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A list of the Members and Delegates of the House of Representatives at the present session, and of the standing and select committees of the House for the present session, is also given, together with a diagram of the hall of the House and the seats of Members and Delegates, thus making the Digest in all essential particulars a complete "official manual" of the House of Representatives.

In view of the fact that no joint rules have been adopted since the Forty-third Congress-thus leaving unregulated the manner of transacting business with the Senate, including the appointment and proceedings of conference committees, the enrollment of bills, and their presentation to the President, etc.the compiler has included in this edition numerous additional decisions and much additional matter in relation to conference committees and methods of procedure, together with many additional decisions touching general appropriation bills and practice in Committees of the Whole House.

Special attention is again called to the plan of the index to the Rules and Digest, which has thus far received universal commendation. In the earlier editions the index did not separate or distinguish between a rule or ruling thereon, so that until the page was found and the subject examined it was impossible to determine its exact character. In this, as in recent editions, the rule and ruling are carefully separated, and a glance suffices to show just where to look for the subject or matter sought. To those familiar with legislative proceedings and parliamentary discussions the value of this will readily appear.

Under each subhead is given first the reference to a particular rule or rules, by clauses, and then follows the reference to the Digest proper, which may either be an extract or citation from the Constitution, Revised Statutes, a House Journal, or a statement of the compiler as to the parliamentary practice in respect to any particular matter.

WASHINGTON, D. C., February 20, 1888

HENRY H. SMITH.

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES-1787.*

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.

Chisholm v. Georgia, 2 Dall., 419; McCulloch v. State of Maryland et al., 4 Wh., 316; Brown et als. v. Maryland, 12 Wh., 419; Barron v. The Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, 7 Pet., 243; Lane County v. Ore. gon, 7 Wall., 71; Texas 7. White et al., 7 Wall., 700.

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.

Hayburn's case (notes), 2 Dall., 409.

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.

*In May, 1785, a committee of Congress made a report recommending an alteration in the Articles of Confederation, but no action was taken on it, and it was left to the State Legislatures to proceed in the matter. In January, 1786, the Legislature of Virginia passed a resolution providing for the appointment of five commissioners, who, or any three of them, should meet such commissioners as might be appointed in the other States of the Union, at a time and place to be agreed upon, to take into consideration the trade of the United States; to consider how far a uniform system in their commercial regulations may be necessary to their common interest and their permanent harmony; and to report to the several

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"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.

States such an act, relative to this great object, as, when ratified by them, will enable the United States in Congress effectually to provide for the same. The Virginia commissioners, after some correspondence, fixed the first Monday in September as the time, and the city of Annapolis as the place for the meeting, but only four other States were represented, viz: Delaware, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; the commissioners appointed by Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Rhode Island failed to attend. Under the circumstances of so partial a representation, the commissioners present agreed upon a report, (drawn by Mr. Hamilton, of New York,) expressing their unanimous conviction that it might essentially tend to advance the interests of the Union if the States by which they were respectively delegated would concur, and use their endeavors to procure the concurrence of the other States, in the appointment of commissioners to meet at Philadelphia on the second Monday of May following, to take into consideration the situation of the United States; to devise such further provisions as should appear to them necessary to render the Constitution of the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union; and to report such an act for that purpose to the United States in Congress assembled as, when agreed to by them and afterwards confirmed by the Legislatures of every State, would effectually provide for the same.

Congress, on the 21st of February, 1787, adopted a resolution in favor of a convention, and the Legislatures of those States which had not already done so (with the exception of Rhode Island) promptly appointed delegates. On the 25th of May, seven States having convened, George Washington, of Virginia, was unanimously elected President, and the consideration of the proposed constitution was commenced. On the 17th of September, 1787, the Constitution as engrossed and agreed upon was signed by all the members present, except Mr. Gerry, of Massachusetts, and Messrs. Mason and Randolph, of Virginia. The president of the convention transmitted it to Congress, with a resolution stating how the proposed Federal Government should be put in operation, and an explanatory letter. gress, on the 28th of September, 1787, directed the Constitution so framed, with the resolutions and letter concerning the same, to "be transmitted to the several Legislatures in order to be submitted to a convention of delegates chosen in each State by the people thereof, in conformity to the resolves of the convention."

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On the 4th of March, 1789, the day which had been fixed for commencing the operations of Government under the new Constitution, it had been ratified by the conventions chosen in each State to consider it, as follows: Delaware, December 7, 1787; Pennsylvania, December 12, 1787; New Jersey, December 18, 1787; Georgia, January 2, 1788; Connecticut, January 9, 1788; Massachusetts, February 6, 1788; Maryland, April 28, 1788; South Carolina, May 23, 1788; New Hampshire, June 21, 1788; Virginia, June 26, 1788; and New York, July 26, 1788.

The President informed Congress, on the 28th of January, 1790, that North Carolina had ratified the Constitution November 21, 1789; and he informed Congress on the 1st of June, 1790, that Rhode Island had ratified the Constitution May 29, 1789. Vermont, in convention, ratified the Constitution January 10, 1791, and was, by an act of Congress approved February 18, 1791, "received and admitted into this Union as a new and entire member of the United States."

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