Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 1.djvu/132

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THE

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.

Purposes for which the Constitution was ordained and established.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.^[1]

Legislative powers vested in Congress.Article I. § 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.^[2]

House of Representatives.§ 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 to be apportioned according to respective numbers.
Census to be taken every ten years.
Representatives in Congress.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 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,

↑ Martin, heir at law of Fairfax v. Hunter’s Lessee, 1 Wheat. 304; 3 Cond. Rep. 575. Briscoe et al. v. the Bank of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, 11 Peters, 257. McCulloch v. The State of Maryland, 4 Wheat. 316; 4 Cond. Rep. 466. Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1. Barron v. The Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, 7 Peters, 243. Marberry v. Madison, 1 Cranch, 237; 1 Cond. Rep. 267. United States v. Smith, 5 Wheat. 153; 4 Cond. Rep. 619. Owing v. Norwood, 5 Cranch 344; 2 Cond. Rep. 275.
↑ The object of the Constitution was to establish three great departments of government: the Legislative, the Executive, and the Judicial departments. The first was to pass laws; the second to approve and execute them; the third to expound end enforce them. Martin, heir at law of Fairfax v. Hunter’s Lessee, 1 Wheat. 304; 3 Cond. Rep. 575.
The Constitution unavoidably deals in general language. It did not suit the purpose of the people in framing this great charter of our liberties to provide for minute specifications of its powers, or to declare the means by which those powers were to be carried into execution. It was foreseen that that would be a perilous and difficult, if not an impracticable task. The instrument was not intended merely to provide for the exigencies of a few years, but was to endure through a long lapse of ages; the events of which were locked up in the inscrutable purposes of Providence. It could not be foreseen what new changes and modifications of power might be made indispensable to effectuate the general objects of the charter; and restrictions and specifications which at present might seem salutary, might in the end prove the overthrow of the system itself. Hence its powers are expressed in general terms; leaving to the legislature, from time to time, to adopt its own means to effectuate legitimate objects, and to mould and remodel the exercise of its own powers as its own wisdom, and the public interests should require. Martin, &c. v. Hunter, 1 Wheat. 304; 3 Cond. Rep. 575.

[1] Martin, heir at law of Fairfax v. Hunter’s Lessee, 1 Wheat. 304; 3 Cond. Rep. 575. Briscoe et al. v. the Bank of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, 11 Peters, 257. McCulloch v. The State of Maryland, 4 Wheat. 316; 4 Cond. Rep. 466. Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1. Barron v. The Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, 7 Peters, 243. Marberry v. Madison, 1 Cranch, 237; 1 Cond. Rep. 267. United States v. Smith, 5 Wheat. 153; 4 Cond. Rep. 619. Owing v. Norwood, 5 Cranch 344; 2 Cond. Rep. 275.

[2] The object of the Constitution was to establish three great departments of government: the Legislative, the Executive, and the Judicial departments. The first was to pass laws; the second to approve and execute them; the third to expound end enforce them. Martin, heir at law of Fairfax v. Hunter’s Lessee, 1 Wheat. 304; 3 Cond. Rep. 575.
The Constitution unavoidably deals in general language. It did not suit the purpose of the people in framing this great charter of our liberties to provide for minute specifications of its powers, or to declare the means by which those powers were to be carried into execution. It was foreseen that that would be a perilous and difficult, if not an impracticable task. The instrument was not intended merely to provide for the exigencies of a few years, but was to endure through a long lapse of ages; the events of which were locked up in the inscrutable purposes of Providence. It could not be foreseen what new changes and modifications of power might be made indispensable to effectuate the general objects of the charter; and restrictions and specifications which at present might seem salutary, might in the end prove the overthrow of the system itself. Hence its powers are expressed in general terms; leaving to the legislature, from time to time, to adopt its own means to effectuate legitimate objects, and to mould and remodel the exercise of its own powers as its own wisdom, and the public interests should require. Martin, &c. v. Hunter, 1 Wheat. 304; 3 Cond. Rep. 575.

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