Page:Debates in the Several State Conventions, v1.djvu/320

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[Sept. 12

have been increased, 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.

"Sect. 7. The enacting style of the laws shall be, 'Be it enacted by the senators and representatives, in Congress assembled.'

"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 become 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 decided 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 its 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 the 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 three fourths of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.

"Sect. 8. The Congress may, by joint ballot, appoint a treasurer. They 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;

"To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

"To regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;

"To establish a 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 the securities and current coin of the United States;

"To establish post-offices and post-roads;

"To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing, for limited times, to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

"To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;

"To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations;

"To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;