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POCKET CONSTITUTION
108th CONGRESS, 1st SESSION /
[Star Print] HOUSE DOCUMENT 108-96
The Declaration of Independence
was the promise; the
Constitution was the fulfillment.
"The sacred rights of mankind
are not to be rummaged for,
among old parchments, or musty
records. They are written, as
with a sun beam in the whole
volume of human nature, by the
hand of the divinity itself; and
can never be erased or obscured
by mortal power.''
Alexander Hamilton, 1775
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The CONSTITUTION
of the United States
with Index and
The Declaration of Independence
First Edition, 1986
Second Edition, 1987
Third Edition (with index), 1987
Fourth Edition, 1988
Fifth Edition, 1988
Sixth Edition, 1988
Seventh (Special Limited Inaugural) Edition, 1989
Eighth (Special Military) Edition, 1989
Ninth (Limited Eastern European) Edition, 1990
Tenth (Special Boy Scout) Edition, 1990
Eleventh (Special Girl Scout) Edition, 1990
Twelfth Edition (with Declaration of Independence), 1990
Thirteenth Edition, 1991
Fourteenth (HMS Rose/Bill of Rights Tour) Edition, 1991
Fifteenth Edition, 1991
Sixteenth (Seville Expo '92) Edition, 1992
Seventeenth (Seville Expo '92, Spanish) Edition, 1992
Eighteenth (with Twenty-Seventh Amendment)
Edition, 1992
Nineteenth (Reprint) 1997
Twentieth (Reprint) 2000
Twenty-First (Reprint) 2003
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED
STATES
We the People of the United States, in Order
to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure
domestic Tranquility, provide for the common
defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure
the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our
Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution
for the United States of America.
Article. I.
Section. 1. 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.
Section. 2. The House of Representatives shall
be composed of Members chosen every second
Year by the People of the several States, and the
Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications
requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch
of the State Legislature.
No Person shall be a Representative who shall
not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years,
and been seven Years a Citizen of the United
States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant
of that State in which he shall be chosen.
[Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned
among the several States which may
be included within this Union, according to their
respective Numbers, which shall be determined
by adding to the whole Number of free Persons,
including those bound to Service for a Term of
Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths
of all other Persons.]* The actual Enumeration
*Changed by section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment.
shall be made within three Years after the first
Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and
within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such
Manner as they shall by Law direct. The number
of Representatives shall not exceed one for every
thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least
one Representative; and until such enumeration
shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall
be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight,
Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one,
Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four,
Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six,
Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina
five, and Georgia three.
When vacancies happen in the Representation
from any State, the Executive Authority thereof
shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.
The House of Representatives shall chuse their
Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole
Power of Impeachment.
Section. 3. The Senate of the United States
shall be composed of two Senators from each State,
[chosen by the Legislature thereof,]* for six Years;
and each Senator shall have one Vote.
Immediately after they shall be assembled in
Consequence of the first Election, they shall be
divided as equally as may be into three Classes.
The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall
be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of
the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth
Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the
sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every
second Year; [and if Vacancies happen by Resignation,
or otherwise, during the Recess of the
Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may
make temporary Appointments until the next
*Changed by the Seventeenth Amendment.
Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill
such Vacancies.]*
No Person shall be a Senator who shall not
have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been
nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who
shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that
State for which he shall be chosen.
The Vice President of the United States shall be
President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote,
unless they be equally divided.
The Senate shall chuse their other Officers,
and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence
of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the
Office of President of the United States.
The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all
Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they
shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President
of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice
shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted
without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members
present.
Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not
extend further than to removal from Office, and
disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of
honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but
the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and
subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and
Punishment, according to Law.
Section. 4. The Times, Places and Manner of
holding Elections for Senators and Representatives,
shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature
thereof; but the Congress may at any time by
Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to
the Places of chusing Senators.
The Congress shall assemble at least once in
every Year, and such Meeting shall be [on the first
*Changed by the Seventeenth Amendment.
Monday in December,]* unless they shall by Law
appoint a different Day.
Section. 5. Each House shall be the Judge of
the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own
Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute
a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number
may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized
to compel the Attendance of absent Members,
in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each
House may provide.
Each House may determine the Rules of its
Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour,
and, with the Concurrence of two thirds,
expel a Member.
Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings,
and from time to time publish the same, excepting
such Parts as may in their Judgment
require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the
Members of either House on any question shall,
at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered
on the Journal.
Neither House, during the Session of Congress,
shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn
for more than three days, nor to any other
Place than that in which the two Houses shall be
sitting.
Section. 6. The Senators and Representatives
shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to
be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury
of the United States. They shall in all Cases,
except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace,
be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance
at the Session of their respective Houses, and in
going to and returning from the same; and for any
Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not
be questioned in any other Place.
No Senator or Representative shall, during the
Time for which he was elected, be appointed to
*Changed by section 2 of the Twentieth Amendment.
any civil Office under the Authority of the United
States, which shall have been created, or the
Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased
during such time; and no Person holding any
Office under the United States, shall be a Member
of either House during his Continuance in
Office.
Section. 7. All Bills for raising Revenue shall
originate in the House of Representatives; but the
Senate may propose or concur with Amendments
as on other Bills.
Every Bill which shall have passed the House
of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it
becomes a Law, be presented to the President of
the United States; If he approve he shall sign it,
but if not he shall return it, with his Objections
to that House in which it shall have originated,
who shall enter the Objections at large on their
Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such
Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall
agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with
the Objections, to the other House, by which it
shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by
two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law.
But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall
be determined by yeas and Nays, and the Names
of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall
be entered on the Journal of each House respectively.
If any Bill shall not be returned by the President
within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it
shall have been presented to him, the Same shall
be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it,
unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent
its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.
Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the
Concurrence of the Senate and House of
Representatives may be necessary (except on a
question of Adjournment) shall be presented to
the President of the United States; and before the
Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him,
or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by
two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives,
according to the Rules and Limitations
prescribed in the Case of a Bill.
Section. 8. The Congress shall have Power To
lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises,
to pay the Debts and provide for the common
Defence and general Welfare of the United States;
but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform
throughout the United States;
To borrow Money on the credit of the United
States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations,
and among the several States, and with the Indian
Tribes;
To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization,
and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies
throughout the United States;
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and
of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights
and Measures;
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting
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