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xhxhxhx · 2 years

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The other Notwithstanding Clause

"This Constitution," the Constitution tells us, "shall be the supreme Law of the Land." Art VI, cl 2. In any conflict of laws, the Constitution prevails, "any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding." Id.

Note that the second clause there is separate, separated from the first by a conjunction and a semicolon. It's a complete sentence, with subject, verb, and object:

and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. Id.

"Thereby" ties this clause back to the first. But besides that reference, it would be complete. Let's incorporate the first clause, to unpack it:

[T]he Judges in every State shall be bound [by 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,] any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. Id.

The clause is a command. It's addressed not to everyone, or even to the United States, but to one particular group: "the Judges in every State."

I call it the Notwithstanding Clause. And I think it tells us something important.

Let's back up a little, first.

I came to this after thinking over John Marshall's decision in Barron v Baltimore, 32 US (7 Pet) 243 (1833), which held that the Bill of Rights applied against the United States, but not the States.

The Bill of Rights was ultimately incorporated against the States, but Barron is still our best understanding of the Constitution meant before Reconstruction changed a few things.

But the argument Marshall makes in Barron speaks to a broader principle of federal structure that the Notwithstanding Clause speaks to.

But let me back up again.

II.

The Constitution of the United States is a constitutive instrument. That means it makes something. The particular thing the Constitution makes is the United States of America.

When the People of the several States ratified the Constitution in 1787 and 1788, they ordained and established a reconstituted United States of America for themselves and their posterity—that's what the Preamble says, at least—and made themselves a new republic.

In constitutive assemblies across the several States, the People took the powers they had left vested entirely in the States after the Revolution, and reinvested them in a new corporate personality, defined by the Constitution of the United States of America.

The Constitution constituted and vested its powers in the corporate personalities doing business as the United States of America: Congress, the President, and the Supreme Court. It promised to better provide for the People and their posterity.

But the Constitution did not create or constitute the States. It did not dissolve or remodel them. The People have always had an inherent right to dissolve any government and make a new one. But they didn't. When they ratified the Constitution, but largely left the States alone.

The People created United States to manage aspects of their collective affairs. Commerce, security, foreign affairs, mainly. Art I, §8. Its true non-commercial domestic powers were almost a nullity. Art IV, §1.

The domestic powers vested by art I, §8, cls 1, 18, and perhaps art IV, §3, cl 2, were dimly at ratification, and revealed themselves in full in the first decade of the Republic. They would only be unleashed in full in the twentieth century, when the Court found itself unable, Massachusetts v Mellon, 262 US 447 (1923), or unwilling, United States v Butler, 297 US 1 (1936), to check the new American State. But all that was in the future.

In 1789, the People left almost everything to the States. The States were prohibited from coining, issuing bills of credit, abrogating contracts, art I, §10, cl 1, laying duties on imports and exports, id, cl 2, and raising troops, fitting warships in peacetime, and making war, id, cl 3. But that was about it.

And that left the United States, as a corporate personality defined by its Constitution, in a special place. Which brings us back to Barron.

III.

Barron tells us that the Bill of Rights must be read in the light of the Constitution it was attached to.

The Bill of Rights is an annex to an instrument that sets out a corporation of limited powers. That instrument does not dissolve or reestablish or control the States. And it never purports to directs the States themselves except by certain express words.

When read in the context of the instrument that the Constitution then was, even the general and unqualified terms of the Bill of Rights, including the Fifth Amendment rule that "private property [shall not] be taken for public use, without just compensation," only limit the powers of the United States, not those of the States themselves.

Today, after a century in which the entire Bill of Rights has been incorporated against the States, it's painful for the ordinary American to read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights this way. But it is the best reading of the Constitution as it read before the Civil War.

And if Barron tells us something about the Bill of Rights, the first eight or amendments added to the Constitution in 1791, but it also tells us something about the original Constitution of the United States. It actually tells us that the same thing.

It tells us that the original Constitution always binds the United States, but it only binds the several States when it says so.

IV.

Under the original Constitution, the United States was a government of expressly limited powers, which, as a general matter, did not include the regulation of States or State officers, except where expressly empowered to do so, such as the few concurrent authorities it contemplates in military affairs, art I, §8, cl 16; id, §10, cl 3, and commerce, id, §10, cl 2.

The Constitution only expressly imposes duties on States in a few other places: Art I, §4 (making rules for the time, place, and manner of elections to Congress); Art I, §8, cl 16 (appointing officers of the militia); Art I, §10 (stripping States of certain powers over aspects of trade, foreign affairs, monetary policy, and republican government); and Art II, §1, cl 2 (appointing presidential electors).

If you press the principle of Barron hard enough, even Article IV, the article regulating noncommercial matters between the States, can be read to bind only the United States and its officers.

Take the Extradition Clause at Art IV, §2, cl 2. It reads:

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.

There's extensive condition precedent here, but only one duty: "A person ... shall ... be delivered up." And the clause doesn't say who owes it.

It's possible to read the clause as binding on State executive officers. And under the Oath Clause of art VI, cl 3, State officers are oath bound to "support this Constitution."

But given the nature of the original Constitution and the coordinate and limited powers of the United States it creates, it's possible to read the provision as a limitation only on the United States and State judges.

And it just might be right.

There are a few places like the Extradition Clause where the Constitution does not say who bears the duty it sets out. And sometimes the Constitution says "the United States" must do something.

There's at least one reason for either construction: They save space.

The United States includes many different people personally bound to uphold the Constitution of the United States. The President has his oath. Art II, §1, cl 8. The others have theirs. Art VI, cl 3. And a glance at art VI, cl 3, shows four different classes of people besides the President that exercise the power of the United States:

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned ... and all executive and judicial Officers ... of the United States ...

Note that Senators and Representatives are separately enumerated here. The Executive and the Judiciary are captured by the phrase "all executive and judicial Officers." There's no parallel for Congress. The Constitution has no term for "Senators and Representatives."

I'll note here that the President and Vice President may not be "Officers of the United States" within the meaning of the Constitution.

The Constitution provides that the President "shall commission all the Officers of the United States." Art II, §3. But no President commissions himself, or his Vice President, or his successor.

The Constitution does use "Congressional officers," but it has a restricted meaning. The only Congressional officers known to the Constitution are the Speaker of the House, the Senate President pro tempore, and the "other Officers" the House and Senate may choose. Art I, §2, cl 6; id, §3, cl 5. The members themselves are not "Congressional officers" unless chosen.

That's all to say that the Constitution may put a duty on the United States where it shared by persons holding office of the United States, and bound by oath to uphold the Constitution, without specifying the categories those officeholders fall into.

The Guarantee Clause, for example, provides for duties of "the United States":

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. Art IV, §4.

On this reading, the Guarantee Clause duties imposed on "the United States" are distributed to the officers of the coordinate branches that fall under their jurisdiction under the Constitution and the laws made thereunder.

Each branch has a duty that corresponds to powers.

To uphold their respective duties, Congress must legislate and appropriate; the President must execute and command; and the Supreme Court must decide the cases and controversies in its jurisdiction. (It's a bit of a letdown, I know.)

And the same would apply, to the same extent, where the Constitution does not specify a duty-bearer: The Constitution presumptively binds the United States, not the several States.

Who has the duty that a fugitive "be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime"? Art IV, §2, cl 2. Maybe just the United States. And that might be true of a lot of other things, too.

That's what the Notwithstanding Clause suggests.

VI.

Why include a clause like the Notwithstanding Clause in a Constitution?

In particular, why include it in an article that already provides that State judges must "be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution"? Art VI, cl 3.

It's tempting to say that the Notwithstanding Clause was added out of an abundance of caution. But text suggests that second clause, the Oath Clause, is doing something different.

The clauses have meaningfully different scope. The Notwithstanding Clause binds State judges. The Oath Clause also binds State judges, but it binds almost everyone else exercising state or federal authority:

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... Id.

In particular, note that the Oath Clause binds all classes of State officials. It binds not only "the Judges in every State," but also "the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers ... of the several States." Id.

If the Notwithstanding Clause was added to the Constitution out of an abundance of caution, it suggests that the Framers' abundance of caution had a limited scope. Their caution was addressed to State judges, not executives or legislatures.

Under the traditional canons of construction, the differences are important. Every word is significant, and must have its own effect. The inclusion of one thing is the exclusion of another.

Under the canons, the Notwithstanding Clause that binds judges to the Constitution and the laws of the United States, "any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding," does not apply to State legislatures and executive officers.

Likewise, the differences between the two duties must be given effect. Read together, the clauses tell us that "to support this Constitution" is not the same as to recognize it notwithstanding anything in the Constitution or Laws of any State. It means something less than that.

State and federal judges are bound by the Notwithstanding Clause. They must give effect to the Constitution and the laws of the United States, despite anything in the Constitution or the laws of any State.

But State legislatures and executives are not. They are bound by something less than that. To support the Constitution and the laws of the United States. But not against everything.

VII.

For State executives and legislatures, the Notwithstanding Clause allows the Constitution and laws of the State to bind them, notwithstanding the Constitution and laws of the United States.

The Notwithstanding Clause does not allow State legislatures or executives to bind themselves to the Constitution or laws of their State in any matter. They cannot prevail against the Reconstruction Amendments, the Nineteenth, Twenty-Fourth, and Twenty-Sixth Amendments, or any other provisions or laws passed thereunder that expressly regulating the States and their officers. But the original Constitution is a different matter.

State legislatures and executives could bind themselves to the State Constitution and State Law against any law or power of the United States that do not expressly apply against the States.

Like the Commerce Clause, for example.

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shahananasrin-blog · 7 months

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[ad_1] WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump's top lawyer put it bluntly when speaking at a conservative conference five years ago: The goal was to name judges who would help further the administration's deregulation agenda."There is a coherent plan here where actually the judicial selection and the deregulatory effort are really the flip side of the same coin," White House counsel Don McGahn said onstage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2018.That plan is bearing fruit. The Supreme Court’s new nine-month term starts Monday, with three major cases shaped by Trump-appointed judges that could hobble federal agencies already on the docket.The process started when, among other things, prospective Trump nominees were probed about their views on federal agency authority as their records were scrutinized for expertise on the issue, something previous administrations had not done, McGahn said. He cited Justice Neil Gorsuch, then recently appointed to the Supreme Court, as an example of what the White House was looking for.Long after Trump has left office, his judges and justices are making their mark just as McGahn predicted, serving as participants, liberal critics say, in what Trump adviser Steve Bannon called the "deconstruction of the administrative state."In all three cases now before the Supreme Court, Trump-appointed judges were involved in lower court rulings that teed up the legal issues for Supreme Court review. The court’s conservative majority has repeatedly shown its willingness to limit bureaucratic authority.Brianne Gorod of the left-leaning Constitutional Accountability Center said there had been a "long-standing multifaceted conservative attack on the administrative state" that includes two elements.The first is to find suitable plaintiffs to bring the challenges.The second is to ensure there are "judges on the bench who will be receptive to those arguments,” she said.McGahn did not respond to messages seeking comment on how Trump’s approach has fared.Trump made judicial appointments a priority, with the acquiescence of the Republican-led Senate. He appointed 54 appeals court judges and 174 district court judges, as well as three Supreme Court justices. President Joe Biden, aided by a now Democratic-controlled Senate, has followed Trump's lead in trying to fill judicial vacancies as quickly as possible, with considerable success.The Supreme Court hears oral arguments Tuesday in the first of the three regulatory cases currently on the docket. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Association of America threatens the federal agency that was established to protect consumers from unlawful financial services practices. At issue is whether the mechanism allowing the agency to be funded directly by the Federal Reserve instead of a specific congressional appropriation is unconstitutional.The challengers are represented by Noel Francisco, who served as solicitor general under Trump and, like McGahn, works for the Jones Day law firm. Francisco did not respond to a request for comment.In another case yet to be scheduled, Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarksey, the justices will consider whether to curb the power of the SEC to bring enforcement actions for securities violations.Finally, the court in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo will weigh whether to overturn a landmark ruling from 1984 that gave federal agencies leeway to interpret the law when the statute is not clear. It was Gorsuch's critique of that ruling, when serving as an appeals court judge, that helped put him on Trump's radar as a possible Supreme Court nominee.In both the CFPB and SEC cases, the Biden administration is appealing decisions against the government issued by conservative judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In the Loper Bright case, which concerns a challenge to a fishing regulation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which has a majority of Democratic appointees, ruled in favor of the government.In the CFPB case, all three judges — Don Willett, Kurt Engelhardt and Cory Wilson — were appointed by Trump. The decision against the agency was unanimous. Previously, District Court Judge Lee Yeakel, appointed by President George W. Bush, had ruled for the agency.The Jarksey decision, also by the 5th Circuit, included an all-Republican-appointee panel with one judge, Andrew Oldham, appointed by Trump. The other judges, Jennifer Elrod and Eugene Davis, were appointed by President George W. Bush and President Ronald Reagan, respectively. Davis dissented from the ruling that went against the agency. That case went directly to the appeals court, so there was no district court ruling.in Loper Bright, the appeals court was split 2-1 in ruling in favor of the agency. The majority consisted of Democratic appointees: Judge Sri Srinivasan, appointed by President Barack Obama, and Judge Judith Rogers, appointed by President Bill Clinton. The dissenter was a Trump appointee, Judge Justin Walker. The district court had ruled in favor of the agency in a decision issued by a Democratic appointee, Judge Emmet Sullivan.The 5th Circuit in particular, which has six Trump appointees among its 16 active judges, has a reputation as a favored place for conservative activists and Republicans to bring legal claims.The court includes judges who are "both extreme enough and aggressive enough to issue really kind of astonishing decisions," said Greg Lipper, a lawyer who filed a brief backing the CFPB.Jenn Mascott, a professor at George Mason University law school who filed a brief backing the challenge to the CFPB, pushed back on that assessment, saying that cases are shaped more by the people bringing them and their lawyers than the judges themselves."I really think it's the litigants shaping the claims. They decide what claims to bring. They face the action by the regulatory bodies," she said.There would not be so many cases taking aim at regulatory decisions if federal agencies were more restrained in wielding their power, she added."A lot of what we are seeing now is responding to the very broad actions taken by presidents and agencies under both parties," Mascott said. "I don’t think, no, that the process is particularly political."This article was originally published on NBCNews.com [ad_2]

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debtloanpayoff · 9 months

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gtunesmiff · 4 years

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(Preamble)

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.

Article I (Article 1 - Legislative)

Section 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

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.

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.

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 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.2 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, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.

4: When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.

5: The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.

Section 3

1: The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof,3 for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

2: Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies.4

3: No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.

4: The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

5: The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.

6: The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.

7: Judgment in Cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.

Section 4

1: The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.

2: The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December,5 unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.

Section 5

1: Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.

2: Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.

3: Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal.

4: Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

Section 6

1: The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.6 They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

2: No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased 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.

Section 7

1: 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.

2: 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 determined 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 their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.

3: Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a 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 two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.

Section 8

1: The Congress 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; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

2: To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

3: To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

4: To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

5: To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

6: To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

7: To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

8: 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;

9: To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

10: To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

11: To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

12: To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

13: To provide and maintain a Navy;

14: To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

15: To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

16: To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

17: To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;—And

18: To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Section 9

1: The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.

2: The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

3: No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

4: No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.7

5: No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.

6: No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.

7: No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.

8: No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

Section 10

1: No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

2: No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.

3: No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

Article II (Article 2 - Executive)

Section 1

1: The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows

2: Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

3: The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; A quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President.8

4: The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.

5: No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

6: In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office,9 the Same shall devolve on the VicePresident, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.

7: The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be encreased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.

8: Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:—“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.”

Section 2

1: 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.

2: 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 Officers 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.

3: 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.

Section 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.

Section 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 (Article 3 - Judicial)

Section 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.

Section 2

1: 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;10 —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.

2: 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 appellateJurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.

3: 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.

Section 3

1: 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.

2: 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 (Article 4 - States' Relations)

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.

Section 2

1: The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.

2: 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.

3: 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.11

Section 3

1: 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.

2: 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.

Section 4

Article V (Article 5 - Mode of Amendment)

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 (Article 6 - Prior Debts, National Supremacy, Oaths of Office)

1: 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.

2: 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.

3: 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 (Article 7 - Ratification)

The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.

The Word "the", being interlined between the seventh and eight Lines of the first Page, The Word "Thirty" being partly written on an Erazure in the fifteenth Line of the first Page. The Words "is tried" being interlined between the thirty second and thirty third Lines of the first Page and the Word "the" being interlined between the forty third and forty fourth Lines of the second Page.

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,

Attest

William Jackson

Secretary

Go: Washington -Presidt. and deputy from Virginia

Delaware

Geo: Read Gunning Bedford jun John Dickinson Richard Bassett Jaco: Broom

Maryland

James McHenry Dan of St Thos. Jenifer Danl Carroll.

Virginia

John Blair— James Madison Jr.

North Carolina

Wm Blount Richd. Dobbs Spaight. Hu Williamson

South Carolina

J. Rutledge Charles Cotesworth Pinckney Charles Pinckney Pierce Butler.

Georgia

William Few Abr Baldwin

New Hampshire

John Langdon Nicholas Gilman

Massachusetts

Nathaniel Gorham Rufus King

Connecticut

Wm. Saml. Johnson Roger Sherman

New York

Alexander Hamilton

New Jersey

Wil. Livingston David Brearley. Wm. Paterson. Jona: Dayton

Pennsylvania

B Franklin Thomas Mifflin Robt Morris Geo. Clymer Thos. FitzSimons Jared Ingersoll James Wilson. Gouv Morris

2K notes · View notes

oh-no-our-johnny-its-brocken · 3 years

Text

Article. I.

Section. 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.

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 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, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.

The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.

Section. 3.

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies.

No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.

Section. 4.

The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.

Section. 5.

Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.

Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal.

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

Section. 6.

The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased 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.

Section. 7.

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 determined 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 their 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 a 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 two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.

Section. 8.

The Congress 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; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an 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;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;—And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Section. 9.

The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

Section. 10.

No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

Article. II.

Section. 1.

The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; A quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President.

The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.

The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be encreased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:—"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."

Section. 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 Officers 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.

Section. 3.

Section. 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.

Section. 1.

Section. 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.

Section. 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.

Section. 2.

The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.

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.

Section. 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.

Section. 4.

Article. V.

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.

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.

The Word, "the," being interlined between the seventh and eighth Lines of the first Page, The Word "Thirty" being partly written on an Erazure in the fifteenth Line of the first Page, The Words "is tried" being interlined between the thirty second and thirty third Lines of the first Page and the Word "the" being interlined between the forty third and forty fourth Lines of the second Page.

Attest William Jackson Secretary

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 Independance of the United States of America the Twelfth In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names,

G°. Washington Presidt and deputy from Virginia

Delaware Geo: Read Gunning Bedford jun John Dickinson Richard Bassett Jaco: Broom

Maryland James McHenry Dan of St Thos. Jenifer Danl. Carroll

Virginia John Blair James Madison Jr.

North Carolina Wm. Blount Richd. Dobbs Spaight Hu Williamson

South Carolina J. Rutledge Charles Cotesworth Pinckney Charles Pinckney Pierce Butler

Georgia William Few Abr Baldwin

New Hampshire John Langdon Nicholas Gilman

Massachusetts Nathaniel Gorham Rufus King

Connecticut Wm. Saml. Johnson Roger Sherman

New York Alexander Hamilton

New Jersey Wil: Livingston David Brearley Wm. Paterson Jona: Dayton

Pennsylvania B Franklin Thomas Mifflin Robt. Morris Geo. Clymer Thos. FitzSimons Jared Ingersoll James Wilson Gouv Morris

10 notes · View notes

thehippesthop · 3 years

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@thehippesthop is proud to endorse Joe Biden for president of the United States.

We believe that what America needs most is a compassionate and comprehensive leader who not only knows how to get the job done, but also cares to listen to those who have long felt voiceless. Joe Biden has a strong track record of keeping his word and welcoming opinions that differ from his own. He and Sen. Harris will confront systemic racism and work tirelessly to unite the American people.

We’re ridin’ with Biden because he is a leader who is not afraid to assert that BLACK AND BROWN LIVES MATTER and will work to advance the economic mobility of minority groups and close the racial wealth and income gaps that plague black and brown communities. Joe Biden’s plan to assist minority groups centers around economic and educational reform, not incarceration and division.

A Biden/Harris administration will be ready to take on COVID-19 from day one by actually listening to science, ensuring public health decisions are informed by public health professionals, and restoring trust, transparency, common purpose, and accountability in our government.

@thehippesthop encourages YOU to make your voice heard. Send a message to Washington that will resonate for generations. We must leave no doubts on election day. Remember, the president just confirmed the sixth conservative judge who will serve on the Supreme Court. If we leave any doubt in this election, the president will turn to his 6-3 majority conservative Supreme Court to serve as the tiebreaker. We MUST vote.

Q: But, but, won’t Joe Biden raise my taxes?

A: Do you make over $400,000 a year? If so, yes! If not, no! Don’t listen to the celebrities who are trying to protect their own coin.

Don’t believe us? Click HERE.

Q: Hmm. But Joe Biden is a career politician who hasn’t done anything!

A: First off, Joe Biden has never been president of the United States. He has never had the supreme power that the current president flaunts on a daily basis. Joe Biden has dedicated his live to public service, an accomplishment that business man, President Trump, often ridicules. Who would you trust more to care about your well being: a cutthroat businessman whose slogan is “You’re fired,” or a small town gentleman who chose a life of public service?

Q: I don’t like either candidate, so I’m not voting...

A: You have rights that allow you to make this choice on your own. However, these same rights are being put into question by the current administration. How many times has the current president pissed you off with his antics? His homophobic, misogynistic, and racist rhetoric? Remember, in regard to women, he said he likes to “grab them by the p____”? Or when he called Mexicans rapists and drug dealers? Or when he called white supremacists, “very fine people”? Or more recently, when he blatantly refused to denounce white supremacy? Can you imagine your children hearing this from the president of the United States? We must stand up to bullies and for American values.

Q: Isn’t Joe Biden a socialist?

A: Joe Biden is NOT a socialist. He is a Democrat. His platform on health care, energy and other issues aligns with moderate Democrats, not socialists. The current president is using this as a fear tactic to scare undecided voters away from voting on a Biden ticket. Do not let fear tactics prevent you from accessing the truth. Remember, this is the same guy who calls any news that he doesn’t like, “fake news.”

Have other questions or concerns? Message us and we’ll do our best to respond publicly.

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alastairisdead · 3 years

Note

Article. I.

Section. 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.

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.

The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.

Section. 3.

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.

Section. 4.

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.

Section. 5.

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

Section. 6.

Section. 7.

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.

Section. 8.

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an 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;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

Section. 9.

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.

Section. 10.

Article. II.

Section. 1.

The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.

Section. 2.

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.

Section. 3.

Section. 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.

Section. 1.

Section. 2.

Section. 3.

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.

Section. 2.

The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.

Section. 3.

Section. 4.

Article. V.

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.

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.

Attest William Jackson Secretary

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 Independance of the United States of America the Twelfth In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names,

G°. Washington

Presidt and deputy from Virginia

Delaware

Geo: Read

Gunning Bedford jun

John Dickinson

Richard Bassett

Jaco: Broom

Maryland

James McHenry

Dan of St Thos. Jenifer

Danl. Carroll

Virginia

John Blair

James Madison Jr.

RAANDOM NOOOO

1 note · View note

dreaminginthedeepsouth · 4 years

Link

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

October 14, 2020

Heather Cox Richardson

Today began with a breathless story from the tabloid paper the New York Post alleging that, according to Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, had dropped off three laptops for repair in 2019 and had never picked them up again, and that the FBI subpoenaed the hard drives, but before turning them over the repairman had made a copy of the material on them, and he gave it to Giuliani, and it had incriminating material on it….

And yes, it’s as ridiculous as it sounds. Over the course of the day, real journalists have demolished the story, but it is still of note as news because of what its timing might mean.

First of all, the Trump campaign is in trouble. Polls show the president down by significant numbers, and the voters he has been trying to suppress are turning out in droves. Today Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, a Republican, issued a statement saying he “cannot support Donald Trump for President,” and the Biden campaign announced that it raised an eye-popping $383 million in September alone, a historic record which comes on top of the historic record of $364.5 million it set in August. This means Biden has $432 million on hand for the last month of the election. Dumping a story like this Hunter Biden fiction in a tabloid, which has wide reach among low-information voters, is a cheap fix for the Trump campaign. It might shore him up among those who will never see the wide debunking of the story.

Second, though, the timing of the story suggests it was designed to distract from the third and final day of Amy Coney Barrett’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in her hearing for confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court. The hearings have not been going particularly well for the Republicans. They have the votes to confirm her, and confirm her they will, but her insistence that she is an “originalist,” along with her refusal to answer any questions on topics relevant to the present, including on racial prejudice, climate change, voter suppression, and so on, have made her extremism clear.

Democrats have hammered home that putting Barrett on the court at this moment is an extraordinary power grab, and voters seem to agree. Turning attention away from the hearings would be useful for the Republicans when voters are on their way to the polls.

And yet, Republicans are determined to force her appointment through, even though it threatens to delegitimize the Supreme Court.

To what end?

The originalism of scholars like Barrett is an answer to the judges who, in the years after World War Two, interpreted the law to make American democracy live up to its principles, making all Americans equal before the law. With the New Deal in the 1930s, the Democrats under Franklin Delano Roosevelt had set out to level the economic playing field between the wealthy and ordinary Americans. They regulated business, provided a basic social safety net, and promoted infrastructure.

After the war, under Chief Justice Earl Warren, a Republican appointed by President Dwight Eisenhower, the Supreme Court tried to level the social playing field between Americans through the justices' interpretation of the law. They tried to end segregation through decisions like the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, which prohibited racial segregation in public schools. They protected the rights of accused prisoners to legal counsel, and the right of married couples to use contraception in 1965 (it had previously been illegal). They legalized interracial marriage in 1967. In 1973, they tried to give women control over their own reproduction by legalizing abortion with the Roe v. Wade decision.

The focus of the Supreme Court in these years was not simply on equality before the law. The justices also set out to make the government more responsible to its citizens. It required that electoral districts be roughly equal in population, so that a state could not have one district of a few hundred people with another with a hundred thousand, thus establishing the principle of “one man, one vote.”

These were not partisan decisions, or to the degree they were, they were endorsed primarily by Republicans. The Chief Justices of the Court during these years were Republicans Earl Warren and Warren Burger.

Today’s “originalists” are trying to erase this whole era of legislation and legal decisions. They argue that justices who expanded civil rights and democratic principles were engaging in “judicial activism,” taking away from voters the right to make their own decisions about how society should work. They say that justices in this era, and those like them in the present—people like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who protected women’s equality before the law-- were “legislating from the bench.” They hold tight to the argument that the Constitution is limited by the views of the Founders, and that the government can do nothing that is not explicitly written in that 1787 document.

Their desire to roll back the changes of the modern era serves traditional concepts of society and evangelical religion, of course, but it also serves a radical capitalism. If the government is as limited as they say, it cannot protect the rights of minorities or women. But it also cannot regulate business. It cannot provide a social safety net, or promote infrastructure, things that cost tax dollars and, in the case of infrastructure, take lucrative opportunities from private businesses. In short, under the theory of originalism, the government cannot do anything to rein in corporations or the very wealthy.

As Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), who is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, illustrated in careful detail at the Barrett hearings yesterday, it is no accident that Barrett’s nomination has the support of secret dark money donors. She will be the key vote to having a solid pro-corporate Supreme Court.

The Trump administration has made it clear that it favors private interests over public ones, combatting regulation and welfare programs, as well as calling for private companies to take over public enterprises like the United States Postal Service. But the New Deal government and the rights enshrined by the Warren and Burger courts are popular in America, so it is imperative for today’s radical Republicans that the courts cement their reworking of the country.

Former White House Counsel Don McGahn explained that the Trump administration wants to skew the judiciary to support its economic agenda. “There is a coherent plan here where actually the judicial selection and the deregulatory effort are really the flip side of the same coin,” he said.

The administration has backed pro-corporate judges whose nominations are bolstered by tens of millions of dollars worth of political advertising paid for by dark money. Trump's Supreme Court appointees have joined other Republican justices on the court, where they consistently prop up business interests—such as with the 2010 Citizens United decision allowing unlimited corporate money in elections—and attack voting rights, as in 2013 with the Shelby v. Holder decision gutting the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

In 2014, New York Times journalist Linda Greenhouse wrote that it is “impossible to avoid the conclusion that the Republican-appointed majority is committed to harnessing the Supreme Court to an ideological agenda.”

That ideological agenda has profound implications for our society as we know it, beginning with the Affordable Care Act, which the court is slated to take up on November 10, just a week after the election. But it is not just our healthcare that is at stake. At risk is the whole infrastructure of laws protecting our civil rights, as well as our democracy.

—-

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

Heather Cox Richardson

#Letters From An American #Heather Cox Richardson #political #election 2020 #The Courts #women #injustice #corrupt GOP #we the people #history #2020

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cornaviruscarwreck · 4 years

Text

Cherishing Columbus is a characteristic of white history, not American history.

“in fourteen hundred and nightly three, Columbus stole all he could see.”

Someone recently said to me that America has the greatest propaganda system ever created. Then my mom said to me that the people protecting the Columbus statue at Marconi Plaza in south philly probably do not know all the horrible things he represents. That I am blessed to have an education and an interest that is more expansive. She said they don’t know what they are depending. So I decided to compile a list of the things that make Columbus basically one of the worst historical figures. He is known for two things. 1- stealing the land and the genocide of indigenous peoples. 2- starting the transatlantic slave trade. I have provided ample primary sources as evidence. I am not clear on where the confusion lies….willful ignorance? Thats as kind as I can go.

So one concern may be that its not right to judge historical figures based on todays standards. Columbus was a slaver and a pedophile. The founders were slavers and the Greeks were pedophiles but we revere them. The point is not that Columbus did these things, the point is the way he did them was barbaric and inhuman. The point is that Columbus was not just a slaver or pedophile but a war criminal who committed atrocities against indigenous peoples and stole their lands. But MY point is that the story of Columbus has an insidious message, the history we teach our children is full of lies created as a system of propaganda and myth building. The myth of Columbus teaches us to identify with the oppressor, to ignore the perspective of those the land was stolen from, and the rhetoric of discovery implies only the feats of the white man matters.

“Not understanding their past renders many Americans incapable of thinking effectively about our present and future”

“Students of the dominant social group are taught lies in the guise of fact creating an ‘inverted world’ view which hide the unjust distribution of power in the past so they do not have the tools to identify them in the future.”

Myth: Columbus was bold and brave, ahead of his time while his crew was fearful of sailing over the edge of the world. “The people of your earth believed the earth to be flat; Columbus proved it was round.“-star trek

Fact: In Columbus’s time all educated people and most sailors believed the earth was a sphere.

Proof: It looks round. It casts a circular shadow on moon. Sailors see its roundness when ships disappear over the horizon, hull first, then sails.

Proof: Washington Irving made up flat earth fable in 1828

Propaganda: The lie makes Columbus a man of science who corrected our faulty geography That those who direct social enterprises are more intelligent than those nearer the bottom.

2. Myth: Columbus on the first voyage with the pinta, Nina, and Santa Maria braved a dangerous journal and the crew almost mutinied.

Fact: It was smooth sailing and at worst rained only the last day when they knew they were close to land

Fact: there was no mutiny, at best some grumpy sailors

Fact: the journey was no more than a month and they stopped at the Canary Islands and were given aid.

Propaganda: Columbus bravely succeeded in an arduous journey even while dealing with superstitious sailors.

3. Myth: Columbus was a skilled navigator and leader who hid the distance of his journey from the crew so they would not think they had gone too far from home.

Fact: Columbus had false entries in the log of Santa Maria to keep the route to the Indies secret. Columbus was a less experienced navigator than the Pinzon brothers who captained the Nina and Pinta

Proof: Columbus admits this later in his journal

Proof: argument from Salvador de Madariaga that we would have to think the others on the voyage were fools. Columbus had no special method available only to him whereby distances sailed could be more accurately reckoned than by the other pilots and masters

Propaganda: Those at the top are smarter than those at the bottom. Columbus was a genius navigator.

4. Myth: Columbus died alone and poor without recognition for his deeds

Fact: Columbus died well off.

Proof: He left his airs well endowed with the title: ‘Admiral of the Ocean Sea’ now carried by his 18th generation descendant

Propaganda: Columbus’s story is a tragedy of a brave man wrongly treated by the world

5. Myth: Columbus did not know he had reached a ‘new’ continent

Fact: He knew.

Proof: His journal entries

Propaganda: to humanize Columbus and maximize his greatness

6. Myth: Columbus discovered a ‘New World’

Fact: It was new only to Europeans

Proof: People had lived in Americas for thousands of years

Propaganda: the white European conquest was right and natural. Implies we have a right to this land and subtly says it was empty of anyone who mattered

Propaganda: justifies American exceptionalism and natural right to the world. In 1989 President George H.W. Bush invoked Columbus as a role model for the nation: “Christopher Columbus not only opened the door to a New World, but also set an example for us all by showing what monumental feats can be accomplished through perseverance and faith.”

7. Myth: Columbus ‘discovered’ America

Fact: Columbus not the first to discover America but the last

Fact: the rhetoric of discovery has been used to justify the stolen land

Proof: How can one person discover what another already knows and owns?

Propaganda: All the important discoveries are traceable to white Europe

Propaganda Analysis: “So long as our textbooks hide from us the roles that people of color have played in exploration, from at least 6000 BC to the twentieth century, they encourage us to look to Europe and its extensions as the seat of all knowledge and intelligence. So long as they say ‘discover’ they imply that whites are the only people who really matter.” -Lies My Teacher Told Me page 66

Use of Propaganda: words matter: In 1823 Chief Justice John Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court decried that Cherokees had certain rights to their land in Georgia by dint of their ‘occupancy’ but that whites had superior rights owing to their ‘discovery’. How American Indians managed to occupy Georgia without having previously discovered it Marshall neglected to explain.

8. Myth: Columbus was the first to voyage to the Americas across Atlantic.

Fact: The Norse, The Phoenicians and Africans sailed to America long before Columbus.

Fact: Columbus was not the first, just the first white catholic to make it

Fact: Phoenicians beat Columbus by over 2000 years

Fact: at best students are taught the Norse came a little earlier but they failed where we succeeded. No mention is made of the vast amounts of evidence that show other peoples traveling across the ocean

Proof: There were people already there and all humans originated from same place, so the indigenous peoples had to have traveled somehow

Proof: the huge face stones in Mexico have distinctly African features

Proof: archeological discoveries of tools and art

Propaganda: Only the feats of white people matter. All important developments can be traced to white Europeans

Propaganda: students learn that black feats are not considered important while white ones are.

9. Myth: Native Americans walked across the Atlantic in an Ice Age

Fact: Native Americans came to the Americas between 70,000 and 12,000 BC, from Siberia to Alaska

Proof: It is impossible to walk across the ocean even in an Ice Age

Propaganda: the natives people were primitive and European whites were smarter and more advanced

10. Myth: Columbus came for exploration and trade

Fact: Columbus’s purpose from the beginning was conquest and exploitation for which he used religion as a rationale to force the indigenous peoples to work for him

Proof: the Spanish sought gold, they killed Indians, and Indians fled and resisted.

Propaganda: Columbus’s venture had good intentions and his efforts were religiously motivated

11. Possible Myth: Columbus was a Catholic Italian

Fact: this is an unproven story

Fact: some scholars believe he was a jewish convert from Spain hiding from the inquisition.

Proof: He wrote in his journals in Spanish and could not write in Italian

Propaganda: Italian American Nationalism

12. Probable Myth: Columbus yelled ‘Tierra!’ Or ‘land’ when he spotted the coast and his first act on ground was to thank god

Fact: There is absolutely no proof this is the case

Proof: Considering all the other embellishments to the myth of Columbus it seems reasonable to think this is a lie as well.

Propaganda: focus white American identify with Columbus and the moment of ‘discovery’ not what Columbus did to the native peoples and lands he ‘discovered’

13. Myth: White Europeans invented navigation and sea fairing ships

Fact: Not true. White history says the design started with Henrey the Navigator of Portugal between 1415 and 1460.

Fact: Egyptians and Phoenicians where sailing long before white Europeans. Portugal probably saw their designs and that is where Columbus got his ‘new ship’.

Fact: There was nothing special about Columbus’s navigation abilities

Proof: massive amounts of archaeological data, including coins from ancient Rome.

Proof: If everyone originated in same place, then how did any people get there before Columbus?

Propaganda: all important discoveries came from white europeans and the natives where primitive and fortunate to be ‘civilized’

14. Myth: White Europeans conquered because they are/were naturally the stronger smarty people

Fact: History tells us it was one man but it was actually many cultures

Fact: White Europeans learned medicine and without the help of the native peoples would have starved for lack on knowledge of local agriculture

Fact: Democracy came from Indigenous Peoples

Fact: ‘Syncretism’ is combining the ideas from two or more cultures to something new.

Proof: Muslims preserved the wisdom of the greeks and enhanced it with ideas from china, india, and africa, then passing it on to Europe via Italy and spain

Propaganda: only white Europeans are strong and a multiracial society is not rational. Clearly, all advancement and progress has come from the white man.

Propaganda: European world domination is natural and inevitable

Propaganda: all culture and modern Tecnology comes from white europeans

15. Origin Myth: He was good and so are we.

Fact: Some people cannot accept Columbus as a villain. “But an honest account of history does not mean Columbus was bad and so are we. Textbooks should show that right morality or immorality cannot simply be conferred upon us by history. Merely being part of the United States, without regard to our own acts and ideas, does not make us immoral or moral human beings. History is more complicated than that.”

Truth of the Legacy of Christopher Columbus:

Columbus changed the world and revolutionized race relations.

His Legacy: the class of cultures and system of domination that still exist today

A bloody atrocity that left a legacy of genoicide and slavery that endures to some degree to this day.

Christopher Columbus changed the world in two ways: Colonization in the form of genoicide and Slavery

The taking of land, wealth, and labor from indigenous people in Western Hemisphere, leading to their near extermination.

Sunday October 14th 1492: “I could conquer the whole of them with fifty men, and govern them as I pleased.”

Columbus returned with Haitian Slaves and Ferdinand and Isabella outfitted Columbus for a second voyage with 17 ships, 1200-1500 men, cannons, crossbows, guns, cavalry, and attack dogs.

The War of the Worlds allegory

When the ‘primitive’ peoples were terrified by the advance Tecnology of the aliens Wells wanted us to sympathize with the natives on Haiti in 1943 or on Australia in 1788 or in the upper Amazon jungle today

Haiti

Conquer them he did. Columbus and his men demanded food, gold, spun cotton, women, ect.

Columbus used punishment by example to ensure cooperation

When an Indian committed even a minor offense, the Spanish cut off his ears or nose. Disfigured, the person was sent back to his village as living evidence of the brutality the Spanish were capable of

At first the resistance was passive but eventually they took up arms, their resistance gave Columbus an excuse to make war

Ferdinand Columbus’s biography of his father: “The soldiers mowed down dozens with point-blank volleys, loosed dogs to rip open limbs and bellies, chased fleeing Indians into the bush to skewer them on sword and pike and with God’s aid soon gained a complete victory, killing many Indians and capturing others who were also killed.”

Columbus’s created a tribute system where natives received a medallion after paying tribute and were safe for three months where they would have to provide another tribute or have their hands chopped off.

The encomienda system came later but was of Columbus’s design

Pedro de Cordoba wrote a letter to King Ferdinand in 1517 describing the Haiti that Christopher Columbus had created, "As a result of the sufferings and hard labor they endured, the Indians choose and have chosen suicide. Occasionally a hundred have committed mass suicide. The women, exhausted by labor, have shunned conception and childbirth . . . Many, when pregnant, have taken something to abort and have aborted. Others after delivery have killed their children with their own hands, so as not to leave them in such oppressive slavery.” -Lies My Teacher Told Me pg 57

The Haitians impaled themselves, drank poison, jumped off cliffs, hanged themselves and killed their children

Haiti Pre-Columbian

Estimates as high as 8 million.

1496 estimates of 3 million

1516 estimates of 12,000

1542 estimates of 200 full blooded Haitian Indians

1555 none.

The methods unleashed by Columbus are the larger part of his legacy. Other Nations rushed to emulate Columbus. “In 1501 the Portuguese began to depopulate Labrador, transporting the now extinct Beothuk Indians to Europe and Capa Verde as Slaves. After the English established beachheads on the Atlantic coast of North America, they encouraged capture and sell members of more distant tribes. Charleston South Carolina, became a major port of exporting American Indian Slaves. Pilgrims and Puritans sold the survivors of the Pequot War into Slavery in Bermuda in 1673. The French sipped virtually the entire Natchez nation in chains to the West Indies in 1731.”

2. The transatlantic slave trade which created a racial underclass

Columbus sent the first slaves across the Atlantic

Columbus sent more slaves across Atlantic than any other individual (5,000)

On Haiti Columbus did not find gold at first so he found another source of wealth

Columbus in letter to Ferdinand and Isabella in 1496 on Indian death rate: “Although they die now, they will not always die The negroes and Canary Islanders died at first.”

“there now began a rain of terror in Hispaniola”- Hans Koning

On The sexual slave trade

Columbus rewarded his lieutenants with native women to rape. They raided villages for sex and sport

Columbus wrote to friend in 1500 “A hundred castellanoes are as easily obtained for a women as for a farm, and it is very general and there are plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls; those from 9 to 10 are now in demand”

African slave trade

To replace dying Haitians, the Spanish imported tens of thousands more Indians from the Bahamas, to extinction

Because the Indians died, Columbus imported slaves from Africa. Beginning the massive slave trade the other way across the Atlantic, from Africa

Haitian revolution

Site of first large scale revolt, when blacks and American Indians banded together in 1519. The uprising lasted more than a decade and brought to end by Spanish in 1530s

In 1791-1804 Haitians Revolted in the first successful slave rebellion in the West

Who are our US History Textbooks written for?

Who are ‘we’? Columbus is no hero in Mexico even though Mexico is must more Spannish and might be expected to take pride in this hero of Spanish history. Why not? Because Mexico is much more Indian than US, and because Mexicans perceive Columbus as white and European.

‘the fundamental epistemic asymmetry between typical white views of blacks and typical black views of whites: these are not cognizers linked by a reciprocal ignorance but rather groups whose respective privilege and subordination tend to produce self-deception, bad faith, evasion, and misrepresentation on the one hand, and more veridical perceptions, on the other hand’

Continuing to use terms like ‘discovered’ and ‘civilized’ allow whites to think of selves as master to the native (even though colonization is over) and superior morally and intellectually.

“When history textbooks leave out the Arawaks, they offend Native Americans. When they omit the possibility of African and Phoenician precursors to Columbus, they offend African Americans. When they glamorize explores such as de Soto just because they were white, our histories offend all people of color. When they leave out Las Casas, they omit an interesting idealist with whom we all might identify. When they glorify Columbus, our textbooks prod us toward identifying with the oppressor. When textbook authors omit the causes and process of European world domination, they offer a history whose purpose must be to keep us unaware of the important questions.” -page 69, Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen

#lies my teacher told me #decolonize #columbus #phillyprotest

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washurdamnhands13 · 4 years

Text

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

4: When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.

5: The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.

Section 3

1: The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof,3 for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

4: The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

5: The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.

Section 4

2: The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December,5 unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.

Section 5

2: Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.

4: Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

Section 6

Section 7

1: 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.

Section 8

2: To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

3: To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

4: To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

5: To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

6: To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

7: To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

8: 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;

9: To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

10: To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

11: To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

12: To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

13: To provide and maintain a Navy;

14: To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

15: To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

Section 9

2: The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

3: No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

4: No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.7

5: No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.

Section 10

Article II (Article 2 - Executive)

Section 1

4: The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.

Section 2

3: 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.

Section 3

Section 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 (Article 3 - Judicial)

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

2: 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 (Article 4 - States' Relations)

Section 1

Section 2

1: The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.

Section 3

Section 4

Article V (Article 5 - Mode of Amendment)

Article VI (Article 6 - Prior Debts, National Supremacy, Oaths of Office)

1: 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.

Article VII (Article 7 - Ratification)

The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.

Attest William Jackson Secretary

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Constitution of the United States. 9/17/1787

Article. I.

Section. 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.

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.

The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.

Section. 3.

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.

Section. 4.

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.

Section. 5.

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

Section. 6.

Section. 7.

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 determined 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 their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.

Section. 8.

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an 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;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

Section. 9.

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another; nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.

Section. 10.

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it’s inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.

Article. II.

Section. 1.

The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; A quorum for this purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President.

The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.

The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:–“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.”

Section. 2.

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.

Section. 3.

Section. 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.

Section. 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.

Section. 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.

Section. 3.

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.

Section. 2.

The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.

Section. 3.

Section. 4.

Article. V.

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.

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.

The Word, “the,” being interlined between the seventh and eighth Lines of the first Page, the Word “Thirty” being partly written on an Erazure in the fifteenth Line of the first Page, The Words “is tried” being interlined between the thirty second and thirty third Lines of the first Page and the Word “the” being interlined between the forty third and forty fourth Lines of the second Page.

Attest William Jackson Secretary

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 Independance of the United States of America the Twelfth In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names,

G°. Washington Presidt and deputy from Virginia

Delaware Geo: Read Gunning Bedford Jr. John Dickinson Richard Bassett Jacob Broom

Maryland James McHenry Dan of St Thos. Jenifer Danl. Carroll

Virginia John Blair James Madison Jr.

North Carolina Wm. Blount Richd. Dobbs Spaight Hu Williamson

South Carolina J. Rutledge Charles Cotesworth Pinckney Charles Pinckney Pierce Butler

Georgia William Few Abr Baldwin

New Hampshire John Langdon Nicholas Gilman

Massachusetts Nathaniel Gorham Rufus King

Connecticut Wm. Saml. Johnson Roger Sherman

New York Alexander Hamilton

New Jersey Wil: Livingston David Brearley Wm. Paterson Jona: Dayton

Pennsylvania B Franklin Thomas Mifflin Robt. Morris Geo. Clymer Thos. FitzSimons Jared Ingersoll James Wilson Gouv Morris

Series: The Constitution of the United States, 9/17/1787 - 9/17/1787. Record Group 11: General Records of the United States Government, 1778 - 2006

(Animated Constitution via @usnatarchives‘ new channel on GIPHY)

#Constitution Day #US Constitution #Founding Fathers #1700s #1780s #September 17 #1787 #giphy #George Washington #Benjamin Franklin #James Madison #Alexander Hamilton #We the People #archivesgov

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