Congress assembled, on all questions, which by the said Confederation are submitted to them. And that the articles thereof shall be inviolably observed by the states we respectively represent, and that the Union shall be perpetual. IN WITNESS WHEREOF we have hereunto set our hands in Congress. Done at Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania the ninth day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventyeight, and in the third year of the independence of America. The Articles of Confederation were ratified by the States as follows: South Carolina -----Feb. 5, 1778 Massachusetts. _Mar. 10, 1778 The ratification by all the States was formally announced to the public March 1, 1781. Constitution of the United States (In Convention, September 17, 1787) PREAMBLE We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, 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. ARTICLE I. LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT * Section 1. Congress * Powers Are Vested in Senate and House 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. Section 2. House of Representatives Election of Representatives 1. 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. Qualifications of Representatives 2. 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. Apportionment of Representatives 3. 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 • Headings and paragraph numbers have been inserted to assist the reader, and are not to be construed as a part of the Constitution. The original Constitution contains only article and section numbers. The modern style of capitalization has been used in the printing of this edition; and obsolete spelling of such words as "chuse" and "controul" has been changed to conform to the modern spelling prescribed by Webster's Dictionary. With these exceptions, we have followed the literal text of the Constitution of the United States of America prepared by the Legislative Reference Service of the Library of Congress, Edwin S. Corwin, Editor, being Senate Document No. 170 of the Eighty-second Congress, Second Session. |