Debts assumed

The supreme

one thousand eight hundred and eight, shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no State, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.

ARTICLE VI.

1. All debts contracted, and engagements entered into, before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States, under this Constitution, as under the confederation.

2. This Constitution, and the laws of the United law of the land. States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby; any thing in the constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

Representatives, &c. to support this Constitution.

No religious test.

Ratification of nine States sufficient.

3. The senators and representatives, before_mentioned, and the members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution: but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

ARTICLE VII.

The ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the same. Done in Convention, by the unanimous consent of

the States present, the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the twelfth. In witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names.

GEO. WASHINGTON, President,

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

John Langdon,
Nicholas Gilman.

MASSACHUSETTS.

Nathaniel Gorham,
Rufus King.

and Deputy for Va.

DELAWARE.

George Reed,
Gunning Bedford, jr.
John Dickinson,
Richard Bassett,
Jacob Broom.

right to peti

Congress shall make no law respecting an estab- Religion, lishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise speech, the thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of press, and the the press; or the right of the people peaceably to tion. assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

ARTICLE II.

A well regulated militia being necessary to the People may security of a free State, the right of the people to keep arms. keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

ARTICLE III.

No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in Quartering of any house without the consent of the owner; nor in soldiers. time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

ARTICLE IV.

The right of the people to be secure in their per- Security asons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable gainst unreasearches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause,

sonable searches & seizures.

Presentment

in criminal

cases.

supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

ARTICLE V.

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or or indictment, otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service, in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject, for the same offence, to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled, in any criminal case, to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or vate property. property, without due process of law: nor shall private property be taken for public use without just. compensation.

Right of pri

Rights of the accused.

Right of trial by jury.

Of bail, fines, and punish

ments.

Rights enume

rated not to

disparage those retained.

ARTICLE VI.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence.

ARTICLE VII.

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact, tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

ARTICLE VIII.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

ARTICLE IX.

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

ARTICLE X.

The powers not delegated to the United States by Reserved the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, powers. are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

ARTICLE XI.

ers.

The judicial power of the United States shall not Restriction of be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, judicial powcommenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another State, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign State.

ARTICLE XII.

and vice presi

1. The electors shall meet in their respective Mode of electStates, and vote by ballot for president and vice ing president president, one of whom, at least, shall not be an dent of the U. inhabitant of the same State with themselves; they States. shall name in their ballots the person voted for as president, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as vice president; and they shall make distinct lists. of all persons voted for as president, and of all persons voted for as vice president, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the president of the Senate; the president of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted; the person having the greatest number of votes for president, shall be the president, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers, not exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as president, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the president. But in choosing the president, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each State. having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Repre- sentatives shall not choose a president, whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the vice president shall act as president, as in the case of the

When citizenship shall be forfeited.

death or other constitutional disability of the president.

2. The person having the greatest number of votes as vice president, shall be the vice president, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list the Senate shall choose the vice president: a quorum, for that purpose, shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of senators and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice.

3. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of president, shall be eligible to that of vice president of the United States.

ARTICLE XIII.

If any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive, or retain any title of nobility or honor, or shall, without the consent of Congress, accept and retain any present, pension, office, or emolument of any kind whatever, from any emperor, king, prince, or foreign power, such person shall cease to be a citizen of the United States, and shall be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under them, or either of them.