Read Politically Incorrect Guide To The Constitution (Politically Incorrect Guides) Online
Authors: Kevin R. C. Gutzman
No Capitation, or other direct, Tax
shall be laid, unless in Proportion to
the Census or enumeration herein
before directed to be taken.
No Tax or Duty shall be laid on
Articles exported from any State.
No Preference shall be given by
any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over
those of another; nor shall Vessels
bound to, or from, one State, be
obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in
another.
No Money shall be drawn from the
Treasury, but in Consequence of
Appropriations made by Law; and a
regular Statement and Account of the
Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from
time to time.
No Title of Nobility shall be
granted by the United States: And no
Person holding any Office of Profit or
Trust under them, shall, without the
Consent of the Congress, accept of any
present, Emolument, Office, or Title,
of any kind whatever, from any King,
Prince, or foreign State.
No State shall enter into any
Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation;
grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal;
coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make
any Thing but gold and silver Coin a
Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any
Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or
Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.
No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts
or Duties on Imports or Exports,
except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection
Laws: and the net Produce of all
Duties and Imposts, laid by any State
on Imports or Exports, shall be for the
Use of the Treasury of the United
States; and all such Laws shall be sub
ject to the Revision and Controul of
the Congress.
No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in
time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State,
or with a foreign Power, or engage in
War, unless actually invaded, or in
such imminent Danger as will not
admit of delay.
The executive Power shall be
vested in a President of the United
States of America. He shall hold his
Office during the Term of four Years,
and, together with the Vice President,
chosen for the same Term, be elected,
as follows:
Each State shall appoint, in such
Manner as the Legislature thereof may
direct, a Number of Electors, equal to
the whole Number of Senators and
Representatives to which the State
may be entitled in the Congress: but
no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit
under the United States, shall be
appointed an Elector.
The Electors shall meet in their
respective States, and vote by Ballot
for two Persons, of whom one at least
shall not be an Inhabitant of the same
State with themselves. And they shall
make a List of all the Persons voted
for, and of the Number of Votes for
each; which List they shall sign and
certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat
of the Government of the United
States, directed to the President of the
Senate. The President of the Senate
shall, in the Presence of the Senate
and House of Representatives, open
all the Certificates, and the Votes shall
then be counted. The Person having
the greatest Number of Votes shall be
the President, if such Number be a
Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more
than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then
the House of Representatives shall
immediately chuse by Ballot one of
them for President; and if no Person
have a Majority, then from the five
highest on the List the said House
shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing 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. In every Case, after
the Choice of the President, the Person
having the greatest Number of Votes of
the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two
or more who have equal Votes, the
Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President.
The Congress may determine the
Time of chusing the Electors, and the
Day on which they shall give their
Votes; which Day shall be the same
throughout the United States.
No Person except a natural born
Citizen, or a Citizen of the United
States, at the time of the Adoption of
this Constitution, shall be eligible to
the Office of President; neither shall
any Person be eligible to that Office
who shall not have attained to the Age
of thirty five Years, and been fourteen
Years a Resident within the United
States.
In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the
Powers and Duties of the said Office,
the Same shall devolve on the Vice
President, and the Congress may by
Law provide for the Case of Removal,
Death, Resignation or Inability, both of
the President and Vice President,
declaring what Officer shall then act
as President, and such Officer shall
act accordingly, until the Disability be
removed, or a President shall be
elected.
The President shall, at stated
Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be
increased nor diminished during the
Period for which he shall have been
elected, and he shall not receive
within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of
them.
Before he enter on the Execution
of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:-"I do
solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will
faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to
the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the
United States."
The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of
the United States, and of the Militia of
the several States, when called into
the actual Service of the United States;
he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of
the executive Departments, upon any
Subject relating to the Duties of their
respective Offices, and he shall have
Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons
for Offences against the United States,
except in Cases of Impeachment.
He shall have Power, by and with
the Advice and Consent of the Senate,
to make Treaties, provided two thirds
of the Senators present concur; and he
shall nominate, and by and with the
Advice and Consent of the Senate,
shall appoint Ambassadors, other
public Ministers and Consuls, Judges
of the supreme Court, and all other
Officers of the United States, whose
Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be
established by Law: but the Congress
may by Law vest the Appointment of
such inferior Officers, as they think
proper, in the President alone, in the
Courts of Law, or in the Heads of
Departments.
The President shall have Power to
fill up all Vacancies that may happen
during the Recess of the Senate, by
granting Commissions which shall
expire at the End of their next Session.
He shall from time to time give to
the Congress Information of the State
of the Union, and recommend to their
Consideration such Measures as he
shall judge necessary and expedient;
he may, on extraordinary Occasions,
convene both Houses, or either of
them, and in Case of Disagreement
between them, with Respect to the
Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn
them to such Time as he shall think
proper; he shall receive Ambassadors
and other public Ministers; he shall
take Care that the Laws be faithfully
executed, and shall Commission all
the Officers of the United States.
The President, Vice President and
all civil Officers of the United States,
shall be removed from Office on
Impeachment for, and Conviction of,
Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes
and Misdemeanors.
The judicial Power of the United
States shall be vested in one supreme
Court, and in such inferior Courts as
the Congress may from time to time
ordain and establish. The Judges, both
of the supreme and inferior Courts,
shall hold their Offices during good
Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times,
receive for their Services a Compensation, which shall not be diminished
during their Continuance in Office.
The judicial Power shall extend to
all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising
under this Constitution, the Laws of
the United States, and Treaties made,
or which shall be made, under their
Authority;-to all Cases affecting
Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;-to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;-to
Controversies to which the United
States shall be a Party; to Controversies between two or more States;between a State and Citizens of
another State;-between Citizens of
different States;-between Citizens of
the same State claiming Lands under
Grants of different States, and between
a State, or the Citizens thereof, and
foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.
In all Cases affecting Ambassadors,
other public Ministers and Consuls,
and those in which a State shall be
Party, the supreme Court shall have
original Jurisdiction. In all the other
Cases before mentioned, the supreme
Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with
such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.
The Trial of all Crimes, except in
Cases of Impeachment, shall be by
Jury; and such Trial shall be held in
the State where the said Crimes shall
have been committed; but when not
committed within any State, the Trial
shall be at such Place or Places as the
Congress may by Law have directed.
Treason against the United States,
shall consist only in levying War
against them, or in adhering to their
Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of
Treason unless on the Testimony of
two Witnesses to the same overt Act,
or on Confession in open Court.
The Congress shall have Power to
declare the Punishment of Treason,
but no Attainder of Treason shall work
Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture
except during the Life of the Person
attainted.
Full Faith and Credit shall be
given in each State to the public Acts,
Records, and judicial Proceedings of
every other State. And the Congress
may by general Laws prescribe the
Manner in which such Acts, Records
and Proceedings shall be proved, and
the Effect thereof.
The Citizens of each State shall be
entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.
A Person charged in any State
with Treason, Felony, or other Crime,
who shall flee from Justice, and be
found in another State, shall on
Demand of the executive Authority of
the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State
having Jurisdiction of the Crime.
No Person held to Service or
Labour in one State, under the Laws
thereof, escaping into another, shall,
in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such
Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to
whom such Service or Labour may be
due.
New States may be admitted by
the Congress into this Union; but no
new State shall be formed or erected
within the Jurisdiction of any other
State; nor any State be formed by the
Junction of two or more States, or
Parts of States, without the Consent of
the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.
The Congress shall have Power to
dispose of and make all needful Rules
and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the
United States; and nothing in this
Constitution shall be so construed as
to Prejudice any Claims of the United
States, or of any particular State.
The United States shall guarantee
to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall
protect each of them against Invasion;
and on Application of the Legislature,
or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened), against
domestic Violence.
The Congress, whenever two
thirds of both Houses shall deem it
necessary, shall propose Amendments
to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds
of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments,
which, in either Case, shall be valid to
all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this
Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several
States, or by Conventions in three
fourths thereof, as the one or the other
Mode of Ratification may be proposed
by the Congress; Provided that no
Amendment which may be made
prior to the Year One thousand eight
hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses
in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal
Suffrage in the Senate.
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.
This Constitution, and the Laws of
the United States which shall be made
in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties
made, or which shall be made, under
the Authority of the United States,
shall be the supreme Law of the Land;
and the Judges in every State shall be
bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the
Contrary notwithstanding.