit, regulate and prohibit labor of persons less than eighteen years of age. The amendment was proposed in response to Supreme Court rulings in Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918) and Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co. (1922) that found federal laws regulating and taxing goods produced by employees under the ages of 14 and 16 unconstitutional. When submitted to the states, ratification by 36 states was required for it to become part of the Constitution, as there were forty-eight states. Twenty-eight had ratified the amendment by early 1937, but none have done so since. To become part of the Constitution today, ratification by an additional ten would be required.[97] A federal statute approved June 25, 1938, regulated the employment of those under 16 or 18 years of age in interstate commerce. The Supreme Court, by unanimous vote in United States v. Darby Lumber Co. (1941), found this law constitutional, effectively overturning Hammer v. Dagenhart. As a result of this development, the movement pushing for the amendment concluded.[98]
No longer pending
The Equal Rights Amendment (proposed 1972) would have prohibited deprivation of equality of rights (discrimination) by the federal or state governments on account of sex. A seven-year ratification time limit was initially placed on the amendment, but as the deadline approached, Congress granted a three-year extension. Thirty-five states ratified the proposed amendment prior to the original deadline, three short of the number required for it to be implemented (five of them later voted to rescind their ratification). No further states ratified the amendment, thus it failed to be adopted.
The District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment (proposed 1978) would have granted the District of Columbia full representation in the United States Congress as if it were a state, repealed the 23rd Amendment, granted the District unconditional Electoral College voting rights, and allowed its participation in the process by which the Constitution is amended. A seven-year ratification time limit was placed on the amendment. Sixteen states ratified the amendment (twenty-two short of the number required for it to be implemented) prior to the deadline, thus it failed to be adopted.
Judicial review
See also: Judicial review in the United States, Judicial review, and Appeal § Appellate review
The way the Constitution is understood is influenced by court decisions, especially those of the Supreme Court. These decisions are referred to as precedents. Judicial review is the power of the Court to examine federal legislation, federal executive, and all state branches of government, to decide their constitutionality, and to strike them down if found unconstitutional.
Judicial review includes the power of the Court to explain the meaning of the Constitution as it applies to particular cases. Over the years, Court decisions on issues ranging from governmental regulation of radio and television to the rights of the accused in criminal cases have changed the way many constitutional clauses are interpreted, without amendment to the actual text of the Constitution.
Legislation passed to implement the Constitution, or to adapt those implementations to changing conditions, broadens and, in subtle ways, changes the meanings given to the words of the Constitution. Up to a point, the rules and regulations of the many federal executive agencies have a similar effect. If an action of Congress or the agencies is challenged, however, it is the court system that ultimately decides whether these actions are permissible under the Constitution.
The Supreme Court has indicated that once the Constitution has been extended to an area (by Congress or the Courts), its coverage is irrevocable. To hold that the political branches may switch the Constitution on or off at will would lead to a regime in which they, not this Court, say "what the law is".[h]
Scope and theory
Courts established by the Constitution can regulate government under the Constitution, the supreme law of the land. First, they have jurisdiction over actions by an officer of government and state law. Second, federal courts may rule on whether coordinate branches of national government conform to the Constitution. Until the twentieth century, the Supreme Court of the United States may have been the only high tribunal in the world to use a court for constitutional interpretation of fundamental law, others generally depending on their national legislature.[99]
Early Court roots in the founding
John Jay, 1789–1795
New York co-author
The Federalist Papers
John Marshall, 1801–1835
Fauquier County delegate
Virginia Ratification Convention
The basic theory of American Judicial review is summarized by constitutional legal scholars and historians as follows: the written Constitution is fundamental law. It can change only by extraordinary legislative process of national proposal, then state ratification. The powers of all departments are limited to enumerated grants found in the Constitution. Courts are expected (a) to enforce provisions of the Constitution as the supreme law of the land, and (b) to refuse to enforce anything in conflict with it.[100]
In Convention. As to judicial review and the Congress, the first proposals by Madison (Va) and Wilson (Pa) called for a supreme court veto over national legislation. In this it resembled the system in New York, where the Constitution of 1777 called for a "Council of Revision" by the Governor and Justices of the state supreme court. The Council would review and in a way, veto any passed legislation violating the spirit of the Constitution before it went into effect. The nationalist's proposal in Convention was defeated three times, and replaced by a presidential veto with Congressional over-ride. Judicial review relies on the jurisdictional authority in Article III, and the Supremacy Clause.[101]
The justification for judicial review is to be explicitly found in the open ratifications held in the states and reported in their newspapers. John Marshall in Virginia, James Wilson in Pennsylvania and Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut all argued for Supreme Court judicial review of acts of state legislature. In Federalist No. 78, Alexander Hamilton advocated the doctrine of a written document held as a superior enactment of the people. "A limited constitution can be preserved in practice no other way" than through courts which can declare void any legislation contrary to the Constitution. The preservation of the people's authority over legislatures rests "particularly with judges".[102][i]
The Supreme Court was initially made up of jurists who had been intimately connected with the framing of the Constitution and the establishment of its government as law. John Jay (New York), a co-author of The Federalist Papers, served as Chief Justice for the first six years. The second Chief Justice for a term of four years, was Oliver Ellsworth (Connecticut), a delegate in the Constitutional Convention, as was John Rutledge (South Carolina), Washington's recess appointment as Chief Justice who served in 1795. John Marshall (Virginia), the fourth Chief Justice, had served in the Virginia Ratification Convention in 1788. His service on the Court would extend 34 years over some of the most important rulings to help establish the nation the Constitution had begun. In the first years of the Supreme Court, members of the Constitutional Convention who would serve included James Wilson (Pennsylvania) for ten years, John Blair, Jr. (Virginia) for five, and John Rutledge (South Carolina) for one year as Justice, then Chief Justice in 1795.
Establishment
When John Marshall followed Oliver Ellsworth as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1801, the federal judiciary had been established by the Judiciary Act, but there were few cases, and less prestige. "The fate of judicial review was in the hands of the Supreme Court itself." Review of state legislation and appeals from state supreme courts was understood. But the Court's life, jurisdiction over state legislation was limited. The Marshall Court's landmark Barron v. Baltimore held that the Bill of Rights restricted only the federal government, and not the states.[102]
In the landmark Marbury v. Madison case, the Supreme Court asserted its authority of judicial review over Acts of Congress. Its findings were that Marbury and the others had a right to their commissions as judges in the District of Columbia. The law afforded Marbury a remedy at court. Then Marshall, writing the opinion for the majority, announced his discovered conflict between Section 13 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 and Article III.[j][104][k] In this case, both the Constitution and the statutory law applied to the particulars at the same time. "The very essence of judicial duty" according to Marshall was to determine which of the two conflicting rules should govern. The Constitution enumerates powers of the judiciary to extend to cases arising "under the Constitution". Further, justices take a Constitutional oath to uphold it as "Supreme law of the land".[105] Therefore, since the United States government as created by the Constitution is a limited government, the Federal courts were required to choose the Constitution over Congressional law if there were deemed to be a conflict between them.
"This argument has been ratified by time and by practice..."[l][m] "Marshall The Supreme Court did not declare another Act of Congress unconstitutional until the disastrous Dred Scott decision in 1857, held after the voided Missouri Compromise statute, had already been repealed. In the eighty years following the Civil War to World War II, the Court voided Congressional statutes in 77 cases, on average almost one a year.[107]
Something of a crisis arose when, in 1935 and 1936, the Supreme Court handed down twelve decisions voiding Acts of Congress relating to the New Deal. President Franklin D. Roosevelt then responded with his abortive "court packing plan". Other proposals have suggested a Court super-majority to overturn Congressional legislation, or a Constitutional Amendment to require that the Justices retire at a specified age by law. To date, the Supreme Court's power of judicial review has persisted.[103]
Self-restraint
The power of judicial review could not have been preserved long in a democracy unless it had been "wielded with a reasonable measure of judicial restraint, and with some attention, as Mr. Dooley said, to the election returns." Indeed, the Supreme Court has developed a system of doctrine and practice that self-limits its power of judicial review.[108]
The Court controls almost all of its business by choosing what cases to consider, writs of certiorari. In this way, it can avoid opinions on embarrassing or difficult cases. The Supreme Court limits itself by defining for itself what is a "justiciable question." First, the Court is fairly consistent in refusing to make any "advisory opinions" in advance of actual cases.[n] Second, "friendly suits" between those of the same legal interest are not considered. Third, the Court requires a "personal interest", not one generally held, and a legally protected right must be immediately threatened by government action. Cases are not taken up if the litigant has no standing to sue. Simply having the money to sue and being injured by government action are not enough.[108]
These three procedural ways of dismissing cases have led critics to charge that the Supreme Court delays decisions by unduly insisting on technicalities in their "standards of litigability". Under the Court's practice, there are cases left unconsidered which are in the public interest, with genuine controversy, and resulting from good faith action. "The Supreme Court is not only a court of law but a court of justice."[109]
Separation of powers
The Supreme Court balances several pressures to maintain its roles in national government. It seeks to be a co-equal branch of government, but its decrees must be enforceable. The Court seeks to minimize situations where it asserts itself superior to either President or Congress, but federal officers must be held accountable. The Supreme Court assumes power to declare acts of Congress as unconstitutional but it self-limits its passing on constitutional questions.[110] But the Court's guidance on basic problems of life and governance in a democracy is most effective when American political life reinforce its rulings.[111]
Justice Brandeis summarized four general guidelines that the Supreme Court uses to avoid constitutional decisions relating to Congress:[o] The Court will not anticipate a question of constitutional law nor decide open questions unless a case decision requires it. If it does, a rule of constitutional law is formulated only as the precise facts in the case require. The Court will choose statutes or general law for the basis of its decision if it can without constitutional grounds. If it does, the Court will choose a constitutional construction of an Act of Congress, even if its constitutionality is seriously in doubt. [110]
Likewise with the Executive Department, Edwin Corwin observed that the Court does sometimes rebuff presidential pretensions, but it more often tries to rationalize them. Against Congress, an Act is merely "disallowed". In the executive case, exercising judicial review produces "some change in the external world" beyond the ordinary judicial sphere.[112] The "political question" doctrine especially applies to questions which present a difficult enforcement issue. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes addressed the Court's limitation when political process allowed future policy change, but a judicial ruling would "attribute finality". Political questions lack "satisfactory criteria for a judicial determination".[113]
John Marshall recognized that the president holds "important political powers" which as Executive privilege allows great discretion. This doctrine was applied in Court rulings on President Grant's duty to enforce the law during Reconstruction. It extends to the sphere of foreign affairs. Justice Robert Jackson explained, Foreign affairs are inherently political, "wholly confided by our Constitution to the political departments of the government ... [and] not subject to judicial intrusion or inquiry."[114]
Critics of the Court object in two principal ways to self-restraint in judicial review, deferring as it does as a matter of doctrine to Acts of Congress and Presidential actions.
Its inaction is said to allow "a flood of legislative appropriations" which permanently create an imbalance between the states and federal government.
Supreme Court deference to Congress and the executive compromises American protection of civil rights, political minority groups and aliens.[115]
Further information: Separation of powers under the United States Constitution
Subsequent Courts
Main article: History of the Supreme Court of the United States
Supreme Courts under the leadership of subsequent Chief Justices have also used judicial review to interpret the Constitution among individuals, states and federal branches. Notable contributions were made by the Chase Court, the Taft Court, the Warren Court, and the Rehnquist Court.
Further information: List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Chase Court
Salmon P. Chase was a Lincoln appointee, serving as Chief Justice from 1864 to 1873. His career encompassed service as a U.S. Senator and Governor of Ohio. He coined the slogan, "Free soil, free Labor, free men." One of Lincoln's "team of rivals", he was appointed Secretary of Treasury during the Civil War, issuing "greenbacks". To appease radical Republicans, Lincoln appointed him to replace Chief Justice Roger B. Taney of Dred Scott case fame.
In one of his first official acts, Chase admitted John Rock, the first African-American to practice before the Supreme Court. The "Chase Court" is famous for Texas v. White, which asserted a permanent Union of indestructible states. Veazie Bank v. Fenno upheld the Civil War tax on state banknotes. Hepburn v. Griswold found parts of the Legal Tender Acts unconstitutional, though it was reversed under a late Supreme Court majority.
Further information: List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Taft Court
Scope of judicial review expanded
Salmon P. Chase [p]
Union, Reconstruction
William Howard Taft [q]
commerce, incorporation
Earl Warren [r]
due process, civil rights
William Rehnquist [s]
federalism, privacy
William Howard Taft was a Harding appointment to Chief Justice from 1921 to 1930. A Progressive Republican from Ohio, he was a one-term President.
As Chief Justice, he advocated the Judiciary Act of 1925 that brought the Federal District Courts under the administrative jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. Taft successfully sought the expansion of Court jurisdiction over non- states such as District of Columbia and Territories of Arizona, New Mexico, Alaska and Hawaii.
In 1925, the Taft Court issued a ruling overturning a Marshall Court ruling on the Bill of Rights. In Gitlow v. New York, the Court established the doctrine of "incorporation which applied the Bill of Rights to the states. Important cases included the Board of Trade of City of Chicago v. Olsen that upheld Congressional regulation of commerce. Olmstead v. United States allowed exclusion of evidence obtained without a warrant based on application of the 14th Amendment proscription against unreasonable searches. Wisconsin v. Illinois ruled the equitable power of the United States can impose positive action on a state to prevent its inaction from damaging another state.
Further information: List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Warren Court
Earl Warren was an Eisenhower nominee, Chief Justice from 1953 to 1969. Warren's Republican career in the law reached from County Prosecutor, California state attorney general, and three consecutive terms as Governor. His programs stressed progressive efficiency, expanding state education, re-integrating returning veterans, infrastructure and highway construction.
In 1954, the Warren Court overturned a landmark Fuller Court ruling on the Fourteenth Amendment interpreting racial segregation as permissible in government and commerce providing "separate but equal" services. Warren built a coalition of Justices after 1962 that developed the idea of natural rights as guaranteed in the Constitution. Brown v. Board of Education banned segregation in public schools. Baker v. Carr and Reynolds v. Sims established Court ordered "one-man-one-vote". Bill of Rights Amendments were incorporated into the states. Due process was expanded in Gideon v. Wainwright and Miranda v. Arizona. First Amendment rights were addressed in Griswold v. Connecticut concerning privacy, and Engel v. Vitale relative to free speech.
Further information: List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Rehnquist Court
William Rehnquist was a Reagan appointment to Chief Justice, serving from 1986 to 2005. While he would concur with overthrowing a state supreme court's decision, as in Bush v. Gore, he built a coalition of Justices after 1994 that developed the idea of federalism as provided for in the Tenth Amendment. In the hands of the Supreme Court, the Constitution and its Amendments were to restrain Congress, as in City of Boerne v. Flores.
Nevertheless, the Rehnquist Court was noted in the contemporary "culture wars" for overturning state laws relating to privacy prohibiting late-term abortions in Stenberg v. Carhart, prohibiting sodomy in Lawrence v. Texas, or ruling so as to protect free speech in Texas v. Johnson or affirmative action in Grutter v. Bollinger.
Civic religion
Main article: American civil religion
There is a viewpoint that some Americans have come to see the documents of the Constitution, along with the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, as being a cornerstone of a type of civil religion. This is suggested by the prominent display of the Constitution, along with the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, in massive, bronze-framed, bulletproof, moisture-controlled glass containers vacuum-sealed in a rotunda by day and in multi-ton bomb-proof vaults by night at the National Archives Building.[116]
The idea of displaying the documents struck one academic critic looking from the point of view of the 1776 or 1789 America as "idolatrous, and also curiously at odds with the values of the Revolution".[116] By 1816, Jefferson wrote that "[s]ome men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence and deem them like the Ark of the Covenant, too sacred to be touched". But he saw imperfections and imagined that there could potentially be others, believing as he did that "institutions must advance also".[117]
Some commentators depict the multi-ethnic, multi-sectarian United States as held together by a political orthodoxy, in contrast with a nation state of people having more "natural" ties.[118][119]
Worldwide influence
José Rizal
Sun Yat-sen
Main article: United States Constitution and worldwide influence
The United States Constitution has been a notable model for governance around the world. Its international influence is found in similarities of phrasing and borrowed passages in other constitutions, as well as in the principles of the rule of law, separation of powers and recognition of individual rights. The American experience of fundamental law with amendments and judicial review has motivated constitutionalists at times when they were considering the possibilities for their nation's future.[120] It informed Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War,[t] his contemporary and ally Benito Juárez of Mexico,[u] and the second generation of 19th-century constitutional nationalists, José Rizal of the Philippines[v] and Sun Yat-sen of China.[w] Since the latter half of the 20th century, the influence of the United States Constitution may be waning as other countries have revised their constitutions with new influences.[126][127]
Criticisms
Further information: History of the United States Constitution § Criticism of the Constitution
The United States Constitution has faced various criticisms since its inception in 1787.
The Constitution did not originally define who was eligible to vote, allowing each state to determine who was eligible. In the early history of the U.S., most states allowed only white male adult property owners to vote.[128][129][130] Until the Reconstruction Amendments were adopted between 1865 and 1870, the five years immediately following the Civil War, the Constitution did not abolish slavery, nor give citizenship and voting rights to former slaves.[131] These amendments did not include a specific prohibition on discrimination on the basis of sex; it took another amendment – the Nineteenth, ratified in 1920 – for the Constitution to prohibit any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex.[132]
See also
Timeline of drafting and ratification of the United States Constitution
Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States by Joseph Story (three volumes)
Congressional power of enforcement
Constitution Day (United States)
Constitutionalism in the United States
History of democracy
List of national constitutions (world countries)
List of proposed amendments to the United States Constitution
List of sources of law in the United States
National Constitution Center
Pocket Constitution
State constitution (United States)
Second Constitutional Convention of the United States
The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation
Related documents
Mayflower Compact (1620)
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639)
Massachusetts Body of Liberties (1641)
Bill of Rights 1689 – English Bill of Rights
United States Declaration of Independence (1776)
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1779)
Notes
Jump up ^ Historically, the first written constitution of an independent polity which was adopted by representatives elected by the people was the 1755 Corsican Constitution, despite being short-lived, drafted by Pasquale Paoli, whose work was an inspiration for many American patriots,[8] including the Hearts of Oak, originally named "The Corsicans", and the Sons of Liberty.[9]
Earlier written constitutions of independent states exist but were not adopted by bodies elected by the people, such as the Swedish Constitution of 1772, adopted by the king, the Constitution of San Marino of 1600 which is the oldest surviving constitution in the world, or the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk, the first establishing separation of powers.
Jump up ^ The Judiciary Act of 1789 established six Supreme Court justices. The number was periodically increased, reaching ten in 1863, allowing Lincoln additional appointments. After the Civil War, vacancies reduced the number to seven. Congress finally fixed the number at nine.
Jump up ^ The four concepts which determine "justiciability", the formula for a federal court taking and deciding a case, are the doctrines of (a) standing, (b) real and substantial interests, (c) adversity, and (d) avoidance of political questions.[47]
Jump up ^ Judicial Review is explained in Hamilton's Federalist No. 78. It also has roots in Natural Law expressions in the Declaration of Independence. The Supreme Court first ruled an act of Congress unconstitutional in Marbury v. Madison, the second was Dred Scott.[47]
Jump up ^ For instance, 'collateral estoppel' directs that when a litigant wins in a state court, they cannot sue in federal court to get a more favorable outcome.
Jump up ^ Recently numerous habeas corpus reforms have tried to preserve a working "relationship of comity" and simultaneously streamline the process for state and lower courts to apply Supreme Court interpretations.[47]
Jump up ^ Contrary to this source when viewed, the Constitution provides that punishments, including forfeiture of income and property, must apply to the person convicted. "No attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture" on the convicted traitor's children or heirs. This avoids the perpetuation of civil war into the generations by Parliamentary majorities as in the Wars of the Roses.[47]
Jump up ^ Downes v. Bidwell, 182 U.S. 244, 261 (1901), commenting on an earlier Supreme Court decision, Loughborough v. Blake, 18 U.S. (5 Wheat.) 317 (1820); Rasmussen v. United States, 197 U.S. 516, 529-530, 536 (1905)(concurring opinions of Justices Harlan and Brown), that once the Constitution has been extended to an area, its coverage is irrevocable; Boumediene v. Bush - That where the Constitution has been once formally extended by Congress to territories, neither Congress nor the territorial legislature can enact laws inconsistent therewith. The Constitution grants Congress and the President the power to acquire, dispose of, and govern territory, not the power to decide when and where its terms apply.
Jump up ^ The Supreme Court found 658 cases of invalid state statutes from 1790 to 1941 before the advent of civil rights cases in the last half of the twentieth century[103]
Jump up ^ In this, John Marshall leaned on the argument of Hamilton in Federalist No. 78.
Jump up ^ Although it may be that the true meaning of the Constitution to the people of the United States in 1788 can only be divined by a study of the state ratification conventions, the Supreme Court has used The Federalist Papers as a supplemental guide to the Constitution since their co-author, John Jay, was the first Chief Justice.
Jump up ^ The entire quote reads, "This argument has been ratified by time and by practice, and there is little point in quibbling with it. Of course, the President also takes an oath to support the Constitution."[106]
Jump up ^ The presidential reference is to Andrew Jackson's disagreement with Marshall's Court over Worcester v. Georgia, finding Georgia could not impose its laws in Cherokee Territory. Jackson replied, "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!", and the Trail of Tears proceeded. Jackson would not politically interpose the U.S. Army between Georgia and the Cherokee people as Eisenhower would do between Arkansas and the integrating students.
Jump up ^ "Advisory opinions" are not the same as "declaratory judgments." (a) These address rights and legal relationships in cases of "actual controversy", and (b) the holding has the force and effect of a final judgment. (c) There is no coercive order, as the parties are assumed to follow the judgment, but a "declaratory judgment" is the basis of any subsequent ruling in case law.
Jump up ^ Louis Brandeis concurring opinion, Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority, 1936.
Jump up ^ The Chase Court, 1864–1873, in 1865 were the Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice, U.S.; Hon. Nathan Clifford, Maine; Stephen J. Field, Justice Supreme Court, U.S.; Hon. Samuel F. Miller, U.S. Supreme Court; Hon. Noah H. Swayne, Justice Supreme Court, U.S.; Judge Morrison R. Waite
Jump up ^ The Taft Court, 1921–1930, in 1925 were James Clark McReynolds, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., William Howard Taft (Chief Justice), Willis Van Devanter, Louis Brandeis. Edward Sanford, George Sutherland, Pierce Butler, Harlan Fiske Stone
Jump up ^ The Warren Court, 1953–1969, in 1963 were Felix Frankfurter; Hugo Black; Earl Warren (Chief Justice); Stanley Reed; WIlliam O. Douglas. Tom Clark; Robert H. Jackson; Harold Burton; Sherman Minton
Jump up ^ The Rehnquist Court, 1986–2005.
Jump up ^ "Secession was indeed unconstitutional ... military resistance to secession was not only constitutional but also morally justified.[121] "the primary purpose of the Constitution was ... to create 'a more perfect union' ... the Constitution was an exercise in nation building.[122]
Jump up ^ Juarez regarded the United States as a model of republican democracy and consistently supported Abraham Lincoln.[123]
Jump up ^ The institutions of the two countries which have most influenced constitutional development are Spain and the United States". One of the reforms, "sine quibus non", to use the words of Rizal and Mabini, always insisted upon by the Filipinos, was Philippine representation in the Spanish Cortez, the promulgation in the Islands of the Spanish Constitution, and the complete assimilation equal to that of any in the Spanish provinces on the continent.[124]
Jump up ^ In the modern history of China, there were many revolutionaries who tried to seek the truth from the West in order to overthrow the feudal system of the Qing dynasty. Dr. Sun Yat-sen, for example, was much influenced by American democracy, especially the U.S. Constitution.[125]
References
Footnotes
Jump up ^ Maier 2010, p. 35
Jump up ^ United States Senate (1992). "Amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America" (PDF). The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation (PDF)|format= requires |url= (help). U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 25 n.2. ISBN 9780160632686.
^ Jump up to: a b "Constitution Day". Senate.gov. United States Senate. Retrieved September 10, 2016.
Jump up ^ Ritchie, Donald. "Bill of Rights". Annenberg Classroom - Glossary. Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
Jump up ^ Lloyd, Gordon. "Introduction to the Bill of Rights". TeachingAmericanHistory.org. The Ashbrook Center at Ashland University. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
Jump up ^ "America's Founding Documents". October 30, 2015.
Jump up ^ "Differences between Parchment, Vellum and Paper". August 15, 2016.
Jump up ^ "Pasquale Paoli - Corsican statesman".
Jump up ^ Ruppert, Bob. "Paoli: Hero of the Sons of Liberty". Journal of the American Revolution. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
Jump up ^ McLaughlin, Andrew C. (1936). "A constitutional History of the United States". New York, London: D. Appleton-Century Company. pp. 83–90. Archived from the original on September 16, 2014. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
Jump up ^ Morris, Richard B. (December 28, 1976). Presidential Address (Speech). American Historical Association. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
Jump up ^ Fritz, Christian G. (2008). American Sovereigns: The People and America's Constitutional Tradition Before the Civil War. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 131. ISBN 978-0-521-88188-3; noting that "Madison, along with other Americans clearly understood" the Articles of Confederation "to be the first federal Constitution".
Jump up ^ Jensen, Merrill (1950). The New Nation: A History of the United States During the Confederation, 1781–1789. Boston: Northeastern University Press. pp. 177–233. ISBN 978-0-930350-14-7.
Jump up ^ Wood, Gordon S. (1972). The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 359. ISBN 978-0-807-84723-7.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Maier 2010, pp. 11–13
Jump up ^ Maier 2010, pp. 12-13, 19.
Jump up ^ Bowen 2010, pp. 129-130.
Jump up ^ Bowen 2010, p. 31.
Jump up ^ Maier 2010, pp. 15-16.
Jump up ^ Maier 2010, p. 13.
Jump up ^ Wood 1998, pp. 356-367, 359.
Jump up ^ Maier 2010, pp. 14, 30, 66.
Jump up ^ "Resolution of Congress, 21 Feb. 1787". The Founders' Constitution. University of Chicago Press; The Articles Congress thus echoed a previous resolution of a conference at Annapolis; see "Proceedings of Commissioners to Remedy Defects of the Federal Government: 1786".
Jump up ^ Maier 2010, p. 21
Jump up ^ Maier 2010, p. 27
^ Jump up to: a b "America's Founding Fathers-Delegates to the Constitutional Convention". The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
Jump up ^ "Variant Texts of the Virginia Plan, Presented by Edmund Randolph to the Federal Convention". The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
Jump up ^ "The Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 reported by James Madison : on June 15". The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
^ Jump up to: a b "Committee Assignments Chart and Commentary". Ashland, Ohio: TeachingAmericanHistory.org. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
Jump up ^ "Madison Debates July 16". The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
^ Jump up to: a b c "Committees at the Constitutional Convention". U.S. Constitution Online. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
Jump up ^ "Madison Debates August 6". The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
Jump up ^ "Madison Debates September 12". The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
Jump up ^ Vile, John R. (2005). The Constitutional Convention of 1787: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of America's Founding (Volume 1: A-M). ABC-CLIO. p. 705. ISBN 1-85109-669-8. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
Jump up ^ "Madison Debates September 15". The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
Jump up ^ Wright, Jr., Robert K.; MacGregor Jr., Morris J. "Appendix A: The Annapolis Convention". Soldier-Statesmen of the Constitution. Washington D.C: United States Army Center of Military History. p. 264. LCCN 87001353. CMH Pub 71-25.
Jump up ^ "Resolution of Congress of September 28, 1787, Submitting the Constitution to the Several States". The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
Jump up ^ "Resolution of the Congress, of September 13, 1788, Fixing Date for Election of a President, and the Organization of the Government Under the Constitution, in the City of New York" – via Avalon Project.
Jump up ^ Manning, John F. (2011). "Separation of Powers as Ordinary Interpretation". Harvard Law Review. 124 (1): 1939–2039.
Jump up ^ Carpenter, William Seal (1928). "The Separation of Powers in the Eighteenth Century". American Political Science Review. 22 (1): 32–44.
Jump up ^ Nielson, Aaron (April 10, 2016). "D.C. Circuit Reviewed: The Baron Montesquieu".
Jump up ^ National Archives and Records Administration. "National Archives Article on the Bill of Rights". Retrieved December 16, 2007.
Jump up ^ Kilpatrick, James J., ed. (1961). The Constitution of the United States and Amendments Thereto. Foreword by Denys P. Myers. Virginia Commission on Constitutional Government. p. i (of foreword). [full citation needed]
Jump up ^ See Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11, 22 (1905) ("Although th[e] preamble indicates the general purposes for which the people ordained and established the Constitution, it has never been regarded as the source of any substantive power conferred on the government of the United States, or on any of its departments."); see also United States v. Boyer, 85 F. 425, 430–31 (W.D. Mo. 1898) ("The preamble never can be resorted to, to enlarge the powers confided to the general government, or any of its departments. It cannot confer any power per se. It can never amount, by implication, to an enlargement of any power expressly given. It can never be the legitimate source of any implied power, when otherwise withdrawn from the constitution. Its true office is to expound the nature and extent and application of the powers actually conferred by the constitution, and not substantively to create them." (quoting 1 JOSEPH STORY, COMMENTARIES ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES § 462 (1833)) (internal quotation marks omitted)).
Jump up ^ Adler & Gorman 1975, p. 26, 80, 136.
^ Jump up to: a b 17. U.S. at 421
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h O'Connor 2010.
Jump up ^ FindLaw for legal professionals Archived January 16, 2013, at the Wayback Machine., with links to United States Government Printing office official Web site, Cornell Law School, Emory Law School, and U.S. Supreme Court decisions since 1893, (1998, 2000 Supplement). Viewed November 28, 2011. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved 2011-11-29. CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
Jump up ^ England, Trent & Spalding, Matthew. "Essays on Article V: Amendments". The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
Jump up ^ "Proposed Amendments". Constitution Day Observance Events. Clayton State University.
Jump up ^ Lutz, Donald (1994). "Toward a Theory of Constitutional Amendment". The American Political Science Review.
^ Jump up to: a b "The Constitutional Amendment Process". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved July 27, 2014.
Jump up ^ Morison, Samuel Eliot (1965). The Oxford History of the American People. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 312.
Jump up ^ Lloyd, Gordon. "The Six Stages of Ratification of the Constitution: Stage I – Now For the Bad News". TeachingAmericanHistory.org. The Ashbrook Center at Ashland University. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
^ Jump up to: a b Spaulding, Matthew. "Attestation Clause". The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
Jump up ^ Neale, Thomas H. "The Proposed Equal Rights Amendment: Contemporary Ratification Issues" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. Retrieved July 27, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment I". Annenberg Classroom. Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Fletcher v. Haas , 11-10644-DPW (D. Mass. March 30, 2012).
Jump up ^ Pierce, John (April 2, 2012). "Permanent Resident Aliens Have Second Amendment Rights Too". Monachus Lex. [self-published source]
Jump up ^ Constitutional Law. Casenotes. 2009-12-06. ISBN 9780735589452. [full citation needed]
Jump up ^ Jilson, Cal (2013-01-04). American Government: Political Development and Institutional Change. ISBN 9781136269691. [full citation needed]
Jump up ^ Shaman, Jeffrey. "After Heller: What Now for the Second Amendment". Santa Clara Law Review. Retrieved January 30, 2014. [full citation needed]
Jump up ^ "US Senate Annotated Constitution". Retrieved January 30, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment II". Annenberg Classroom. Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Epstein, Lee & Walk, Thomas G. (2012). Constitutional Law for a Changing America: Rights, Liberties and Justice (8th ed.). CQ Press. pp. 395–396. ISBN 978-1-4522-2674-3.
Jump up ^ Moncure 1990.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment III". Annenberg Classroom. Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment IV". Annenberg Classroom. Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment V". Annenberg Classroom. Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment VI". Annenberg Classroom. Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment VII". Annenberg Classroom. Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment VIII". Annenberg Classroom. Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment IX". Annenberg Classroom. Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment X". Annenberg Classroom. Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ "Annotation 1: Eleventh Amendment, State Immunity". FindLaw. Retrieved May 4, 2013.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment XI". Annenberg Classroom. Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment XVI". www.annenbergclassroom.org. Philadelphia, Pa.: Annenberg Classroom. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment XVIII". www.annenbergclassroom.org. Philadelphia, Pa.: Annenberg Classroom. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment XXI". www.annenbergclassroom.org. Philadelphia, Pa.: Annenberg Classroom. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ "The Emancipation Proclamation". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment XIII". Annenberg Classroom. Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment XIV". Annenberg Classroom. Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment XV". Annenberg Classroom. Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment XIX". www.annenbergclassroom.org. Philadelphia, Pa.: Annenberg Classroom. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment XXIII". www.annenbergclassroom.org. Philadelphia, Pa.: Annenberg Classroom. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment XXIV". www.annenbergclassroom.org. Philadelphia, Pa.: Annenberg Classroom. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment XXVI". www.annenbergclassroom.org. Philadelphia, Pa.: Annenberg Classroom. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment XII". Annenberg Classroom. Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment XVII". www.annenbergclassroom.org. Philadelphia, Pa.: Annenberg Classroom. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ "CRS/LII Annotated Constitution Twentieth Amendment".
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment XX". www.annenbergclassroom.org. Philadelphia, Pa.: Annenberg Classroom. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment XXII". www.annenbergclassroom.org. Philadelphia, Pa.: Annenberg Classroom. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment XXV". www.annenbergclassroom.org. Philadelphia, Pa.: Annenberg Classroom. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Monk, Linda. "Amendment XXVII". www.annenbergclassroom.org. Philadelphia, Pa.: Annenberg Classroom. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ "Capitol Questions". C-SPAN. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved May 29, 2008.
Jump up ^ Morison, Samuel Eliot (1965). The Oxford History of the American People. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 609.
Jump up ^ Kilpatrick, James J., ed. (1961). The Constitution of the United States and Amendments Thereto. Virginia Commission on Constitutional Government. pp. 68–69.
Jump up ^ Griffin, Stephen M. (1998). American Constitutionalism: From Theory to Politics. Princeton University Press. p. 89. ISBN 9780691002408.
Jump up ^ Pritchett 1959, p. 134.
Jump up ^ Pritchett 1959, p. 136.
Jump up ^ Pritchett 1959, pp. 137-138.
^ Jump up to: a b Pritchett 1959, p. 138.
^ Jump up to: a b Pritchett 1959, p. 142.
Jump up ^ Pritchett 1959, p. 140.
Jump up ^ Pritchett 1959, pp. 140-141.
Jump up ^ Pritchett 1959, p. 141.
Jump up ^ Pritchett 1959, pp. 141-142.
^ Jump up to: a b Pritchett 1959, p. 145.
Jump up ^ Pritchett 1959, pp. 148-149.
^ Jump up to: a b Pritchett 1959, p. 149.
Jump up ^ Pritchett 1959, p. 154.
Jump up ^ Pritchett 1959, p. 150.
Jump up ^ Pritchett 1959, p. 151.
Jump up ^ Pritchett 1959, pp. 150-151.
Jump up ^ Pritchett 1959, p. 153.
^ Jump up to: a b Wood, Gordon S., (August 14, 1997). "Dusting off the Declaration". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
Jump up ^ Levinson 1987, p. 115.
Jump up ^ Levinson 1987, p. 118.
Jump up ^ Levinson 1987, p. 119.
Jump up ^ Billias 2009, xi–xv.
Jump up ^ Farber 2003, p. 3.
Jump up ^ Farber 2003, p. 198.
Jump up ^ Stacy 2003, p. 436.
Jump up ^ Malcolm 1920, p. 109.
Jump up ^ Qing Yu 1988, p. 193.
Jump up ^ "The Declining Influence of the United States Constitution". Journalist's Resource. Harvard Kennedy School of Government Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. April 9, 2013. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
Jump up ^ Law, David S.; Versteeg, Mila (2012). "The Declining Influence of the United States Constitution". New York University Law Review. 87 (3): 762–858. SSRN 1923556  .
Jump up ^ "Expansion of Rights and Liberties - The Right of Suffrage". Online Exhibit: The Charters of Freedom. National Archives. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
Jump up ^ "U.S. Voting Rights". Infoplease. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
Jump up ^ "Voting in Early America". Colonial Williamsburg. Spring 2007. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
Jump up ^ Foner, Eric. "The Reconstruction Amendments: Official Documents as Social History". The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Retrieved December 5, 2012. (Subscription required (help)).
Jump up ^ "The Constitution: The 19th Amendment". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
Works cited
Adler, Mortimer & Gorman, William (1975). The American Testament: for the Institute for Philosophical Research and the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. New York: Praeger. ISBN 978-0-275-34060-5.
Billias, George (2009). American Constitutionalism Heard Round the World, 1776-1989: A Global Perspective. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-9107-3.
Bowen, Catherine (2010) [First published 1966]. Miracle at Philadelphia: The Story of the Constitutional Convention, May to September 1787. New York: Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-10261-2.
Farber, Daniel (2003). Lincoln's Constitution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-23793-0.
Levinson, Sanford (1987). "Pledging Faith in the Civil Religion; Or, Would You Sign the Constitution?". William & Mary Law Review. 29 (113). Retrieved December 15, 2011.
Maier, Pauline (2010). Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787–1788. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-86854-7.
Malcolm, George A. (1920). "Constitutional History of the Philippines". American Bar Association Journal. 6.
Moncure, Thomas M., Jr. (1990). "Who is the Militia: The Virginia Ratification Convention and the Right to Bear Arms" (PDF). Lincoln Law Review. 19: 1–25. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
O'Connor, Tom (2010). "Constitutional Structure". Retrieved November 14, 2011.
Pritchett, C. Herman (1959). The American Constitution. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Qing Yu, Li (1988). "Dr. Sun Yat Sen and the U.S. Constitution". In Starr, Joseph Barton. The United States Constitution: Its Birth, Growth, and Influence in Asia. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 978-962-209-201-3.
Stacy, Lee, ed. (2003). Mexico and the United States. vol. 2. London: Marshall Cavendish. ISBN 978-0-7614-7402-9.
Wood, Gordon (1998). The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-4723-7.
Further reading
Bailyn, Bernard, ed. (1993). The Debate on the Constitution: Federalist and Antifederalist Speeches, Articles, and Letters During the Struggle for Ratification. Part One: September 1787 to February 1788. The Library of America.
Bailyn, Bernard, ed. (1993). The Debate on the Constitution: Federalist and Antifederalist Speeches, Articles, and Letters During the Struggle for Ratification. Part Two: January to August 1788. The Library of America. ISBN 0-940450-64-X.
Bryce, James, viscount (1891). The American Commonwealth. vol. 1 (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan and Co. pp. [350]–397, [636]–645, 669–682, et passim.
Casey, Gregory (Spring 1974). "The Supreme Court and Myth: An Empirical Investigation". Law & Society Review. 8 (3): 385–420. doi:10.2307/3053081. JSTOR 3053081.
Elliot, Jonathan. The Debates in the Several State Conventions of the Adoption of the Federal Constitution. Vol. 1, Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, Journal of Federal Convention, Vol. 2, State Conventions Massachusetts, Connecticut., New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Vol. 3, Virginia, Vol. 4, North. and South. Carolina, Resolutions, Tariffs, Banks, Debt, Vol. 5 Debates in Congress, Madison's Notes, Misc. Letters.
Ford, Paul Leicester, ed. (1888). Pamphlets on the Constitution of the United States, Published During its Discussion by the People, 1787-1788. Brooklyn, NY; Pamphlets written between 1787-88 by Elbridge Gerry, Noah Webster, John Jay, Melancthon Smith, Pelatiah Werster, Tench Coxe, James Wilson, John Dickinson, Alexander Contee Hanson, Edmund Randolph, Richard Henry Lee, George Mason, and David Ramsay. The essay attributed to Gerry was in fact written by Mercy Otis Warren.
Fritz, Christian G. (2008). American Sovereigns: The People and America's Constitutional Tradition Before the Civil War. Cambridge University Press.
Garvey, John H., ed. (2004). Modern Constitutional Theory: A Reader (5th ed.). [full citation needed]
Hall, Kermit (1992). The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kaminski, John P.; Saladino, Gaspare J.; Leffler, Richard; Schoenleber, Charles H. & Hogan, Margaret A. (eds.). Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, 1976-. Published volumes 1-10, 13-23, forthcoming volumes 11-12, 24-29. Most recent volume: The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, Vol. 23, Ratification by the States: New York, No. 5. Madison: The State Historical Society of Wisconsin,. ISBN 978-0-87020-439-5.
Klos, Stanley L. (2004). President Who? Forgotten Founders. Pittsburgh, PA: Evisum. p. 261. ISBN 0-9752627-5-0.
Kurland, Philip B. & Lerner, Ralph (eds.). The Founders' Constitution. University of Chicago Press and the Liberty Fund. ISBN 0-86597-279-6; The work consists of "extracts from the leading works of political theory, history, law, and constitutional argument on which the Framers and their contemporaries drew and which they themselves produced".
Levy, Leonard W.; Karst, Kenneth L. & West, John G., eds. (1992). Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. New York: Macmillan.
Mason, Alpheus Thomas & Stephenson, Donald Grier, eds. (2004). American Constitutional Law: Introductory Essays and Selected Cases (14th ed.). [full citation needed]
McDonald, Forrest (1985). Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-0311-4.
Robertson, David Brian (2013). The Original Compromise: What the Constitutional Framers Were Really Thinking. New York: Oxford University Press.
Tribe, Laurence H. (1999). American Constitutional Law. [full citation needed]
Yale Law School. "The Avalon Project: Notes on the Debates in the Federal Convention". The Avalon Project. Yale Law School. Retrieved May 8, 2011.
External links
Find more aboutUnited States Constitutionat Wikipedia's sister projects
Media from Commons
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisource
Textbooks from Wikibooks
U.S. government sources
Analysis and Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States: legal analysis and interpretation of the Constitution, based primarily on Supreme Court case law
United States Constitution: Library of Congress web guide to Constitution related primary documents and resources
America's Founding Documents: original text and articles exploring the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights
Constitution of the United States: original text of each clause in the Constitution with an accompanying explanation of its meaning and how that meaning has changed over time
Non-governmental sources
Audio reading of the Constitution in MP3 format provided by the University of Chicago Law School
Mobile friendly version of the Constitution
National Constitution Center
[hide]
v
t
e
United States Constitution
Text
(via Wikisource)
Preamble and Articles I–VII
Amendments 1–10
Amendments 11–27
Unsuccessful Proposed Amendments
Debates in State Conventions on the Adoption of the Constitution
Preamble
and articles
Preamble
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
Amendments
Ratified
Bill of Rights
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Others
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
Pending
Congressional Apportionment
Titles of Nobility
Corwin Amendment
Child Labor
Repealed
Eighteenth Amendment
Unsuccessful
Equal Rights
District of Columbia Voting Rights
List of Amendments
Bill of Rights (Amendments 1–10)
Reconstruction Amendments (Amendments 13–15)
Amendment proposals in Congress
Convention to propose amendments
State ratifying conventions
Formation
History
Articles of Confederation
Mount Vernon Conference
Annapolis Convention
Philadelphia Convention
Virginia Plan
New Jersey Plan
Connecticut Compromise
Three-Fifths Compromise
Committee of Detail
Signing
Independence Hall
Syng inkstand
The Federalist Papers
Anti-Federalist Papers
Massachusetts Compromise
Virginia Ratifying Convention
Hillsborough Convention
Rhode Island ratification
Drafting and ratification timeline
Clauses
Appointments
Appropriations
Assistance of Counsel
Bill of credit
Case or Controversy
Citizenship
Commerce
Compact
Compulsory Process
Confrontation
Contract
Copyright and Patent
Double Jeopardy
Due Process
Equal Protection
Establishment
Exceptions
Excessive Bail
Ex post facto
Extradition
Free Exercise
Free Speech
Fugitive Slave
Full Faith and Credit
General Welfare
Guarantee
Impeachment
Import-Export
Ineligibility
Militia
Natural-born citizen
Necessary and Proper
New States
No Religious Test
Oath or Affirmation
Origination
Petition
Postal
Presentment
Privileges and Immunities
Privileges or Immunities
Recommendation
Self-Incrimination
Speech or Debate
Speedy Trial
State of the Union
Supremacy
Suspension
Take Care
Takings
Taxing and Spending
Territorial
Title of Nobility
Treaty
Trial by Jury
Vesting
Vicinage
War Powers
List of clauses
Interpretation
Concurrent powers
Congressional enforcement
Constitutional law
Criminal procedure
Criminal sentencing
Dormant Commerce Clause
Enumerated powers
Equal footing
Executive privilege
Incorporation of the Bill of Rights
Judicial review
Nondelegation doctrine
Preemption
Saxbe fix
Separation of church and state
Separation of powers
Taxation power
Unitary executive theory
Display
and legacy
National Archives
Charters of Freedom Rotunda
Independence Mall
Constitution Day
Constitution Gardens
National Constitution Center
Scene at the Signing of the Constitution (painting)
A More Perfect Union (film)
Worldwide influence
US Government Portal • Law Portal • Wikipedia book
[show]
v
t
e
Historical documents of the United States
[show]
Constitution
Preamble
& Articles
Preamble
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
Amendments
Ratified
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
Pending
Congressional Apportionment
Titles of Nobility
Corwin (State Domestic Institutions)
Child Labor
Unsuccessful
Equal Rights
District of Columbia Voting Rights
See also
List of Constitutional Amendments
Bill of Rights (Amendments 1–10)
Reconstruction Amendments (Amendments 13–15)
Amendment proposals in Congress
Conventions to propose amendments
State ratifying conventions
Formation
History
Articles of Confederation
Mount Vernon Conference
Annapolis Convention
Philadelphia Convention
Virginia Plan
New Jersey Plan
Connecticut Compromise
Three-Fifths Compromise
Committee of Detail
Signing
Independence Hall
Syng inkstand
The Federalist Papers
Anti-Federalist Papers
Massachusetts Compromise
Virginia Ratifying Convention
Hillsborough Convention
Drafting and ratification timeline
Clauses
Appointments
Appropriations
Assistance of Counsel
Bill of credit
Case or Controversy
Citizenship
Commerce
Compact
Compulsory Process
Confrontation
Contract
Copyright and Patent
Double Jeopardy
Due Process
Equal Protection
Establishment
Exceptions
Excessive Bail
Ex post facto
Extradition
Free Exercise
Free Speech
Fugitive Slave
Full Faith and Credit
General Welfare
Guarantee
Impeachment
Import-Export
Ineligibility (Emolument)
Militia
Natural-born citizen
Necessary and Proper
New States
No Religious Test
Oath or Affirmation
Origination
Petition
Postal
Presentment
Privileges and Immunities
Privileges or Immunities
Recommendation
Self-Incrimination
Speech or Debate
Speedy Trial
State of the Union
Supremacy
Suspension
Take Care
Takings
Taxing and Spending
Territorial
Title of Nobility
Treaty
Trial by Jury
Vesting
Vicinage
War Powers
List of clauses
Interpretation
Concurrent powers
Congressional enforcement
Constitutional law
Criminal procedure
Criminal sentencing
Dormant Commerce Clause
Enumerated powers
Equal footing
Executive privilege
Incorporation of the Bill of Rights
Judicial review
Nondelegation doctrine
Preemption
Saxbe fix
Separation of church and state
Separation of powers
Taxation power
Unitary executive theory
Signatories
Convention President
George Washington
New Hampshire
John Langdon
Nicholas Gilman
Massachusetts
Nathaniel Gorham
Rufus King
Connecticut
William Samuel Johnson
Roger Sherman
New York
Alexander Hamilton
New Jersey
William Livingston
David Brearley
William Paterson
Jonathan Dayton
Pennsylvania
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Mifflin
Robert Morris
George Clymer
Thomas Fitzsimons
Jared Ingersoll
James Wilson
Gouverneur Morris
Delaware
George Read
Gunning Bedford Jr.
John Dickinson
Richard Bassett
Jacob Broom
Maryland
James McHenry
Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer
Daniel Carroll
Virginia
John Blair
James Madison
North Carolina
William Blount
Richard Dobbs Spaight
Hugh Williamson
South Carolina
John Rutledge
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
Charles Pinckney
Pierce Butler
Georgia
William Few
Abraham Baldwin
Convention Secretary
William Jackson
Display
and legacy
National Archives
Charters of Freedom Rotunda
Independence Mall
Constitution Day
Constitution Gardens
National Constitution Center
Scene at the Signing of the Constitution (painting)
A More Perfect Union (film)
Worldwide influence
[show]
Declaration of Independence
Primary author
Thomas Jefferson
Signatories
President of Congress
John Hancock (Massachusetts)
New Hampshire
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New York
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware
George Read
Caesar Rodney
Thomas McKean
Maryland
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
North Carolina
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward Jr.
Thomas Lynch Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Georgia
Button Gwinett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
See also
Virginia Declaration of Rights
Lee Resolution
Committee of Five
Document's history
signing
portrait
Second Continental Congress
"All men are created equal"
"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"
"Consent of the governed"
Independence Hall
Syng inkstand
American Revolution
[show]
Articles of Confederation
Signatories
Primary drafter
John Dickinson
New Hampshire
Josiah Bartlett
John Wentworth Jr.
Massachusetts
John Hancock
Samuel Adams
Elbridge Gerry
Francis Dana
James Lovell
Samuel Holten
Rhode Island
William Ellery
Henry Marchant
John Collins
Connecticut
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
Oliver Wolcott
Titus Hosmer
Andrew Adams
New York
James Duane
Francis Lewis
William Duer
Gouverneur Morris
New Jersey
John Witherspoon
Nathaniel Scudder
Pennsylvania
Robert Morris
Daniel Roberdeau
Jonathan Bayard Smith
William Clingan
Joseph Reed
Delaware
Thomas McKean
John Dickinson
Nicholas Van Dyke
Maryland
John Hanson
Daniel Carroll
Virginia
Richard Henry Lee
John Banister
Thomas Adams
John Harvie
Francis Lightfoot Lee
North Carolina
John Penn
Cornelius Harnett
John Williams
South Carolina
Henry Laurens
William Henry Drayton
John Mathews
Richard Hutson
Thomas Heyward Jr.
Georgia
John Walton
Edward Telfair
Edward Langworthy
See also
Continental Congress
Congress of the Confederation
American Revolution
Perpetual Union
[show]
Continental Association
Signatories
President of Congress
Peyton Randolph
New Hampshire
John Sullivan
Nathaniel Folsom
Massachusetts Bay
Thomas Cushing
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Rhode Island
Stephen Hopkins
Samuel Ward
Connecticut
Eliphalet Dyer
Roger Sherman
Silas Deane
New York
Isaac Low
John Alsop
John Jay
James Duane
Philip Livingston
William Floyd
Henry Wisner
Simon Boerum
New Jersey
James Kinsey
William Livingston
Stephen Crane
Richard Smith
John De Hart
Pennsylvania
Joseph Galloway
John Dickinson
Charles Humphreys
Thomas Mifflin
Edward Biddle
John Morton
George Ross
The Lower Counties
Caesar Rodney
Thomas McKean
George Read
Maryland
Matthew Tilghman
Thomas Johnson, Junr
William Paca
Samuel Chase
Virginia
Richard Henry Lee
George Washington
Patrick Henry, Junr
Richard Bland
Benjamin Harrison
Edmund Pendleton
North Carolina
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
Richard Caswell
South Carolina
Henry Middleton
Thomas Lynch
Christopher Gadsden
John Rutledge
Edward Rutledge
See also
Virginia Association
First Continental Congress
Carpenters' Hall
Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress
[show]
v
t
e
James Madison
4th President of the United States (1809–1817)
5th U.S. Secretary of State (1801–1809)
United States House of Representatives (1789–1797)
Congress of the Confederation (1781–1783)
Virginia House of Delegates (1776–1779, 1784–1786)
"Father of the
Constitution"
Co-wrote, 1776 Virginia Constitution
1786 Annapolis Convention
1787 Constitutional Convention
Virginia Plan
Constitution of the United States
Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787
The Federalist Papers
written by Madison
No. 10
No. 51
Virginia Ratifying Convention
United States Bill of Rights
27th amendment
Constitution drafting and ratification timeline
Founding Fathers
Presidency
First inauguration
Second inauguration
Tecumseh's War
Battle of Tippecanoe
War of 1812
origins
Burning of Washington
The Octagon House
Treaty of Ghent
Seven Buildings residence
results
Second Barbary War
Era of Good Feelings
Second Bank of the United States
State of the Union Address (1810
1814
1815
1816)
Cabinet
Federal judiciary appointments
Other noted
accomplisments
Co-founder, American Whig Society
Supervised the Louisiana Purchase
Anti-Administration party
Residence Act
Compromise of 1790
Democratic-Republican Party
First Party System
republicanism
Library of Congress
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
Report of 1800
Other writings
The Papers of James Madison
Life
Early life and career
Belle Grove Plantation, birthplace
Montpelier
Elections
U.S. House of Representatives election, 1789
1790
1792
1794
U.S. presidential election, 1808
1812
Legacy and
popular culture
James Madison Memorial Building
James Madison University
James Madison College
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison Square
Madison River
Madison Street
U.S. postage stamps
James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation
James Madison Freedom of Information Award
James Madison Award
James Madison Institute
A More Perfect Union (1989 film)
Liberty's Kids (2002 miniseries)
Hamilton (2015 musical)
Related
Age of Enlightenment
American Enlightenment
Marbury v. Madison
National Gazette
Paul Jennings
Madisonian Model
American Philosophical Society
The American Museum magazine
Virginia dynasty
Family
Dolley Madison (wife)
John Payne Todd (stepson)
James Madison, Sr. (father)
Nelly Conway Madison (mother)
William Madison (brother)
Ambrose Madison (paternal grandfather)
James Madison (cousin)
George Madison (paternal second-cousin)
Thomas Madison (paternal second-cousin)
John Madison (great-grandfather)
Lucy Washington (sister-in-law)
← Thomas Jefferson
James Monroe →
Category
[show]
v
t
e
United States articles
History
By event
Timeline of U.S. history
Pre-Columbian era
Colonial era
Thirteen Colonies
military history
Continental Congress
American Revolution
War
American frontier
Drafting and ratification of Constitution
Federalist Era
War of 1812
Territorial acquisitions
Territorial evolution
Mexican–American War
Civil War
Reconstruction Era
Indian Wars
Gilded Age
Progressive Era
African-American Civil Rights Movement 1865–1895 / 1896–1954
Spanish–American War
Imperialism
World War I
Roaring Twenties
Great Depression
World War II
home front
Nazism in the United States
American Century
Cold War
Korean War
Space Race
Civil Rights Movement
Feminist Movement
Vietnam War
Post-Cold War (1991–2008)
Collapse of the Soviet Union
War on Terror
War in Afghanistan
Iraq War
Recent events (2008–present)
By topic
Outline of U.S. history
Demographic
Discoveries
Economic
debt ceiling
Inventions
before 1890
1890–1945
1946–91
after 1991
Military
Postal
Technological and industrial
Geography
Territory
states
territories
counties
cities, towns, and villages
Earthquakes
Extreme points
Islands
Mountains
peaks
ranges
Appalachian
Rocky
National Park Service
National Parks
Regions
East Coast
West Coast
Great Plains
Gulf
Mid-Atlantic
Midwestern
New England
Pacific
Central
Eastern
Northern
Northeastern
Northwestern
Southern
Southeastern
Southwestern
Western
Rivers
Colorado
Columbia
Mississippi
Missouri
Ohio
Rio Grande
Yukon
Time
Water supply and sanitation
Politics
Federal
Executive
President
Executive Office
Cabinet / Executive departments
Civil service
Independent agencies
Law enforcement
Public policy
Legislature
Congress
Senate
Vice President
President pro tempore
House of Representatives
Speaker
Judiciary
Federal judiciary
Supreme Court
Courts of appeals
District courts
Law
Constitution
federalism
preemption
separation of powers
Bill of Rights
civil liberties
Code of Federal Regulations
Federal Reporter
United States Code
United States Reports
Intelligence
Central Intelligence Agency
Defense Intelligence Agency
Federal Bureau of Investigation
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
National Reconnaissance Office
National Security Agency
Office of the Director of National Intelligence
Uniformed
Armed Forces
Army
Marine Corps
Navy
Air Force
Coast Guard
National Guard
NOAA Corps
Public Health Service Corps
Political
divisions
List of states and territories of the United States
States
Territories
Federal district
Native American autonomous administrative divisions
United States Minor Outlying Islands
Associated states
Local government in the United States
Federal enclave
Elections
Electoral College
Foreign relations
Foreign policy
Vetos in the UN Security Council
Ideologies
Anti-Americanism
Exceptionalism
Nationalism
Parties
Democratic
Republican
Third parties
51st state
political status of Puerto Rico
District of Columbia statehood movement
Red states and blue states
Purple America
Scandals
State governments
governor
state legislature
state court
Uncle Sam
Economy
By sector
Agriculture
Banking
Wall Street
Communications
Energy
Insurance
Manufacturing in the United States
Mining
Tourism
Trade
Transportation
Companies
by state
Currency
Exports
Federal budget
Federal Reserve System
Financial position
Labor unions
Public debt
Social welfare programs
Taxation
Unemployment
Society
Culture
Americana
Architecture
Cinema
Cuisine
Dance
Demography
Education
Family structure
Fashion
Flag
Folklore
Languages
American English
Indigenous languages
ASL
Black American Sign Language
HSL
Plains Sign Talk
Arabic
Chinese
French
German
Italian
Russian
Spanish
Literature
Media
Journalism
Newspapers
Radio
Television
Music
Names
People
Philosophy
Public holidays
Religion
Sexuality
Sports
Theater
Visual art
Social class
Affluence
American Dream
Educational attainment
Homelessness
Home-ownership
Household income
Income inequality
Middle class
Personal income
Poverty
Professional and working class conflict
Standard of living
Wealth
Issues
Ages of consent
Capital punishment
Crime
Incarceration
Criticism of government
Discrimination
Affirmative action
Intersex rights
Islamophobia
LGBT rights
Racism
Same-sex marriage
Drug policy
Energy policy
Environmental movement
Gun politics
Health care
Health insurance
Health care reform
Abortion
Hunger
Obesity
Smoking
Human rights
Immigration
illegal
International rankings
National security
Mass surveillance
Terrorism
Separation of church and state
Outline
Index
Book
Category
Portal
[show]
v
t
e
Constitutions of states and dependencies in the Americas
North America
South America
Sovereign states
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Bolivia
Brazil
Canada
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
El Salvador
Grenada
Guatemala
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Jamaica
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Suriname
Trinidad and Tobago
United States
Uruguay
Venezuela
Dependencies and
other territories
Anguilla
Aruba
Bermuda
Bonaire
British Virgin Islands
Cayman Islands
Curaçao
Falkland Islands
French Guiana
Greenland
Guadeloupe
Martinique
Montserrat
Puerto Rico
Saint Barthélemy
Saint Martin
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Saba
Sint Eustatius
Sint Maarten
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
Turks and Caicos Islands
US Virgin Islands
Authority control
WorldCat Identities
VIAF: 179020116
LCCN: n79065871
GND: 4133001-8
BNF: cb166939979 (data)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_Constitution&oldid=808480620"
Categories:
1787 in the United States
1789 establishments in the United States
1789 in American law
1789 in American politics
1789 in the United States
American political philosophy literature
Constitutions by country
James Madison
Official documents of the United States
Political charters
United States Constitution
Hidden categories:
Pages using citations with format and no URL
Articles needing more detailed references
Webarchive template wayback links
CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown
Accuracy disputes from August 2014
Pages containing links to subscription-only content
Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages
Use American English from August 2015
All Wikipedia articles written in American English
Use mdy dates from April 2015
Articles needing additional references from June 2012
All articles needing additional references
Articles needing cleanup from February 2016
All pages needing cleanup
Cleanup tagged articles with a reason field from February 2016
Wikipedia pages needing cleanup from February 2016
Pages using div col with small parameter
Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers
Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers
Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers
Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
View source
View history
More
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
In other projects
Wikimedia Commons
Wikibooks
Wikiquote
Wikisource
Languages
Ænglisc
العربية
Башҡортса
Беларуская
Беларуская (тарашкевіца)
Български
Bosanski
Català
Чӑвашла
Čeština
Dansk
Deutsch
Español
Esperanto
Euskara
فارسی
Français
Galego
贛語
客家語/Hak-kâ-ngî
한국어
Հայերեն
हिन्दी
Hrvatski
Bahasa Indonesia
Íslenska
Italiano
עברית
ಕನ್ನಡ
ქართული
Latina
Latviešu
Lietuvių
Magyar
Македонски
मराठी
Bahasa Melayu
Nederlands
नेपाली
日本語
Norsk
Norsk nynorsk
Polski
Português
Română
Русский
Саха тыла
Scots
Shqip
සිංහල
Simple English
Slovenčina
Slovenščina
Српски / srpski
Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски
Suomi
Svenska
Tagalog
தமிழ்
ไทย
Тоҷикӣ
Türkçe
Українська
Tiếng Việt
吴语
Yorùbá
粵語
中文
Edit links
This page was last edited on 3 November 2017, at 03:19.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view
Enable previews

key: html

type: local

value: div

attrs: id class

values: mw-page-base noprint

values: mw-head-base noprint

value: a

value: img

attrs: alt src width height srcset data-file-width data-file-height

attrs: href title

attrs: class id

attrs: id class lang

values: firstHeading firstHeading en

values: siteSub noprint

values: jump-to-nav mw-jump

value: th

attrs: colspan style

value: tr

values: Constitution of the United States, page 1.jpg

attrs: href class

value: td

values: National Archives and Records Administration

values: Constitutional Convention (United States)

values: Greater coat of arms of the United States.svg

values: Preamble to the United States Constitution

values: Article One of the United States Constitution

values: Article Two of the United States Constitution

values: Article Three of the United States Constitution

values: Article Four of the United States Constitution

values: Article Five of the United States Constitution

values: Article Six of the United States Constitution

values: Article Seven of the United States Constitution

values: List of amendments to the United States Constitution

values: First Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Second Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Third Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment

values: History of the United States Constitution

values: Signing of the United States Constitution

values: s:Constitution of the United States of America

values: s:Additional amendments to the United States Constitution

values: s:Portal:Unsuccessful attempts to amend the United States Constitution

attrs: alt src width height class srcset data-file-width data-file-height

values: padding:0.3em 0.4em 0.3em;font-weight:bold;border-top:1px #aaa solid; border-bottom:1px #aaa solid;

values: Template talk:US Constitution article series

values: float:right;clear:right;width:22.0em;margin:0 0 1.0em 1.0em;background:#f9f9f9;border:1px solid #aaa;padding:0.2em;border-spacing:0.4em 0;text-align:center;line-height:1.4em;font-size:88%

values: font-size: 105%; padding: 0.2em 0px 0.4em; text-align: center; display: none;

values: United States House of Representatives 2017.svg

values: Seal of the United States House of Representatives.svg

values: Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

values: Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives

values: List of United States congressional districts

values: President pro tempore of the United States Senate

values: Party leaders of the United States Senate

values: Seal of the President of the United States.svg

values: Seal of the Vice President of the United States.svg

values: List of federal agencies in the United States

values:
/wiki/Executive_Office_of_the_President
mw-redirect
Executive Office of the President

values: Seal of the United States Supreme Court.svg

values: List of United States district and territorial courts

values: List of United States state legislatures

values: padding:0.3em 0.4em 0.3em;font-weight:bold;border-top: 1px solid #aaa; border-bottom: 1px solid #aaa;

values: Template talk:Politics of the United States

values:
/wiki/Committee_of_correspondence
mw-redirect
Committee of correspondence

values: Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States

values:
/wiki/Congress_of_the_United_States
mw-redirect
Congress of the United States

values: Help:Introduction to referencing with Wiki Markup/1

values: plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Refimprove

values: plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-style ambox-Cleanup

values: float:right; border:1px solid grey; margin-left:0.5em;

values: Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

values: List of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States

values:
/wiki/United_States_v._Wood
mw-redirect
United States v. Wood

values: Nixon v. Administrator of General Services

values: United States Declaration of Independence

values:
/wiki/Commander_in_Chief
mw-redirect
Commander in Chief

values:
/wiki/Advice_and_Consent_Clause
mw-redirect
Advice and Consent Clause

values:
/wiki/Recess_appointments
mw-redirect
Recess appointments

values:
/wiki/Recommendation_Clause
mw-redirect
Recommendation Clause

values:
/wiki/List_of_conspiracies_(political)
mw-redirect
List of conspiracies (political)

values: Convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution

values: Constitutional convention (political meeting)

values:
/wiki/Western_civilization
mw-redirect
Western civilization

values: Freedom of religion in the United States

values: Right to keep and bear arms in the United States

values:
/wiki/Question_of_fact
mw-redirect
Question of fact

values: Temperance movement in the United States

values:
/wiki/Race_(human_classification)
mw-redirect
Race (human classification)

values:
/wiki/Poll_tax_(United_States)
mw-redirect
Poll tax (United States)

values: United States congressional apportionment

values:
/wiki/Fair_Labor_Standards_Act
mw-redirect
Fair Labor Standards Act

values:
gallery mw-gallery-traditional
max-width: 326px;_width: 326px;

values:
/wiki/John_Blair,_Jr.
mw-redirect
John Blair, Jr.

values: Separation of powers under the United States Constitution

values: History of the Supreme Court of the United States

values: List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Chase Court

values: List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Taft Court

values: Factions in the Republican Party (United States)

values: Board of Trade of City of Chicago v. Olsen

values: List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Warren Court

values: United States Constitution and worldwide influence

values:
/wiki/White_American
mw-redirect
White American

values: Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States

values: List of proposed amendments to the United States Constitution

values: List of sources of law in the United States

values: Second Constitutional Convention of the United States

values: -moz-column-width: 30em; -webkit-column-width: 30em; column-width: 30em; font-size:90%;

values: -moz-column-width: 30em; -webkit-column-width: 30em; column-width: 30em; list-style-type: lower-alpha;

values:
nofollow
external text
//lccn.loc.gov/87001353

values: A more detailed citation is required. (August 2014)

values:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/per_se
extiw
wikt:per se

values: Category:CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown

values:
nofollow
external text
http://monachuslex.com/?p=143

values: This reference citation appears to be to a self-published source. (August 2014)

values: Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy

values:
nofollow
external text
//ssrn.com/abstract=1923556

attrs: alt src title width height srcset data-file-width data-file-height

values: The site requires a paid subscription to access this page.

values: -moz-column-width: 30em; -webkit-column-width: 30em; column-width: 30em; list-style-type: decimal;

values:
nofollow
external text
//doi.org/10.2307%2F3053081

values:
nofollow
external text
//www.jstor.org/stable/3053081

values: padding-bottom: 0.75em; text-align: center;

attrs: alt src width height style srcset data-file-width data-file-height

values: display: inline-block; width: 31px; line-height: 31px; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center;

values: display: inline-block; margin-left: 4px; width: 182px; vertical-align: middle;

values: b:United States Government/The Constitution and Amendments

values: border-top:1px solid #aaa; padding-top: 0.75em;

values: metadata plainlinks plainlist mbox-small

values: border:1px solid #aaa; padding:0.75em; background:#f9f9f9;

values: s:Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution

values: Ratification of the United States Constitution by Rhode Island

values:
/wiki/Guarantee_Clause
mw-redirect
Guarantee Clause

values: Oath of office of the President of the United States

values: List of clauses of the United States Constitution

values: United States constitutional criminal procedure

values: United States constitutional sentencing law

values: Separation of church and state in the United States

values: nowraplinks collapsible uncollapsed navbox-inner

values: Template talk:Historical American Documents

values:
/wiki/Article_the_First
mw-redirect
Article the First

values: George Read (American politician, born 1733)

values: nowraplinks collapsible collapsed navbox-subgroup

values: Signing of the United States Declaration of Independence

values: Samuel Huntington (Connecticut politician)

values: William Williams (Connecticut politician)

values: Richard Stockton (Continental Congressman)

values: Physical history of the United States Declaration of Independence

values: Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

values: Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress

values: nowraplinks collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner

values: List of Secretaries of State of the United States

values:
/wiki/Virginia_Constitution#1776
mw-redirect
Virginia Constitution

values: Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787

values: Category:Federalist Papers by James Madison

values: 27th Amendment to the United States Constitution

values: List of federal judges appointed by James Madison

values: United States House of Representatives elections, 1789

values: United States House of Representatives elections, 1790

values: United States House of Representatives elections, 1792

values: United States House of Representatives elections, 1794

values: United States presidential election, 1808

values: United States presidential election, 1812

values:
/wiki/Madison_Square
mw-redirect
Madison Square

values:
/wiki/Madison_Street_(disambiguation)
mw-redirect mw-disambig
Madison Street (disambiguation)

values: Presidents of the United States on U.S. postage stamps

values: James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation

values: James Madison Freedom of Information Award

values:
/wiki/Madisonian_Model
mw-redirect
Madisonian Model

values:
/wiki/James_Madison,_Sr.
mw-redirect
James Madison, Sr.

values:
/wiki/Nelly_Conway_Madison
mw-redirect
Nelly Conway Madison

values: nowraplinks hlist collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner

values: Territorial evolution of the United States

values: African-American Civil Rights Movement (1865–95)

values: African-American Civil Rights Movement (1896–1954)

values: History of the United States (1865–1918)

values: Military history of the United States during World War II

values: United States home front during World War II

values:
/wiki/Civil_Rights_Movement
mw-redirect
Civil Rights Movement

values: History of the United States (1991–2008)

values: History of the United States (2008–present)

values: Demographic history of the United States

values: Timeline of United States inventions (before 1890)

values: Timeline of United States inventions (1890–1945)

values: Timeline of United States inventions (1946–91)

values: Timeline of United States inventions (after 1991)

values: Postage stamps and postal history of the United States

values: Technological and industrial history of the United States

values: Lists of populated places in the United States

values: List of earthquakes in the United States

values: List of mountain peaks of the United States

values: List of areas in the United States National Park System

values: Water supply and sanitation in the United States

values: United States federal executive departments

values: Independent agencies of the United States government

values: Federal law enforcement in the United States

values: United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps

values: Political divisions of the United States

values: List of states and territories of the United States

values: List of vetos exercised by the US government in the UN Security Council

values: Political ideologies in the United States

values: List of federal political scandals in the United States

values: List of companies of the United States by state

values: Educational attainment in the United States

values: Professional and working class conflict in the United States

values: Criticism of the United States government

values: Federal drug policy of the United States

values: Environmental movement in the United States

values:
/wiki/Smoking_in_the_United_States
mw-redirect
Smoking in the United States

values: Illegal immigration to the United States

values: International rankings of the United States

values:
/wiki/Book:United_States
mw-redirect
Book:United States

values: nowraplinks hlist collapsible collapsed navbox-inner

values: Constitution of North America (page does not exist)

values:
/wiki/Constitution_of_South_America
mw-redirect
Constitution of South America

values: Constitution of the Bahamas (page does not exist)

values:
/wiki/Constitution_of_Colombia
mw-redirect
Constitution of Colombia

values: Constitution of Dominica (page does not exist)

values:
/wiki/Constitution_of_Ecuador
mw-redirect
Constitution of Ecuador

values: Constitution of Grenada (page does not exist)

values: Constitution of Saint Lucia (page does not exist)

values: Constitution of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (page does not exist)

values: Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago (page does not exist)

values:
/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_States
mw-redirect
Constitution of the United States

values:
navbox-image
2
width:1px;padding:0px 0px 0px 2px

values:
/wiki/Territory_(subdivision)
mw-redirect
Territory (subdivision)

values: Constitution of Anguilla (page does not exist)

values: Constitution of Bermuda (page does not exist)

values: Constitution of Bonaire (page does not exist)

values: Constitution of the British Virgin Islands

values: Constitution of the Cayman Islands (page does not exist)

values: Constitution of French Guiana (page does not exist)

values:
/wiki/Constitution_of_Greenland
mw-redirect
Constitution of Greenland

values: Constitution of Guadeloupe (page does not exist)

values: Constitution of Martinique (page does not exist)

values: Constitution of Montserrat (page does not exist)

values: Constitution of Saint Barthélemy (page does not exist)

values: Constitution of Saint Martin (France) (page does not exist)

values: Constitution of Saint Pierre and Miquelon (page does not exist)

values: Constitution of Saba (page does not exist)

values: Constitution of Sint Eustatius (page does not exist)

values: Constitution of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (page does not exist)

values: Constitution of the Turks and Caicos Islands

values: Constitution of the United States Virgin Islands

values:
nofollow
external text
https://viaf.org/viaf/179020116

values:
nofollow
external text
https://d-nb.info/gnd/4133001-8

values: Category:1789 establishments in the United States

values: Category:American political philosophy literature

values: Category:Official documents of the United States

values: Category:Pages using citations with format and no URL

values: Category:Articles needing more detailed references

values: Category:Webarchive template wayback links

values: Category:Accuracy disputes from August 2014

values: Category:Pages containing links to subscription-only content

values: Category:Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages

values: Category:Use American English from August 2015

values: Category:All Wikipedia articles written in American English

values: Category:Articles needing additional references from June 2012

values: Category:All articles needing additional references

values: Category:Articles needing cleanup from February 2016

values: Category:Cleanup tagged articles with a reason field from February 2016

values: Category:Wikipedia pages needing cleanup from February 2016

values: Category:Pages using div col with small parameter

values: Category:Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers

values: Category:Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers

values: Category:Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers

values: Category:Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers

values: Discussion about edits from this IP address [ctrl-alt-n]

values: A list of edits made from this IP address [ctrl-alt-y]

values: You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory

values: You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [ctrl-alt-o]

values:
/wiki/United_States_Constitution
View the content page [ctrl-alt-c]
c

values: Discussion about the content page [ctrl-alt-t]

values: p-namespaces navigation vectorTabs p-namespaces-label

values:
p-variants
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-variants-label

values:
This page is protected.
You can view its source [ctrl-alt-e]

values: Past revisions of this page [ctrl-alt-h]

values: p-views navigation vectorTabs p-views-label

values:
p-cactions
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-cactions-label

values:
mw-wiki-logo
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page

values:
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page [ctrl-alt-z]
z

values: Featured content – the best of Wikipedia

values: Find background information on current events

values: About the project, what you can do, where to find things

values: A list of recent changes in the wiki [ctrl-alt-r]

values: portal navigation p-interaction p-interaction-label

values: List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [ctrl-alt-j]

values: Recent changes in pages linked from this page [ctrl-alt-k]

values:
/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard
Upload files [ctrl-alt-u]
u

values: A list of all special pages [ctrl-alt-q]

values: Permanent link to this revision of the page

values: Link to connected data repository item [ctrl-alt-g]

values: Printable version of this page [ctrl-alt-p]

values: wb-otherproject-link wb-otherproject-wikisource badge-Q20748093 badge-validated

values:
uls-settings-trigger
Language settings
0
button
true

values: Grundgesetnes þāra Geānedra Rīca American – Old English

values: دستور الولايات المتحدة – Arabic

values: АҠШ Конституцияһы – Bashkir

values: Канстытуцыя ЗША – Belarusian

values: Канстытуцыя ЗША – Belarusian (Taraškievica orthography)

values: Конституция на САЩ – Bulgarian

values: Ustav Sjedinjenih Američkih Država – Bosnian

values: АПШ конституцийĕ – Chuvash

values: Ústava Spojených států amerických – Czech

values: interlanguage-link interwiki-cs badge-Q17437796 badge-featuredarticle

values: interlanguage-link interwiki-da badge-Q17559452 badge-recommendedarticle

values: Verfassung der Vereinigten Staaten – German

values: interlanguage-link interwiki-de badge-Q17437796 badge-featuredarticle

values: Constitución de los Estados Unidos – Spanish

values: Ameriketako Estatu Batuetako Konstituzioa – Basque

values: قانون اساسی ایالات متحده آمریکا – Persian

values: Constitución dos Estados Unidos de América – Galician

values: 미국의 헌법 – Korean

values: ԱՄՆ Սահմանադրություն – Armenian

values: संयुक्त राज्य संविधान – Hindi

values: Ustav Sjedinjenih Američkih Država – Croatian

values: Costituzione degli Stati Uniti d'America – Italian

values: חוקת ארצות הברית – Hebrew

values: ಅಮೇರಿಕ ಸಂಯುಕ್ತ ಸಂಸ್ಥಾನದ ಸಂವಿಧಾನ – Kannada

values: ამერიკის შეერთებული შტატების კონსტიტუცია – Georgian

values: Constitutio Civitatum Foederatarum Americae – Latin

values: Jungtinių Amerikos Valstijų Konstitucija – Lithuanian

values: Az Amerikai Egyesült Államok alkotmánya – Hungarian

values: Устав на Соединетите Американски Држави – Macedonian

values: अमेरिकेचे संविधान – Marathi

values: Grondwet van de Verenigde Staten – Dutch

values: संयुक्त राज्य अमेरिकाको संविधान – Nepali

values: アメリカ合衆国憲法 – Japanese

values: interlanguage-link interwiki-ja badge-Q17437798 badge-goodarticle

values: Den amerikanske grunnloven – Norwegian Nynorsk

values: Konstytucja Stanów Zjednoczonych – Polish

values: Constituição dos Estados Unidos – Portuguese

values: Constituția Statelor Unite ale Americii – Romanian

values: Конституция США – Russian

values: Америка Холбоhуктаах Штаттарын конституцията – Sakha

values: එක්සත් ජනපද ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව – Sinhala

values: United States Constitution – Simple English

values: Ustava Združenih držav Amerike – Slovenian

values: Устав Сједињених Америчких Држава – Serbian

values:
https://sh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ustav_SAD
Ustav SAD – Serbo-Croatian
sh
sh
interlanguage-link-target

values: Saligang Batas ng Estados Unidos – Tagalog

values: ஐக்கிய அமெரிக்க அரசியலமைப்பு – Tamil

values: รัฐธรรมนูญสหรัฐ – Thai

values: Сарқонуни Иёллоти Мутаҳидда – Tajik

values: Amerika Birleşik Devletleri Anayasası – Turkish

values: Конституція США – Ukrainian

values: Ìwé-òfin Ìbágbépọ̀ Orílẹ̀-èdè Amẹ́ríkà – Yoruba

values: /static/images/wikimedia-button-1.5x.png 1.5x, /static/images/wikimedia-button-2x.png 2x

values: /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_132x47.png 1.5x, /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_176x62.png 2x

values:
suggestions
display: none; font-size: 13px;

values: mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject page-United_States_Constitution rootpage-United_States_Constitution vector-experimental-print-styles vector-nav-directionality skin-vector action-view