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 behavior; and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office. SEC. 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 a 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. SEC. 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 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. ARTICLE IV. SECTION 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. SEC. 2. The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the 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 labor 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 labor; but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due. SEC. 3. 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. SEC. 4. The United States shall guaranty 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 twothirds 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 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. GEORGE WASHINGTON, New Hampshire.-John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman. New Jersey-William Livingston, David Brearly, William Paterson, Jonathan Dayton. Pennsylvania.-Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, Thomas Fitzsimmons, James Wilson, Thomas Mifflin, George Clymer, Jared Ingersoll, Gouverneur Morris. Delaware.-George Read, Gunning Bedford, Jr., John Dickinson, Richard Bassett, Jacob Broom. Maryland.-James M'Henry, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Daniel Carroll. Virginia.-John Blair, James Madison, Jr. North Carolina.-William Blount, Richard Dobbs Spaight, Hugh Williamson. South Carolina.-John Rutledge, Charles Pinckney, Pierce Butler, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. Georgia.-William Few, Abraham Baldwin. The constitution was signed by all the members present, except Edmund Randolph and George Mason, of Virginia, and Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, who declined giving it the sanction of their names. Whilst the last members were signing, DR. FRANKLIN, looking towards the president's chair, on the back of which a rising sun happened to be painted, observed to a few members near him, that painters had found it difficult to distinguish, in their art, a rising from a setting sun. "I have," said he, "often and often, in the course of the session, and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that behind the president, without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting; but now, at length, I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun." The following are the names of delegates who were absent. Those whose names are in Italic never attended. New Hampshire.-John Pickering, Benjamin West. Massachusetts.-Caleb Strong, Francis Dana. Connecticut.-Oliver Ellsworth. New York.-Robert Yates, John Lansing. New Jersey.-William C. Houston, John Nelson, Abraham Clark. Maryland.-John Francis Mercer, Luther Martin. Virginia.-George Wythe, Patrick Henry, (declined attending,) James M'Clurg, (in room of P. Henry.) North Carolina.-Alexander Martin, William R. Davie, Richard Caswell, resigned,* Willie Jones, declined.* Georgia.-William Pierce, William Houston, Nathaniel Pendleton, George Walton. AMENDMENTS. ARTICLE I. Congress shall make no law respecting an es tablishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. ART. II. A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. in ART. III. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered any house without the consent of the owner, nor in a time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. ART. IV. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. ART. V. No person shall be held to answer for a capital or 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 *William Blount, appointed in the room of Mr. Caswell, and Hugh Williamson, in the room of Mr. Jones, both signed the constitution. |