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He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries, to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the

head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince whose character is thus marked by every act wh.ch may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts, by their legislature, to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity; and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connexions and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in general congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world, for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connexion between them and the state of Great Britain, is, and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things, which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

JOHN HANCOCK.

New Hampshire.-Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew

Thornton.

Massachusetts Bay-Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry.

Rhode Island, &c.-Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery, Connecticut. Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott.

New York.-William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris.

New Jersey-Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark.

Pennsylvania. Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross.

Delaware.-Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas M'Kean. Maryland.-Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll, of Carrollton.

Virginia.-George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jun., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton.

North Carolina.-William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn. South Carolina.-Edward Rutledge, Thomas Hayward, Jun., Thomas Lynch, Jun., Arthur Middleton.

Georgia.-Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton.

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.

WE, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

ARTICLE I.

SECTION 1. All legislative powers herein granted, shall be vest- Legislative ed in a congress of the United States, which shall consist of a powers. senate and house of representatives.

house of representatives:

SEC. 2. The house of representatives shall be composed of Members of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states; and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications how chosen. requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature.

of.

No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained Qualification 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.

Census.

[Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among Representation the several states which may be included within this union, accord- and taxation. ing 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 choose three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Is and 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, Vacancies. the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.

*The clause included in brackets is amended by the 14th amendment, 2d section.

Officers.
Impeachment.

Senate.

Senators classed.

The house of representatives shall choose their speaker and other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment.

SEC. 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 sha:1 not have attained to the Qualifications 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.

of senators.

The vice-president of the United States shall be president of Vice-president. the senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided. The senate shall choose 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.

Senate to choose its officers.

To try

The senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When sitting for that purpose they shall be on oath or aflirmaimpeachments. tion. 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 on impeachment.

Election of members of congress,

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.

SEC. 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 choosing

senators.

The congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless meet annually. they shall by law appoint a different day.

Congress to

judged.

SEC. 5. Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns, Elections: how 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.

Quorum.

Rules.

Journals.

Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member.

Each house shali 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 Adjournment. 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.

SEC. 6. The senators and representatives shall receive a Compensation. compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and privileges. 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.

from office.

No senator or representative shall, during the time for Exclusion which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emolument whereof shall have been increased 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. SEC. 7. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the Bills for house of representatives; but the senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other bills.

revenue.

their passage.

Every bill which shall have passed the house of representatives Bills, the forand the senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to malities of 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 sane 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 Resolutions, the senate and house of representatives may be necessary (except &c., to be approved. 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.

SEC. 8. The congress shall have power:

Powers of

To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the congress. debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of Taxes. 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;

Borrowing.

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