Town-Clerk of Eaſt-Greenwich
"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."
Sect. 2. 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 offices 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.
Sect. 3. 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.
Sect. 4. 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.
ARTICLE III.
Sect. 1. 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.
Sect. 2. 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.
Sect. 3. 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 conſeſſion 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.
ARTICLE IV.
Sect. 1. 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.
Sect. 2. 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 form 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.
Sect. 3. New States may be admitted by the Congreſs into this Union; but no new State ſhall be formed to 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 an 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.
Sect. 4. 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.
ARTICLE V.
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.
ARTICLE VI.
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.
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.
(and Deputy from Virginia.
New-Hampſhire. John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman.
Maſſachuſetts. Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King.
Connecticut. William Samuel Johnſon, Roger Sherman.
New-York. Alexander Hamilton.
New-Jerſey. William Livingſton, David Brearley, William Paterſon, Jonathan Dayton.
Pennſylvania. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robert Morris, George Clymer, Thomas Fitzſimons, Jared Ingerſoll, James Wilſon, Gouverneur Morris.
Delaware. George Read, Gunning Bedford, jun. John Dickenſon, Richard Baſſett, Jacob Broom.
Maryland. James M'Henry, Daniel of St. Tho. Jenifer, Daniel Carrol.
Virginia. John Blair, James Madiſon, jun.
North-Carolina. William Blount, Richard Dobbs Spaight, Hugh Williamſon.
South-Carolina. John Rutledge, Charles Coteſworth Pinckney, Charles Pinckney, Pierce Butler.
Georgia. William Few, Abraham Baldwin.
Atteſt, William Jackson, Secretary.In Convention, Monday, September 17th, 1787.
Present,
The States of New-Hampſhire, Maſſachuſetts, Connecticut, Mr. Hamilton from New-York, New-Jerſey, Pennſylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia.
Reſolved,
THAT the preceding Conſtitution be laid before the United States in Congreſs aſſembled, and that it is the opinion of this Convention, that it ſhould afterwards be ſubmitted to a Convention of Delegates, choſen in each State by the People thereof, under the recommendation of its Legiſlature, for their aſſent and ratification; and that each Convention aſſenting to and ratifying the ſame, ſhould give notice thereof to the United States in Congreſs aſſembled.
Reſolved, That it is the opinion of this Convention, That as ſoon as the Conventions of Nine States ſhall have ratified this Conſtitution, the United States in Congreſs aſſembled ſhould fix a day on which Electors ſhould be appointed by the States which ſhall have ratified the ſame, and a day on which the Electors ſhould aſſemble to vote for the Preſident, and the time and place for commencing proceedings under this Conſtitution: That after ſuch publication the Electors ſhould be appointed, and the Senators and Repreſentatives elected:
That the Electors ſhould meet on the day fixed for the election of the Preſident, and ſhould tranſmit their votes, certified, ſigned, ſealed and directed, as the Conſtitution requires, to the Secretary of the United States in Congreſs aſſembled: That the Senators and Repreſentatives ſhould convene at the time and place aſſigned: That the Senators ſhould appoint a Preſident of the Senate, for the ſole purpoſe of receiving, opening and counting the votes for Preſident; and that, after he ſhall be choſe, the Congreſs, together with the Preſident, ſhould without delay proceed to execute this Conſtitution.
By the unanimous order of the Convention,
GEORGE WASHINGTON, Preſident.
William Jackson, Sec'ry.In Convention, Sept. 17, 1787.
SIR,
WE have now the honour to ſubmit to the conſideration of the United States in Congreſs aſſembled, that Conſtitution which has appeared to us the moſt adviſeable.
The friends of our country have long ſeen and deſired, that the power of making war, peace and treaties, that of levying money and regulating commerce, and the correſpondent executive and judicial authorities, ſhould be fully and effectually veſted in the general government of the Union; but the impropriety of delegating ſuch extenſive truſt to one body of men is evident.—Hence reſults the neceſſity of a different organization.
It is obviouſly impracticable, in the fœderal government of theſe States, to ſecure all rights of independent ſovereignty to each, and yet provide for the intereſt and ſafety of all. Individuals entering into ſociety muſt give up a ſhare of liberty to preſerve the reſt. The magnitude of the ſacrifice muſt depend as well on ſituation and circumſtance, as on the object to be obtained. It is at all times difficult to draw with preciſion the line between thoſe rights which muſt be ſurrendered, and thoſe which may be reſerved, and on the preſent occaſion this difficulty was increaſed by a difference among the ſeveral States as to their ſituation, extent, habits and particular intereſts.
In all our deliberations on this ſubject, we kept ſteadily in our view that which appears to us the greateſt intereſt of every true American, the conſolidation of our Union, in which are involved our proſperity, felicity, ſafety, perhaps our national exiſtence. This important conſideration, ſeriouſly and deeply impreſſed on our minds, led each State in the Convention to be leſs rigid on points of inferior magnitude, than might have been otherwiſe expected; and thus the Conſtitution, which we now preſent, is the reſult of a ſpirit of amity, and of that mutual deference and conceſſion which the peculiarity of our political ſituation rendered indiſpenſible.
That it will meet the full and entire approbation of every State is not perhaps to be expected; but each will doubtleſs conſider, that had her intereſts been alone conſulted, the conſequences might have been particularly diſagreeable or injurious to others; that it is liable to as few exceptions as could reaſonably have been expected, we hope and believe; that it may promote the laſting welfare of that country ſo dear to us all, and ſecure her freedom and happineſs, is our moſt ardent wiſh.
His Excellency the Preſident
of Congreſs.
United States in Congreſs aſſembled.
Friday, September 28, 1787.
Preſent, New-Hampſhire, Maſſachuſetts, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jerſey, Pennſylvania, Delaware, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina and Georgia, and from Maryland Mr. Roſs.
Congreſs having received the report of the Convention lately aſſembled in Philadelphia,
Reſolved, unanimouſly, That the ſaid report, with the reſolutions and letter accompanying the ſame, be tranſmitted to the ſeveral Legiſlatures, in order to be ſubmitted to a Convention of Delegates, choſen in each State by the People thereof, in conformity to the reſolves of the Convention made and provided in that caſe.
State of Rhode-Iſland and Providence Plantations.
In General Assembly, October Seſſion, 1787.
Providence: Printed by John Carter.
