to be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its members. A majority to form a quorum. Rules of proceeding. Each House to keep a jour. nal. Yeas and nays. Adjournments of the Houses of Congress. 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. Compensation 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation of the Senators for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the Treaand Represensury 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. tions. Not to be in tatives. Privi- 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 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. 7. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of member of either Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other bills. House during his continuance in office. Bills for rais. ing revenue. 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 Bills, after hav- return it, with his objections, to that House in which it shall have origiing passed Congress, to be pre-nated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and prosented to the ceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two thirds of that ceedings when the President disapproves. President. Pro- 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, of both Houses (except 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 of adjournment) by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be re-passed by two thirds to be presented of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill. on a question to the President of the U. S. Powers of Congress. 8. The Congress shall have power(a) (a) Congress must possess the choice of means, and must be empowered to use any means, which are in fact conducive to the exercise of a power granted by the Constitution. United States v. Fisher, et al.; Assignees of Blight, 2 Cranch's Rep. 358; 1 Cond. Rep. 421. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, (a) 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:(b) 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:(c) To establish an uniform rule of naturalization,(d) and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States:(e) The powers granted to Congress are not exclusive of similar powers existing in the States, unless where the Constitution has expressly, in terms, given an exclusive power to Congress; or the exercise of a like power is prohibited to the States; or there is a direct repugnancy, or incompatibility in the exercise of it by the States. The example of the first class is to be found in the exclusive legislation delegated to Congress over places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the State in which the same shall be located for forts, arsenals, dock-yards, &c.; of the second class, of the prohibition of a State to coin money, or emit bills of credit; of the third class, the power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and the delegation of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction. In all other cases the States retain concurrent authority with Congress. Houston v. Moore, 5 Wheat. 1; 4 Cond. Rep. 589. An act of Congress repugnant to the Constitution cannot become the law of the land. Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch, 137; 1 Cond. Rep. 267. The mere grant of power to Congress does not imply a prohibition on the States' to exercise the same power. Whenever the terms in which such a power is granted to Congress require that it should be exercised exclusively by Congress, the subject is as completely taken from the State legislatures, as if they had been expressly forbidden to act upon it. Sturges v. Crowninshield, 4 Wheat. 122: 4 Cond. Rep. 409. (a) The power of Congress to levy and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, is co-extensive with the territory of the United States. Loughborough v. Blake, 5 Wheat. 317; 4 Cond. Rep. 660. The power of Congress to exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases whatever, within the District of Columbia, includes the power of taxing it. Ibid. The authority of Congress to lay and collect taxes, does not interfere with the power of the States to tax for the support of their own governments; nor is the exercise of that power by the States, an exercise of any portion of the power that is granted to the United States. Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1; Cond. Rep. 562. (b) The constitutional provision that direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States, according to their respective numbers, to be ascertained by a census, was not intended to restrict the power of imposing direct taxes to States only. Loughborough v. Blake, 5 Wheat. 317; 4 Cond. Rep. 660. (c) An act of Congress, laying an embargo for an indefinite period of time, is constitutional and valid. The United States v. The William, 2 Hall's Am. Law Jour. 255. The power of regulating commerce extends to the regulation of navigation. Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1; 5 Cond. Rep. 562. The power to regulate commerce extends to every species of commercial intercourse between the United States and foreign nations, and among the several States. It does not stop at the external boundary of a State; but it does not extend to a commerce which is completely internal. Ibid. The power to regulate commerce is general, and has no limitations but such as are prescribed by the Constitution itself. This power, so far as it extends, is exclusively vested in Congress, and no part of it can be exercised by a State. Ibid. The power of regulating commerce extends to navigation carried on by vessels employed in transporting passengers. Ibid. All those powers which relate to merely municipal legislation, or which may be properly called internal police, are not surrendered (by the States) or restrained, and consequently in relation to those the authority of a State is complete, unqualified, and exclusive. The City of N. York v. Miln, 11 Peters, 102. The act of the legislature of New York passed February 1824, entitled, An Act concerning passengers in vessels arriving in the port of New York," is not a regulation of commerce, but of police; and being so, it was passed in the exercise of a power which belonged to that State. Ibid. The power to regulate commerce, includes the power to regulate navigation, as connected with the commerce with foreign nations and among the States. It does not stop at the mere boundary line of a State, nor is it confined to acts done on the waters, or in the necessary course of the navigation thereof. It extends to such acts done on the land, which interfere with, obstruct, or prevent the due exercise of the powers to regulate commerce and navigation with foreign nations, and among the States. Any offence which thus interferes with, obstructs, or prevents such commerce and navigation, though done on land, may be punished by Congress, under its general authority to make all laws necessary and proper to execute their delegated constitutional powers. The United States v. Lawrence Coombs, 12 Peters, 72. Persons are not the subjects of commerce, and not being imported goods, they do not fall within the meaning founded upon the Constitution, of a power given to Congress, to regulate commerce, and the prohibition of the States for imposing a duty on imported goods. Ibid.; Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1; 5 Cond. Rep. 562. (d) Under the Constitution of the United States, the power of naturalization is exclusively in Congress. Chirac v. Chirac, 2 Wheat. 259; 4 Cond. Rep. 111; Houston v. Moore, 5 Wheat. 1; 4 Cond. Rep. 589. (e) The powers of Congress to establish uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcy throughout the B To coin mo. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and ney. To fix the fix the standard of weights and measures: standard of weights and measures. To punish counterfeiters. Post-offices. To promote the progress of science and useful arts. Inferior tribu nals. Piracies on the high seas. To declare war. To raise ar mies. Navy, &c. Government of the army and navy. Militia. For the orga. the militia. 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:(a) 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 nization, &c. of 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. (b) Exclusive Legislation over seat of govern of the U. S. Exclusive authority over pla. ces purchased with the consent of States. To make laws for carrying into execution all powers vested in government of U. S. Migration or importation of persons. 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.(c) 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. United States, does not exclude the right of the States to legislate on the same subject, except when the power is actually exercised by Congress, and the State laws conflict with those of Congress. Ogden v. Saunders, 12 Wheat. 213; 6 Cond. Rep. 523; Sturges v. Crowninshield, 4 Wheat. 122; 4 Cond. Rep. 409. Since the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, a state has authority to pass a Bankrupt law, provided such law does not impair the obligation of contracts; and provided there be no act of Congress in force to establish a uniform system of bankruptcy, conflicting with such law. Sturges v. Crowninshield, 4 Wheat. 122; 4 Cond. Rep. 409. (a) The act of the 3d March, 1819, chap. 76, sec. 5, referring to the law of nations for a definition of the crime of piracy, is a constitutional exercise of the power of Congress to define and punish that crime. United States v. Smith, 5 Wheat. 153; 4 Cond. Rep. 619. See also United States v. Palmer, 3 Wheat. 610; 4 Cond. Rep. 352. (b) The act of Congress of Feb. 28, 1795, to provide for the calling out the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions, is within the constitutional powers of Congress. Martin v. Mott, 12 Wheat. 19; 6 Cond. Rep. 410. (c) Congress must possess the choice of means, and must be empowered to use any means which are in fact conducive to the exercise of a power granted by the Constitution. United States v. Fisher et al., 2 Cranch, 358; 1 Cond. Rep. 421. Van Horne's Lessee v. Dorrance, 2 Dall. 304; Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch, 137; 1 Cond. Rep. 267, 268. The United States v. Bevans, 3 Wheat. 336; 4 Cond. Rep. 275. McCulloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheat. 316; 4 Cond. Rep. 466. United States v. Tingey, 5 Peters, 115. An. derson v. Dunn, 6 Wheat. 204. Dugan v. The United States, 3 Wheat. 172; 4 Cond. Rep. 223. The Exchange, 7 Cranch, 116; 2 Cond. Rep. 439. Osborn v. The Bank of the United States, 9 Wheat. 738; 5 Cond. Rep. 741. Harrison v. Sterry, 5 Cranch, 289; 2 Cond. Rep. 260. Postmaster General v. Early, 12 Wheat. 136; 6 Cond. Rep. 480. 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. (a) No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed.(b) 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. 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; (c) pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.(d) 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 its 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 control of the Congress. (e) 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. ART. II. 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: Writ of Ha beas Corpus. Bills of attainder, or ex post facto laws. Capitation or other direct tax. No tax or duty on articles exported from any State. No preference to ports of one State over another. No money drawn from the treasury but by law. Receipts and expenditures published, No title of nobility to be granted. Limitation of the powers of the States. Executive power vested in a President of the U. S. Duration of office. (a) Er parte Burford, 3 Cranch, 448. Ex parte Bollman, 4 Cranch, 75; 2 Cond. Rep. 33. Ex parte Kearney, 7 Wheat. 38; 5 Cond. Rep. 225. Ex parte Tobias Watkins, 3 Peters, 193. Ex parte Milburn, 9 Peters, 704. Martin v. Mott, 12 Wheat. 19; 6 Cond. Rep. 410. (b) The prohibition of the Federal Constitution of ex post facto laws extends to penal statutes only; and does not extend to cases affecting only the civil rights of individuals. Calder et al. v. Bull, 3 Dall. 386; 1 Cond. Rep. 172. Fletcher v. Peck, 6 Cranch, 87; 2 Cond Rep. 308. Ogden v. Saunders, 12 Wheat. 213; 6 Cond. Rep. 523. (c) Briscoe v. The Bank of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, 11 Peters, 257. Craig v. The State of Missouri, 4 Peters, 431. Sturges v. Crowninshield, 4 Wheat. 122; 4 Cond. Rep. 409. Ogden v. Saunders, 12 Wheat. 213; 6 Cond. Rep. 523. Cooper v. Telfair, 4 Dall. 14; 1 Cond. Rep. 211. (d) If any act of the legislature is repugnant to the Constitution, it is, ipso facto, void; and it is the duty of the court so to declare it. Vanhorne's Lessee v. Dorrance, 2 Dall. 304. The Constitution fixes the limits to the exercise of legislative authority, and prescribes the orbit in which it must move. Whatever may be the case in other countries, yet here there can be no doubt that any act of the Legislature repugnant to the Constitution is absolutely void. Ibid. Fletcher v. Peck, 6 Cranch, 87; 2 Cond. Rep. 308. The legislature of a state can pass no ex post facto law. An ex post facto law is one which renders an act punishable, which was not punishable when it was committed. Ibid. Houston v. Moore, 5 Wheat. 1; 4 Cond. Rep. 589. The invalidity of a state law, as impairing the obligation of contracts, does not depend on the extent of the change which the law effects in the contract. Green v. Biddle, 8 Wheat. 1; 5 Cond. Rep. 369. Briscoe v. The Bank of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, 11 Peters, 257. New Jersey v. Wilson, 7 Cranch, 164; 2 Cond. Rep. 457. Terrett v. Taylor, 9 Cranch, 43; 3 Cond. Rep. 254. Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward, 4 Wheat. 518; 4 Cond. Rep. 526. The Proprietors of the Charles River Bridge v. The Proprietors of the Warren Bridge, 11 Peters, 420. Sturges v. Crowninshield, 4 Wheat. 122; 4 Cond. Rep. 409. Hawkins v. Barney's Lessee, 5 Peters, 456. Mason v. Haile, 12 Wheat, 370; 6 Cond. Rep. 535. Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank v. Smith, 6 Wheat. 131; 5 Cond. Rep. 35. Satterlee v. Matthewson, 2 Peters, 380. Wilkinson v. Leland, 2 Peters, 627. (e) Brown v. The state of Maryland, 12 Wheat. 419; 6 Cond. Rep. 554. Manner of electing President and Vice President. Electors of President and Vice President. Qualifications of the President. Vacancy in the office of President. How supplied. Compensation for the services of the President. Oath of office of the President. Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereo 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 choose 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 choose the President. But in choosing 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 choose from them by ballot the Vice President. (a) The Congress may determine the time of choosing 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 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." § 2. The President shall be commander-in-chief of the army and (a) By an amendment to the Constitution, a substitute for this paragraph was adopted. Amendment, Art. 12, 1. This amendment was proposed in October 1803, and was ratified before September 1804, See the amendment, post, p. 22, |