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=                 Constitution_of_the_United_States                  =
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                            Introduction
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The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United
States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the
nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally including
seven articles, the Constitution delineates the frame of the federal
government. The Constitution's first three articles embody the
doctrine of the separation of powers, in which the federal government
is divided into three branches: the legislative, consisting of the
bicameral Congress (Article I); the executive, consisting of the
president and subordinate officers (Article II); and the judicial,
consisting of the Supreme Court and other federal courts (Article
III). Article IV, Article V, and Article VI embody concepts of
federalism, describing the rights and responsibilities of state
governments, the states in relationship to the federal government, and
the shared process of constitutional amendment. Article VII
establishes the procedure subsequently used by the 13 states to ratify
it. The Constitution of the United States is the oldest and
longest-standing written and codified national constitution in force
in the world.

The drafting of the Constitution, often referred to as its framing,
was completed at the Constitutional Convention, which assembled at
Independence Hall in Philadelphia between May 25 and September 17,
1787. Delegates to the convention were chosen by the state
legislatures of 12 of the 13 original states; Rhode Island refused to
send delegates. The convention's initial mandate was limited to
amending the Articles of Confederation, which had proven highly
ineffective in meeting the young nation's needs. Almost immediately,
however, delegates began considering measures to replace the Articles.
The first proposal discussed, introduced by delegates from Virginia,
called for a bicameral (two-house) Congress that was to be elected on
a proportional basis based on state population, an elected chief
executive, and an appointed judicial branch. An alternative to the
Virginia Plan, known as the New Jersey Plan, also called for an
elected executive but retained the legislative structure created by
the Articles, a unicameral Congress where all states had one vote.

On June 19, 1787, delegates rejected the New Jersey Plan with three
states voting in favor, seven against, and one divided. The plan's
defeat led to a series of compromises centering primarily on two
issues: slavery and proportional representation. The first of these
pitted Northern states, where slavery was slowly being abolished,
against Southern states, whose agricultural economies depended on
slave labor. The issue of proportional representation was of similar
concern to less populous states, which under the Articles had the same
power as larger states. To satisfy interests in the South,
particularly in Georgia and South Carolina, the delegates agreed to
protect the slave trade, that is, the importation of slaves, for 20
years. Slavery was protected further by allowing states to count
three-fifths of their slaves as part of their populations, for the
purpose of representation in the federal government, and by requiring
the return of escaped slaves to their owners, even if captured in
states where slavery had been abolished. Finally, the delegates
adopted the Connecticut Compromise, which proposed a Congress with
proportional representation in the lower house and equal
representation in the upper house (the Senate) giving each state two
senators. While these compromises held the Union together and aided
the Constitution's ratification, slavery continued for six more
decades and the less populous states continue to have disproportional
representation in the U.S. Senate and Electoral College.

Since the Constitution became operational in 1789, it has been amended
27 times. 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 within the U.S.
states. The majority of the 17 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. The original U.S.
Constitution was handwritten on five pages of parchment by Jacob
Shallus.
The first permanent constitution, it is interpreted, supplemented, and
implemented by a large body of federal constitutional law and has
influenced the constitutions of other nations.


Background
============
From September 5, 1774, to March 1, 1781, the Second Continental
Congress, convened in Philadelphia in what is now Independence Hall,
functioned as the provisional government of the United States.
Delegates to the First Continental Congress in 1774 and then the
Second Continental Congress from 1775 to 1781 were chosen largely from
the revolutionary committees of correspondence in various colonies
rather than through the colonial governments of the Thirteen Colonies.

The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was the first
constitution of the United States. The document was drafted by a
committee appointed by the Second Continental Congress in mid-June
1777 and was adopted by the full Congress in mid-November of that
year. Ratification by the 13 colonies took more than three years and
was completed March 1, 1781. The Articles gave little power to the
central government. While the Confederation Congress had some
decision-making abilities, it lacked enforcement powers. The
implementation of most decisions, including amendments to the
Articles, required legislative approval by all 13 of the newly formed
states.

Despite these limitations, based on the Congressional authority
granted in Article 9, the league of states was considered as strong as
any similar republican confederation ever formed. The chief problem
was, in the words of George Washington, "no money". The Confederated
Congress could print money, but it was worthless, and while the
Congress could borrow money, it could not pay it back. No state paid
its share of taxes to support the government, and some paid nothing. A
few states did meet the interest payments toward the national debt
owed by their citizens, but nothing greater, and no interest was paid
on debts owed foreign governments. By 1786, the United States was
facing default on its outstanding debts.

Under the Articles, the United States had little ability to defend its
sovereignty. Most of the troops in the nation's 625-man army were
deployed facing non-threatening British forts on American soil.
Soldiers were not being paid, some were deserting, and others were
threatening mutiny. Spain closed New Orleans to American commerce,
despite the protests of U.S. officials. When Barbary pirates began
seizing American ships of commerce, the Treasury had no funds to pay
toward ransom. If a military crisis required action, the Congress had
no credit or taxing power to finance a response.

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 in 1783 was signed between Britain and
the U.S., and named each of the American states, various states
proceeded to violate it. New York and South Carolina repeatedly
prosecuted Loyalists for wartime activity and redistributed their
lands. 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 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. A rumor at the time was 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 Georgia, and the state was under
martial law. Additionally, during Shays' Rebellion (August 1786June
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.

Congress was paralyzed. It could do nothing significant without nine
states, and some legislation required all 13. When a state produced
only one member in attendance, its vote was not counted. If a state's
delegation was evenly divided, its vote could not be counted towards
the nine-count requirement. The Congress of the Confederation had
"virtually ceased trying to govern". 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.

On February 21, 1787, the Confederation Congress called a convention
of state delegates in Philadelphia to propose revisions to the
Articles. 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.


1787 drafting
===============
On the appointed day, May 14, 1787, only the Virginia and Pennsylvania
delegations were present, and the convention's opening meeting was
postponed for lack of a quorum. A quorum of seven states met on May
25, and deliberations began. Eventually 12 states were represented,
with Rhode Island refusing to participate. Of the 74 delegates
appointed by the states, 55 attended. 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.

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.
* 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.

On May 31, the Convention devolved into the Committee of the Whole,
charged with considering 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, including one delegate from each state
represented, met from July 2 to 16 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.

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, including 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. 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.

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. Toward the close
of these discussions, on September 8, a Committee of Style and
Arrangement, including Alexander Hamilton from New York, William
Samuel Johnson from Connecticut, Rufus King from Massachusetts, James
Madison from Virginia, and Gouverneur Morris from Pennsylvania, was
appointed to distill a final draft constitution from the 23 approved
articles. 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. The committee also presented a
proposed letter to accompany the constitution when delivered to
Congress.

The final document, engrossed by Jacob Shallus, 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".

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.


Ratification by the states
============================
Within three days of its signing on September 17, 1787, the
Constitution was submitted to the Congress of the Confederation, then
sitting in New York City, the nation's temporary capital. The
document, originally intended as a revision of the Articles of
Confederation, instead introduced a completely new form of government.
While members of Congress had the power to reject it, they voted
unanimously on September 28 to forward the proposal to the thirteen
states for their ratification. Under the process outlined in Article
VII of the proposed Constitution, the state legislatures were tasked
with organizing "Federal Conventions" to ratify the document. This
process ignored the amendment provision of the Articles of
Confederation which required unanimous approval of all the states.
Instead, Article VII called for ratification by just nine of the 13
states--a two-thirds majority.

Two factions soon emerged, one supporting the Constitution, the
Federalists, and the other opposing it, the so-called
Anti-Federalists. Over the ensuing months, the proposal was debated,
criticized, and expounded upon clause by clause. In the state of New
York, at the time a hotbed of anti-Federalism, three delegates from
the Philadelphia Convention who were also members of the
Congress--Hamilton, Madison, and Jay--published a series of
commentaries, now known as 'The Federalist Papers', in support of
ratification.

Before year's end, three state legislatures voted in favor of
ratification. Delaware was first, voting unanimously 30-0;
Pennsylvania second, approving the measure 46-23; and New Jersey
third, also recording a unanimous vote. As 1788 began, Connecticut and
Georgia followed Delaware's lead with almost unanimous votes, but the
outcome became less certain as leaders in key states such as Virginia,
New York, and Massachusetts expressed concerns over the lack of
protections for people's rights. Fearing the prospect of defeat, the
Federalists relented, promising that if the Constitution was adopted,
amendments would be added to secure individual liberties. With that,
the anti-Federalists' position collapsed.

On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify.
Three months later, on September 17, the Congress of the Confederation
certified the ratification of eleven states, and passed resolutions
setting dates for choosing the first senators and representatives, the
first Wednesday of January (January 7, 1789); electing the first
president, the first Wednesday of February (February 4); and
officially starting the new government, the first Wednesday of March
(March 4), when the first Congress would convene in New York City. As
its final act, the Congress of Confederation agreed to acquire 100
square miles of land from Maryland and Virginia for establishing a
permanent capital.

North Carolina waited to ratify the Constitution until after the Bill
of Rights was passed by the new Congress, and Rhode Island's
ratification would only come after a threatened trade embargo.


                             Influences
======================================================================
The U.S. Constitution was a federal one and was greatly influenced by
the study of Magna Carta and other federations, both ancient and
extant. 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.  The idea
of Separation of Powers inherent in the Constitution was largely
inspired by eighteenth-century Enlightenment philosophers, such as
Montesquieu and John Locke.

The influence of Montesquieu, Locke, Edward Coke and William
Blackstone were evident at the Constitutional Convention. Prior to and
during the framing and signing of the Constitution, Blackstone, Hume,
Locke and Montesquieu were among the political philosophers most
frequently referred to. Historian Herbert W. Schneider held that the
Scottish Enlightenment was "probably the most potent single tradition
in the American Enlightenment" and the advancement of personal
liberties. Historian Jack P. Greene maintains that by 1776 the
founders drew heavily upon Magna Carta and the later writings of
"Enlightenment rationalism" and English common law. Historian Daniel
Walker Howe notes that Benjamin Franklin greatly admired David Hume,
an eighteenth-century Scottish philosopher, and had studied many of
his works while at Edinburgh in 1760. Both embraced the idea that
high-ranking public officials should receive no salary and that the
lower class was a better judge of character when it came to choosing
their representatives.

In his 'Institutes of the Lawes of England', 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' are considered the
most influential books on law in the new republic. Madison made
frequent reference to Blackstone, Locke, and Montesquieu, all of whom
were among the most prominent political theorists of the late
eighteenth century.

Following the Glorious Revolution of 1688, British political
philosopher John Locke was a major influence, expanding on the
contract theory of government advanced by Thomas Hobbes, his
contemporary. 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. Supreme Court
Justices, the ultimate interpreters of the constitution, have cited
Montesquieu throughout the Court's history. (See, 'e.g.', )
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 Law', Montesquieu maintained that the
separation of state powers should be by its service to the people's
liberty: legislative, executive and judicial, while also emphasizing
that the idea of separation had for its purpose the even distribution
of authority among the several branches of government.

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. Upon the arrival of the American Revolution, many of the
rights guaranteed by the Federal Bill of Rights were recognized as
being inspired by English law. A substantial body of thought had been
developed from the literature of republicanism in the United States,
typically demonstrated by the works of John Adams, who often quoted
Blackstone and Montesquieu verbatim, and applied to the creation of
state constitutions.

While the ideas of unalienable rights, the separation of powers and
the structure of the Constitution were largely influenced by the
European Enlightenment thinkers, like Montesquieu, John Locke and
others, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson still had reservations
about the existing forms of government in Europe. In a speech at the
Constitutional Convention Franklin stated, "We have gone back to
ancient history for models of Government, and examined different forms
of those Republics ... And we have viewed modern States all round
Europe but find none of their Constitutions suitable to our
circumstances." Jefferson maintained, that most European governments
were autocratic monarchies and not compatible with the egalitarian
character of the American people. In a 1787 letter to John Rutledge,
Jefferson asserted that "The only condition on earth to be compared
with [American government] ... is that of the Indians, where they
still have less law than we."

American Indian history scholars Donald Grinde and Bruce Johansen
claim there is "overwhelming evidence" that Iroquois Confederacy
political concepts and ideas influenced the U.S. Constitution, and are
considered to be the most outspoken supporters of the Iroquois thesis.
The idea as to the extent of that influence on the founding, however,
varies among historians and has been questioned or criticized by
various historians, including Samuel Payne, William Starna, George
Hamell, and historian and archaeologist Philip Levy, who claims the
evidence is largely coincidental and circumstantial. The most
outspoken critic, anthropologist Elisabeth Tooker, claimed the
Iroquois influence thesis is largely the product of "white
interpretations of Indians" and "scholarly misapprehension".

John Napoleon Brinton Hewitt, who was born on the Tuscarora Indian
Reservation, and was an ethnologist at the Smithsonian Institution's
Bureau of Ethnology is often cited by historians of Iroquois history.
Hewitt, however, rejected the idea that the Iroquois League had a
major influence on the Albany Plan of Union, Benjamin Franklin's plan
to create a unified government for the Thirteen Colonies, which was
rejected.


                     Constitution's provisions
======================================================================
The Constitution includes four sections: an introductory paragraph
titled Preamble, a list of seven Articles that define the government's
framework, an untitled closing endorsement with the signatures of 39
framers, and 27 amendments that have been adopted under Article V (see
below).


Preamble
==========
The Preamble, the Constitution's introductory paragraph, lays out the
purposes of the new government:


The opening words, "We the People", represented a new thought: the
idea that the people and not the states were the source of the
government's legitimacy. Coined by Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania,
who chaired the convention's Committee of Style, the phrase is
considered an improvement on the section's original draft which
followed the words 'We the People' with a list of the 13 states. In
place of the names of the states Morris substituted "of the United
States" and then listed the Constitution's six goals, none of which
were mentioned originally.


Articles
==========
The Constitution's main provisions include seven articles that define
the basic framework of the federal government. Articles that have been
amended still include the original text, although provisions repealed
by amendments under Article V are usually bracketed or italicized to
indicate they no longer apply. Despite these changes, the focus of
each Article remains the same as when adopted in 1787.


Article I – The Legislature
=============================
Article I 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,"
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."


Article II – The Executive
============================
Article II describes the office, qualifications, and duties of the
President of the United States and the Vice President. 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 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, as well as of state militias when they are mobilized. The
president 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; and 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 ensures the laws are
faithfully executed and may grant reprieves and pardons with the
exception of Congressional impeachment. 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 the 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 III – The Judiciary
=============================
Article III describes the court system (the judicial branch),
including 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 and enacts law defining crimes and
punishments. 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 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. 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.

To enforce judicial decisions, the Constitution grants federal courts
both criminal contempt and civil contempt powers. 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.

Clause1 of Section2 authorizes the federal courts to hear actual cases
and controversies only. Their judicial power does not extend to cases
that 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.

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, 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.

No part of the Constitution expressly authorizes judicial review, but
the Framers did contemplate the idea, and 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. 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. 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.

Section 3 bars Congress from changing or modifying Federal law on
treason by simple majority statute. This section also defines treason
as 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 lesser subversive crimes, such as conspiracy.


Article IV – The States
=========================
Article IV 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. For instance, in criminal sentencing, a
state may not increase a penalty on the grounds that the convicted
person is a non-resident.

It also establishes extradition between the states, as well as laying
down a legal basis for freedom of movement and travel among 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 V – Amendment Process
===============================
Article V 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 13 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:



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. State ratifying conventions were used
only once, for the Twenty-first Amendment.

Presently, the Archivist of the United States is charged with
responsibility for administering the ratification process under the
provisions of 1U.S. Code . 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.

Article Five ends by shielding certain clauses in the new frame of
government from being amended. Article One, Section 9, Clause1
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 to
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 ("no state,
without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the
Senate") is less absolute but it is permanent.


Article VI – Federal Powers
=============================
Article VI establishes that the Constitution and all federal laws and
treaties made in accordance with it have supremacy over state laws,
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 VII – Ratification
============================
Article VII 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. Each of the remaining four
states could then join the newly formed union by ratifying.


Closing endorsement
=====================
The signing of the United States Constitution occurred on September
17, 1787, when 39 delegates 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 delegates' signatures.
Additionally, the convention's secretary, William Jackson, added a
note to verify four amendments made by hand to the final document, and
signed the note to authenticate its validity.

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.

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.

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.


Amendments
============
The procedure for amending the Constitution is outlined in Article V
(see above). The process is overseen by the archivist of the United
States. Between 1949 and 1985, it was overseen by the administrator of
General Services, and before that by the secretary of state.

Under Article Five, a proposal for an amendment must be adopted either
by two-thirds of both houses of Congress or by a national convention
that had been requested by two-thirds of the state legislatures. Once
the proposal has passed by either method, Congress must decide whether
the proposed amendment is to be ratified by state legislatures or by
state ratifying conventions. The proposed amendment along with the
method of ratification is sent to the Office of the Federal Register,
which copies it in slip law format and submits it to the states. To
date, the convention method of proposal has never been tried and the
convention method of ratification has only been used once, for the
Twenty-first Amendment.

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. 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.

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 , the longest pending amendment that was
successfully ratified was the Twenty-second Amendment, which took .
The Twenty-sixth Amendment was ratified in the shortest time,  days.
The average ratification time for the first twenty-six amendments was
1year, 252 days; for all twenty-seven, 9years, 48 days.

The first ten Amendments introduced were referred to as the Bill of
Rights which consists of 10 amendments that were added to the
Constitution in 1791, as supporters of the Constitution had promised
critics during the debates of 1788.


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 they want, 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.

The Second Amendment (1791) protects the right of individuals to keep
and bear arms. 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. 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?"

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.


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 the possession of the individual. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.


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.

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, abortion, and local law
enforcement activities, are among those specifically reserved to the
states or the people.


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' (1793).

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.

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.

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.


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. 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.

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. It superseded the mode of
apportionment of representatives delineated in Article 1, Section 2,
Clause 3, and also overturned the Supreme Court's decision in 'Dred
Scott v. Sandford' (1857).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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' (1970).


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.

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 3, Clauses1
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.

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. 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.

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.

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 could assume
the presidency.

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.


                       Unratified amendments
======================================================================
Collectively, members of the House and Senate propose around 150
amendments during each two-year term of Congress. Most however, never
get out of the Congressional committees in which they are proposed,
and only a fraction of those approved in committee receive sufficient
support to win Congressional approval and actually enter 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.


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. 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. 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.


Expired
=========
* 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 within the extended deadline. In 2017, Nevada
became the first state to ratify the ERA after the expiration of both
deadlines, followed by Illinois in 2018, and Virginia in 2020,
bringing the number of ratifications to 38. However, experts and
advocates have acknowledged legal uncertainty about the consequences
of these ratifications, due to the expired deadlines and the five
states' revocations.
* 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
Twenty-third 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
======================================================================
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, the court system ultimately decides
whether these actions are permissible under the Constitution.


Scope and theory
==================
File:Gilbert Stuart, John Jay, 1794, NGA 75023.jpg|John Jay,
1789-1795, New York co-author 'The Federalist Papers'
File:John Marshall by Henry Inman, 1832.jpg|John Marshall, 1801-1835,
Fauquier County delegate, Virginia Ratification Convention


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.

The basic theory of American judicial review is summarized by
constitutional legal scholars and historians as follows: the written
Constitution is fundamental law within the states. 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.

As to judicial review and the Congress, the first proposals by Madison
(Virginia) and Wilson (Pennsylvania) 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 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.

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."

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, John Rutledge (South
Carolina), was appointed by Washington in 1795 as a recess
appointment, but was not confirmed by the Senate. Resigning later that
year, he was succeeded in 1796 by the third chief justice, Oliver
Ellsworth (Connecticut). Both Rutledge and Ellsworth were delegates to
the Constitutional Convention. John Marshall (Virginia), the fourth
chief justice, had served in the Virginia Ratification Convention in
1788. His 34 years of service on the Court would see some of the most
important rulings to help establish the nation the Constitution had
begun. Other early members of the Supreme Court who had been delegates
to the Constitutional Convention included James Wilson (Pennsylvania)
for ten years, and John Blair Jr. (Virginia) for five years.


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.

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. Marshall, writing the opinion for
the majority, announced his discovered conflict between Section 13 of
the Judiciary Act of 1789 and Article III. 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."
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.

"This argument has been ratified by time and by practice..." The
Supreme Court did not declare another act of Congress unconstitutional
until the controversial 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.

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.


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-limit its power of judicial
review.

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 what is a "justiciable question". First, the Court is fairly
consistent in refusing to make any "advisory opinions" in advance of
actual cases. 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.

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". They say cases
are 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."


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. But the
Court's guidance on basic problems of life and governance in a
democracy is most effective when American political life reinforces
its rulings.

Justice Brandeis summarized four general guidelines that the Supreme
Court uses to avoid constitutional decisions relating to Congress: 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.

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. 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."

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".

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.


Subsequent Courts
===================
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.


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". Partly to appease
the Radical Republicans, Lincoln appointed him chief justice upon the
death of Roger B. Taney.

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.




File:Mathew Brady, Portrait of Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P.
Chase, officer of the United States government (1860-1865, full
version).jpg|Salmon P. Chase Union, Reconstruction
File:William Howard Taft cph.3b35813.jpg|William Howard Taft commerce,
incorporation
File:Earl Warren.jpg|Earl Warren due process, civil rights
Image:William Rehnquist.jpg|William Rehnquist 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 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', which 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.


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.


William Rehnquist was a Reagan-appointed 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
======================================================================
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. Some commentators depict the multi-ethnic,
multi-sectarian United States as held together by political orthodoxy,
in contrast with a nation-state of people having more "natural" ties.


                        Worldwide influence
======================================================================
File:Jose Rizal full.jpg|José Rizal
File:Sun Yat-sen 2.jpg|Sun Yat-sen


The United States Constitution has been a notable model for governance
worldwide, especially through the 1970s. Its international influence
is found in similarities in 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. It
informed Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War, his
contemporary and ally Benito Juárez of Mexico, and the second
generation of 19th-century constitutional nationalists, José Rizal of
the Philippines and Sun Yat-sen of China. The framers of the
Australian constitution integrated federal ideas from the U.S. and
other constitutions.

Since the 1980s, the influence of the United States Constitution has
been waning as other countries have created new constitutions or
updated older constitutions, a process which Sanford Levinson believes
to be more difficult in the United States than in any other country.


                             Criticisms
======================================================================
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; the notable exception was New Jersey, where
women were able to vote on the same basis as men. Until the
Reconstruction Amendments were adopted between 1865 and 1870, the five
years immediately following the American Civil War, the Constitution
did not abolish slavery, nor give citizenship and voting rights to
former slaves. These amendments did not include a specific prohibition
on discrimination in voting 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.

According to a 2012 study by David Law and Mila Versteeg published in
the 'New York University Law Review', the U.S. Constitution guarantees
relatively few rights compared to the constitutions of other countries
and contains fewer than half (26 of 60) of the provisions listed in
the average bill of rights. It is also one of the few in the world
today that still features the right to keep and bear arms; the other
two being the constitutions of Guatemala and Mexico.

Sanford Levinson wrote in 2006 that it has been the most difficult
constitution in the world to amend since the fall of Yugoslavia.
Levitsky and Ziblatt argue that the US Constitution is the most
difficult in the world to amend, and that this helps explain why the
US still has so many undemocratic institutions that most or all other
democracies have reformed, directly allowing significant democratic
backsliding in the United States.


                           Commemorations
======================================================================
In 1937, the U.S. Post Office, at the prompting of President Franklin
Delano Roosevelt, an avid stamp collector himself, released a
commemorative postage stamp celebrating the 150th anniversary of the
signing of the U.S. Constitution. The engraving on this issue is after
an 1856 painting by Junius Brutus Stearns of Washington and shows
delegates signing the Constitution at the 1787 Convention. The
following year another commemorative stamp was issued celebrating the
150th anniversary of the ratification of the Constitution. In 1987 the
U.S. Government minted a 1987 silver dollar in celebration of the
200th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution.
signing of the Constitution]]   Postage Issue of 1938 commemorating the
150th anniversary of the ratification of the Constitution       1987
Constitution Commemorative Silver Dollar


                              See also
======================================================================
* 'Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States' by Joseph
Story (1833, three volumes)
* Congressional power of enforcement
* Constitution Day and Citizenship Day
* Constitution Week
* 'The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and
Interpretation'
* Constitution of 3 May 1791
* Constitutionalism in the United States
* Gödel's Loophole
* Founding Fathers of the United States
* Founders Online
* History of democracy
* History of the United States Constitution
* List of national constitutions (world countries)
* List of proposed amendments to the United States Constitution
* List of sources of law in the United States
* Pocket Constitution
* Second Constitutional Convention of the United States
* Timeline of drafting and ratification of the United States
Constitution
* UK constitutional law


Related documents
===================
* Constitution of Massachusetts (1780)
* Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639)
* Massachusetts Body of Liberties (1641)
* Mayflower Compact (1620)
* Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1779)


                          Further reading
======================================================================
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Dippel, Horst,
[http://ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/models-and-stereotypes/anglophilia/horst-dippel-british-and-american-constitutional-and-democratic-models-18th-20th-century?set_language=en&-C=
'British and American Constitutional and Democratic Models (18th-20th
Century)'], [http://www.ieg-ego.eu/ EGO - European History Online],
Mainz: [http://www.ieg-mainz.de/likecms/index.php Institute of
European History], 2018, retrieved: March 8, 2021
([https://d-nb.info/1175587575/34 pdf]).
*
*
*
*
*  Pamphlets written between 1787 and 1788 by Elbridge Gerry, Noah
Webster, John Jay, Melancthon Smith, Pelatiah Webster, 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.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Menand, Louis, "Move to Trash: Is it time for a new Constitution?",
'The New Yorker', 30 September 2024, pp. 57-62.
*
*
* Rosenfeld, Sam, "The Cracked Foundation: Steven Levitsky and Daniel
Ziblatt explained 'How Democracies Die'. But the problems went deeper
than they thought" (review of Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt,
'Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking
Point', Crown, 2023, 384 pp.), 'The New Republic', December 2023, pp.
48-54. "In the name of jettisoning the system's counter-majoritarian
vestiges, [the authors] advocate such modest reforms as the end of
equal representation of states in the Senate; abolition of the
Electoral College; cloture reform to eliminate the Senate filibuster;
sweeping new voting rights legislation under the aegis of a new
constitutional amendment affirming a positive right to vote; and term
limits and regularized appointment schedules for Supreme Court
justices. Having documented the... difficulty of enacting
constitutional change under the U.S. amendment process (the reform of
which is 'also' on their prescriptive wish list), [the authors]
acknowledge the steep odds that such an undertaking faces." (p. 54.)
*
*
*


U.S. government sources
=========================
* [https://www.senate.gov/civics/constitution_item/constitution.htm
Constitution of the United States], U.S. Senate: Original text with
explanations of each section's meaning over time


Non-governmental sources
==========================
* [https://bri-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/Branded-Constitution.pdf
Constitution of the United States], Bill of Rights Institute, PDF
document of full text without explication
* [//uscon.mobi/ The Constitution of the United States of America],
mobile-friendly plain text version
*
[https://web.archive.org/web/20080531072633/http://www.law.uchicago.edu/constitution
The Constitution of the United States Audio reading], University of
Chicago Law School, mp3 recordings of entire document and individual
sections


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