CITIZENS RULE BOOK
CITIZENS RULE BOOK
"Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty."
-Corinthians 3:17
Rights Come From God!
JURY HANDBOOK
A Palladium of Liberty
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LINCOLN said "Study the Constitution!"
"Let it be preached from the pulpit,
proclaimed in legislatures, and
enforced in courts of justice."
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Editorial Work By Webster Adams
PAPERHOUSE PUBLICATIONS
"Stronger than Steel!"
4th Revision
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RIGHTS COME FROM GOD, NOT THE STATE!
"You have rights antecedent to all earthly governments; rights that
cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the
Great Legislator of the Universe."
-John Adams, Second President of the United States
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SEC. I A HANDBOOK FOR JURORS
Jury Duty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
You are above the Law! . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Jury Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Law of the Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Ten Commandments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Communist Manifesto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Give Up Rights? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Jury Tampering? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
SEC. II GIVE ME LIBERTY ...
Patrick Henry Shocked . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Jury of Peers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Freedom for William Penn . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Jefferson's Warnings! . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
SEC. III ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
Index to the documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
The Declaration of Independence . . . . . . . . . . . 26
(Original Title -- Page 26)
The Constitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
The Bill of Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Page 1
SEC. 1 A HANDBOOK FOR JURORS
"...That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of Freedom..."
-Abraham Lincoln
JURY DUTY!
The purpose of this booklet is to revive, as Jefferson put it, "The
Ancient Principles." It is not designed to promote lawlessness or a return
to the jungle. The "Ancient Principles" refer to the Ten Commandments and
the Common Law. The Common Law is, in simple terms, just plain common sense
and has its roots in the Ten Commandments.
In 1776 we came out of BONDAGE with FAITH, UNDERSTANDING and COURAGE.
Even against great odds, and with much bloodshed, we battled our way to
achieve LIBERTY. LIBERTY is that delicate balance between the force of
government and FREEWILL of man. LIBERTY brings FREEDOM of choice to work,
to trade, to go and live where one wishes; it leads to ABUNDANCE.
ABUNDANCE, if made an end to itself, will result in COMPLACENCY which leads
to APATHY. APATHY is the "let George do it" philosophy. THis always brings
DEPENDENCY. For a period of time, dependents are often not aware they are
dependent. They delude themselves by thinking that they are still free --
"We never had it so good." -- "We can still vote, can't we?" Eventually
abundance diminishes and DEPENDENCY becomes known by its true nature:
BONDAGE!!!
There are few ways out of bondage. Bloodshed and war often result, but
our founding fathers learned of a better way. Realizing that a CREATOR is
always above and greater than that which He creates, they established a
three vote system by which an informed citizenry can control those acting in
the name of the government. To be a good master you must always remember
the true "pecking order" or chain of command in this nation:
1. GOD created man . . .
2. Man (that's you) created the Constitution . . .
3. Constitution created government . . .
4. Government created corporations . .
etc.
The base of power was to remain in WE THE PEOPLE but unfortunately, it
was lost to those leaders acting in the name of the government, such as
politicians, bureaucrats, judges, lawyers, etc.
As a result America began to function like a democracy instead of a
REPUBLIC. A democracy is dangerous because it is a one-vote system as
opposed to a Republic, which is a three-vote system: Three votes to check
tyranny, not just one. American citizens have not been informed of their
other two votes.
Our first vote is at the polls on election day when we pick those who
are to represent us in the seats of government. But what can be done if
those elected officials just don't perform as promised or expected? Well,
the second two votes are the most effective means by which the common people
of any nation on earth have even had in controlling those appointed to serve
them in government.
The second vote comes when you serve on a Grand Jury. Before anyone can
be brought to trial for a capital or infamous crime by those acting in the
name of the government, permission must be obtained from people serving on
the Grand Jury! The Minneapolis Star and Tribune in March 27, 1987, edition
noted a purpose of the grand Jury in this way:
"A Grand Jury's purpose is to protect
the public from an overzealous prosecutor."
The third is the most powerful vote: this is when you are acting as a
jury member during a courtroom trial. At this point, "the buck stops" with
you!It is in this setting that each JUROR has MORE POWER than the President,
all of Congress, and all of the judges combined! Congress can legislate
(make law), the President or some other bureaucrat can make an order or
issue regulations, and judges may instruct or make a decision, but no JUROR
can ever be punished for voting "Not Guilty!" Any juror can, with impunity,
choose to disregard the instructions of any judge or attorney in rendering
his vote. If only one JUROR should vote "Not Guilty" for any reason, there
is no conviction and no punishment at the end of the trial. THus, those
acting in the name of government must come before the common man to get
permission to enforce law.
YOU ARE ABOVE THE LAW!
As a JUROR in a trial setting, when it comes to your individual vote of
innocent or guilty, you are truly answerable to GOD ALMIGHTY. The First
Amendment to the Constitution was born out of this great concept. However,
judges of today refuse to inform JURORS of their RIGHTS. THe Minneapolis
Star and Tribune in a news paper article appearing in its November 30, 1984
edition, entitled: "What Judges Don't Tell Juries" stated:
"At the time of adoption of the Constitution, the jury's role
as a defense against political oppression was unquestioned in
American jurisprudence. This nation survived until the 1850's,
when prosecutions under the Fugitive Slave Act were largely
unsuccessful because juries refused to convict"
"Then judges began to erode the institution of free juries,
leading to the absurd compromise that is the current state of the
law. While our courts uniformly state juries have the power to
return a verdict of not guilty whatever the facts, they routinely
tell jurors the opposite."
"Further, the courts will not allow the defendants or their
counsel to inform the jurors of their true power. A lawyer who
made . . . Hamilton's argument would face professional discipline
and charges of contempt of court."
"By what logic should juries have the power to acquit a
defendant but no right to know about that power? The court
decisions that have suppressed the notion of jury nullification
cannot resolve this paradox."
"More than logic has suffered. As originally conceived,
juries were to be made a safety valve way to soften the
bureaucratic rigidity of the judicial system by introducing the
common sense of the community. If they are to function
effectively as the `conscience of the community,' jurors must be
told that they have the power and the right to say no to a
prosecution in order to achieve a greater good. To cut jurors off
from this information is to undermine one of our most important
institutions."
"Perhaps the community should educate itself. Then citizens
called for jury duty could teach the judges a needed lesson in
civics."
This booklet is designed to bring to your attention one important way
our nation's founders provided to insure that you, (not the growing army of
politicians, judges, lawyers, and bureaucrats) rule this nation. it will
focus on the rule of power you possess as a JUROR, how you got it, why you
have it, and remind you of the basis on which you must decide not only the
facts placed in evidence but also the validity or applicability of every
law, rule, regulation, ordinance, or instruction given by any man seated as
a judge or attorney when you serve as a JUROR.
One JUROR can stop tyranny with a "NOT GUILTILY VOTE!" He can nullify
bad law in any case, by "HANGING THE JURY!"
"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I
can do something. What I can do, I should do and, with the help of
God, I will do!"
-Everett Hale
+-----------------------------------+
| The only power the judge has over |
| the JURY is their ignorance! |
+-----------------------------------+
JURY RIGHTS
"The jury has the right to judge both the law as well as the
fact in controversy."
-John Jay, 1st Chief Justice
U.S. supreme Court, 1789
"The jury has the right to determine both the law and the
facts."
-Samuel Chase, U.S. supreme
Court Justice, 1796, Signer
of the unanimous Declaration
"The jury has the power to bring a verdict in the teeth of
both law and fact."
-Oliver Wendell Holmes, U.S.
supreme Court Justice, 1902
"The law itself is on trial quite as much as the cause which
is to be decided."
-Harlan F. Stone, 12th Chief
Justice U.S. supreme Court,
1941
"The pages of history shine on instances of the jury's
exercise of its prerogative to disregard instructions of the
judge..."
-U.S. vs. Dougherty, 473 F 2nd
1113, 1139. (1972)
LAW OF THE LAND
The general misconception is that any statute passed by legislators
bearing bearing the appearance of law constitutes the law of the land. The
U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and any statute, to be
valid, must be in agreement. It is impossible for a law which violates the
Constitution to be valid. This is succinctly stated as follows:
"All laws which are repugnant to the Constitution are null and
void." Marbury vs. Madison, 5 US (2 Cranch) 137, 174, 176, (1803)
"When rights secured by the Constitution are involved, there
can be no rule making or legislation which would abrogate them."
Miranda vs. Arizona, 384 US 436 p. 491.
"An unconstitutional act is not law; it confers no rights; it
imposes no duties; affords no protection; it creates no office; it
is in legal contemplation, as inoperative as though it had never
been passed." Norton vs. Shelby County 118 US 425 p. 442
"The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though
having the form and name of law, is in reality no law, but is
wholly void, and ineffective for any purpose; since
unconstitutionality dates from the time of its enactment, and not
merely from the date of the decision so branding it.
"No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts
are bound to enforce it." 16 Am Jur 2nd, Sec 177 late 2d, Sec 256
A SUMMARY OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
The TEN COMMANDMENTS represent GOD'S GOVERNMENT OVER MAN! GOD commands
us for our own good to give up wrongs and not rights! HIS system always
results in LIBERTY and FREEDOM! The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are
built on this foundation, which provides for punitive justice. It is not
until one damages another persons property that he can be punished. The
Marxist system leads to bondage and GOD'S system leads to LIBERTY! Read
very carefully:
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath to keep it Holy.
5. Honor thy father and thy mother.
6. Thou shalt not murder.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness.
10. Thou shalt not covet.
Directly above the Chief Justice's chair is a tablet signifying the TEN
COMMANDMENTS. When the Speaker of the House in the U.S. Congress looks up,
his eyes look into the face of Moses.
"The Bible is the Book upon which this Republic rests."
-Andrew Jackson, Seventh
President of the United States
"The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures
ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws.
All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime,
ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery, and war, proceed from
their despising or neglecting the precepts of the Bible."
-Noah Webster
A SUMMARY OF THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO
The Communist Manifesto represents a misguided philosophy, which teaches
the citizens to give up their RIGHTS for the sake of the "common good," but
it always ends in a police state. This is called preventive justice.
Control is the key concept. Read carefully:
1. Abolition of private property.
2. Heavy progressive income tax.
3. Abolition of all rights on inheritance.
4. Confiscation of property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Central bank.
6. Government control of Communications & Transportation.
7. Government ownership of factories and agriculture.
8. Government control of labor.
9. Corporate farms, regional planning.
10. Government control of education.
GIVE UP RIGHTS FOR THE "COMMON GOOD"?
+--------------------------------------+
| Where people fear the government you |
| have tyranny; where the government |
| fears the people, you have liberty. |
+--------------------------------------+
Politicians, bureaucrats and especially judges would have you believe
that too much freedom will result in chaos. Therefore, we should gladly
give up some of our RIGHTS for the good of the community. In other words,
people acting in the name of the government, say we need _more laws_ and
more JURORS to enforce these laws -- even if we have to give up some RIGHTS
in the process. They believe the more laws we have, the more control, thus
a better society. THis theory may sound good on paper, and apparently many
of our leaders think this way, as evidenced by the thousands of new laws
that are added to the books each year in this country. But, no matter how
cleverly this Marxist argument is made, the hard fact is that whenever you
give up a RIGHT you lose a "FREE CHOICE"!
This adds another control. Control's real name is BONDAGE! The logical
conclusion would be, if giving up some RIGHTS produces a better society,
then by giving up all RIGHTS we could produce a perfect society. We could
chain everybody to a tree, for lack of TRUST. This may prevent crime, but
it would destroy PRIVACY, which is the heartbeat of FREEDOM! It would also
destroy TRUST which is the foundation for DIGNITY. Rather than giving up
RIGHTS, we should be giving up wrongs! The opposite of control is not
chaos. More laws do not make less criminals! We must give up wrongs, not
rights, for a better society! William Pitt of the British House of Commons
once proclaimed,
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human
liberty; it is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
INALIENABLE, [UNALIENABLE] OR NATURAL RIGHTS!
NATURAL RIGHTS ARE THOSE RIGHTS such as life (from conception), LIBERTY and
the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS eg. FREEDOM of RELIGION, SPEECH, LEARNING, TRAVEL,
SELF-DEFENSE, ETC. Hence laws and statutes which violate NATURAL RIGHTS,
though they may have the color of law, are not law but impostors! The U.S.
Constitution was written to protect these NATURAL RIGHTS from being tampered
with by legislators. * Further, our forefathers also wisely knew that the
U.S. Constitution would be utterly worthless to restrain government
legislators unless it was clearly understood that the people had the right to
compel the government to keep within the Constitutional limits.
+-----------------------------------+
| In a jury trial the real judges |
| are the JURORS! Surprisingly, |
| judges are actually just referees |
| bound by the Constitution! |
+-----------------------------------+
*Lysander Spooner wrote as follows:
"Government is established for the protection of the weak
against the strong. This is the principal, if not the sole motive
for the establishment of all legitimate government. It is only
the weaker party that loses their liberties, when a government
becomes oppressive. The stronger party, in all governments are
free by virtue of their superior strength. They never oppress
themselves. Legislation is the work of the stronger party; and
if, in addition to the sole power of legislation, they have the
sole power of determining what legislation shall be enforced, they
have all power in their hands, and the weaker party are the
subjects of an absolute government. Unless the weaker party have
veto, they have no power whatever in the government . . . no
liberties . . . The trial by jury is the only institution that
gives the weaker party any veto upon the power of the stronger.
Consequently it is the only institution that gives them any
effective voice in the government, or any guaranty against
oppression.
ESSAY on the TRIAL by Jury
--------------------------
JURY TAMPERING?
A JURY's Rights, Powers and Duties:
The Charge to the JURY in the First JURY Trial before the supreme* Court
of the U.S. Illustrates the TRUE POWER OF THE JURY. In the February term of
1794, the supreme Court conducted a JURY trial and said ". . . it is
presumed, that the juries are the best judges of facts; it is, on the other
hand, presumed that the courts are the best judges of law. But still both
objects are within our power of decision."
"You have a right to take upon yourselves to judge of both,
and to determine the law as well as the fact in controversy."
-(State of Georgia vs.
Brailsford, et al, 3 Dall. 1)
"The JURY has an unreviewable and unreversible power . . . to
acquit in disregard of the instructions on the law given by the
trial judge . . ." (emphasis added)
-U.S. vs. Dougherty, 473 F 2nd
1113, 1139 (1972)
Hence, JURY disregard of the limited and generally conviction-oriented
evidence presented for its consideration, and JURY disregard for what the
trial judge wants them to believe is the controlling law in particular case
(sometimes referred to as "JURY lawlessness")* is not something to be
scrupulously avoided, but rather encouraged. Witness the following
quotation from the eminent legal authority above-mentioned: "Jury
lawlessness is the greatest corrective of law in its actual administration.
The will of the state at large imposed on a reluctant community, the will of
a majority imposed on a vigorous and determined minority, find the same
obstacle in the local JURY that formerly confronted kings and ministers."
(emphasis added) (Dougherty cited above, note 32 at 1130)
*Supreme is not capitalized in the Constitution, however Behavior is.
*Jury lawlessness means willingness to nullify bad law.
The Right of the JURY to be Told of Its Power
Almost every JURY in the land is falsely instructed by the judge when it
is told it must accept as the law that which is given to them by the court,
and that the JURY can decide only the facts of the case. This is to destroy
the purpose of a Common Law JURY, and to permit the imposition of tyranny
upon a people.
"There is nothing more terrifying than ignorance in action."
-Goethe (engraved on a plaque
at the Naval War College)
"To embarrass justice by a multiplicity of laws, or to hazard
it by confidence in judges, are the opposite rocks on which all
civil instructions have been wrecked."
-Johnson (engraved in
Minnesota State Capitol
Outside the Supreme Court
Chambers)
". . . The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."
-II Corinthians 3:6
"It is error alone which needs the support of government.
truth can stand by itself."
-Thomas Jefferson
The JURY'S options are by no means limited to the choices presented to
it in the courtroom. "The jury gets its understanding as to the
arrangements in the legal system from more than one voice. There is the
formal communication from the `judge.' There is informal communication from
the total culture -- literature; current comment, conversation; and, of
course, history and tradition." (Dougherty cited above, at 1135)
LAWS, FACTS AND EVIDENCE!
Without the power to decide what facts, law and evidence are applicable,
JURIES cannot be a protection to the accused. If people acting in the name
of government are permitted by JURORS to dictate any law whatever, they can
also unfairly dictate what evidence is admissible or inadmissible and
thereby prevent the WHOLE TRUTH from being considered. Thus if government
can manipulate and control both the law and the evidence, the issue of fact
becomes virtually irrelevant. In reality, true JUSTICE would be denied
leaving us with a trial by government and not a trial by JURY!
HOW DOES TYRANNY BEGIN?
WHY ARE THERE SO MANY LAWS?
Heroes are men of glory who are so honored because of some heroic deed.
People often out of gratitude yield allegiance to them. Honor and
allegiance are nice words for power! Power and allegiance can only be held
rightfully by trust as a result of continued character.
When people acting in the name of government violate ethics, they break
trust with "WE THE PEOPLE." The natural result is for "WE THE PEOPLE" to
pull back power (honor and allegiance).
The loss of power creates fear for those losing the power. Fearing
loss of power, people acting in the name of government often seek to regain
or at least hold their power. Hence, to legitimize their quest for control,
laws and force are often instituted.
Unchecked power is the foundation of tyranny. It is the JUROR'S duty to
use the JURY ROOM as a vehicle to stem the tide of oppression and tyranny:
To prevent bloodshed by peacefully removing power from those who have abused
it. The JURY is the primary vehicle for peaceful restoration of LIBERTY,
POWER AND HONOR TO "WE THE PEOPLE!"
YOUR VOTE COUNTS!
Your vote of NOT Guilty must be respected by all members of the JURY --
it is the RIGHT and DUTY of a JUROR to Never, Never, Never yield his or her
sacred vote -- for you are not there as a fool, merely to agree with the
majority, but as an officer of the court and a qualified judge in your own
right. Regardless of the pressures or abuse that may be heaped on you by
any other members of the JURY with whom you may be in good conscience to
disagree, you can await the reading of the verdict secure in the knowledge
you have voted your own conscience and convictions -- and not those of
someone else.
YOU ARE NOT A RUBBER STAMP!
By what logic do we send our youth to battle tyranny on foreign soil,
while we refuse to do so in our courts? Did you know that many of the
planks of the "Communist Manifesto" are now represented by law in the U.S.?
How is it possible for Americans to denounce communism and practice it
simultaneously.
The JURY judges the Spirit, Motive and Intent of both law and the
Accused, whereas the prosecutor only represents the letter of the law.
Therein lies the opportunity for the accomplishment of "LIBERTY and
JUSTICE for ALL." If you, and numerous other JURORS throughout the State
and nation begin and continue to bring in verdicts of NOT GUILTY in such
cases where nam-made statute is defective or oppressive, these statutes will
become as ineffective as if they had never been written.
"If we love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of
servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home
from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch
down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set
lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our
countrymen."
-Samuel Adams
SEC. II GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!
PATRICK HENRY SHOCKED!
Young Christian attorney Patrick Henry saw why a JURY of PEERS is so
vital to FREEDOM! It was March 1775 when he rode into the small town of
Culpeper, Va. he was totally shocked by what he saw! There, in the middle
of the town square was a minister tied to a whipping post, his back laid
bare and bloody with the bones of his ribs showing. He had been scourged
like JESUS, with whips laced with metal.
Patrick henry is quoted as saying: "When they stopped beating him, I
could see the bones of his rib cage. I turned to someone and asked what the
man had done to deserve a beating such as this."
SCOURGED FOR NOT TAKING A LICENSE!
The reply given him was that the man being scourged was a minister who
refused to take a license. He was one of twelve who were locked in jail
because they refused to take a license. A license often becomes an
arbitrary control by the government that makes a crime out of what
ordinarily would not be a crime. IT TURNS A RIGHT INTO A PRIVILEGE!
Three days later they scourged him to death.
This was the incident which sparked Christian attorney Patrick Henry to
write the famous words which later would become the rallying cry of the
Revolution. "What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is
life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains
and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may
take, but as for me, GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!" Later he made this
part of his famous speech at St. John's Episcopal Church in Williamsburg,
Va.
JURY OF PEERS
Our forefathers felt that in order to have JUSTICE, it is obvious that a
JURY of "PEERS" must be people who actually know the defendant. How else
would they be able to judge motive and intent?
"PEERS" of the defendant, like RIGHTS of the JURY have also been
severely tarnished. Originally, it meant people of "equals in station and
rank," (Black's 1910), "free-holders of a neighborhood," (Bouvier's 1886),
or "A companion; a fellow; an associate. (Webster's 1828).
WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO SIT ON A JURY?
Patrick Henry, along with others, was deeply concerned as to who has a
right to sit on a JURY. Listen to our forefathers wisdom on the subject of
"PEERS."
MR. HENRY
"By the bill of rights of England, a subject has a right to a trial by
his peers. What is meant by peers? Those who reside near him, his
neighbors, and who are well acquainted with his character and situation in
life." Patrick Henry (Elliot, "The Debates in Several State Conventions on
the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, 3:579)
Patrick Henry also knew that originally the JURY of PEERS was designed
as a protection for Neighbors from outside governmental oppression. Henry
states the following, "Why do we love this trial by jury? Because it
prevents that hand of oppression from cutting you off . . . THis gives me
comfort -- that, as long as I have existence, my neighbors will protect me."
(Elliot, 3:545, 546).
MR. HOLMES
Mr. Holmes, from Massachusetts, argued strenuously that for JUSTICE to
prevail, the case must be heard in the vicinity where the fact was committed
by a JURY of PEERS. " . . . a jury of peers would, from their local
situation, have an opportunity to form a judgement of the CHARACTER of the
person charged with the crime, and also to judge of the CREDIBILITY of the
witnesses." (Elliot, 2:110).
+-----------------------------------------+
| The people are masters of both Congress |
| and courts, not to overthrow the |
| Constitution, but to overthrow the men |
| who pervert it! |
| -Abraham Lincoln |
+-----------------------------------------+
MR. WILSON
Mr. Wilson, signer of "The unanimous Declaration," who also later became
a supreme Court Justice, stressed the importance of the JURORS knowing
personally both the defendant and the witnesses. "Where jurors can be
acquainted with the characters of the parties and the witnesses -- where the
whole cause can be brought within their knowledge and view -- I know no mode
of investigation equal to that by a trial by jury: they hear every thing
that is alleged; they not only hear the words, but they see and mark the
features of the countenance; they can judge of weight due to such testimony;
and moreover, it is a cheap and expeditious manner of distributing justice.
There is another advantage annexed to the trial by jury; the jurors may
indeed return a mistaken or ill-founded verdict' but their errors cannot be
systematical." (Elliot, 2:516)
FREEDOM FOR WILLIAM PENN
"Those people who are not governed by GOD will be ruled by
tyrants."
-William Penn
Edward Bushnell and three fellow JURORS learned this lesson well. They
refused to bow to the court. They believed in the absolute power of the
JURY, though their eight companions cowered to the court. The four JURORS
spent nine weeks of torture in prison, often without food and water, soaked
with urine, smeared with feces, barely able to stand, and even threatened
with fines, yet they would not give in to the judge. Edward Bushnell said,
"My liberty is not for sale," though he had great wealth and commanded an
international shipping enterprise. These "bumble heads", so the court
thought, proved the power of the people was stronger than any power of
government. They emerged total victors.
THE FIRST AMENDMENT
The year was 1670, and the case Bushnell sat on was that of William
Penn, who was on trial for violation of a "Conventicle Act." THis was an
elaborate Act which made the Church of England the only legal church. The
Act was struck down by their not guilty vote. Freedom of Religion was
established and became part of the English Bill of Rights and later it
became the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In addition, the Right
to peaceful assembly was founded, Freedom of Speech, and also habeas corpus.
The first such writ of habeas corpus ever issued by the Court of Common
Pleas was issued to free Edward Bushnell. Later this trial gave birth to
the concept of Freedom of the press.
Had Bushnell and his colleagues yielded to the guilty verdict sought by
the judge and prosecutor, William Penn most likely would have been executed
as he clearly broke the law.
HE BROKE THE LAW!
There would have been no Liberty Bell, no Independence Hall, no city of
Philadelphia, and no state called Pennsylvania, for young William Penn,
founder of Pennsylvania, and leader of the Quakers, was on trial for his
life. His alleged crime was preaching and teaching a different view of the
Bible than that of the Church of England. This appears innocent today, but
then, one could be executed for such actions. He believed in freedom of
religion, freedom of speech and the right to peaceful assembly. He had
broken to government's law, but he had injured no one. The four heroic
JURORS knew that only when actual injury to someone's person or property
take place is there a real crime. No law is broken when no injury can be
shown. Thus there can be no loss or termination of rights unless actual
damage is proven. Many imposter laws were repealed as a result of this.
IT IS ALMOST UNFAIR!
The trial made such an impact the every colony but one established the
jury as the first liberty to maintain all other liberties. It was felt that
the liberties of people could never be wholly lost as long as the jury
remained strong and independent, and that unjust laws and statutes could not
stand when confronted by conscientious JURORS. JURORS today face an
avalanche of imposter laws. JURORS not only still have the power and the
RIGHT, but also the DUTY, to nullify bad laws by voting "not guilty." At
first glance it appears that it is almost unfair, the power JURORS have over
government, but necessary when considering the historical track record of
oppression that governments have wielded over private citizens.
JEFFERSON'S WARNINGS!
In 1789 Thomas Jefferson warned that the judiciary if given too much
power might ruin our REPUBLIC, and destroy our RIGHTS!
"The new Constitution has secured these [individual rights] in the
Executive and legislative departments: but not in the Judiciary. It should
have established trials by the people themselves, that is to say, by jury."
The Judiciary of the United States is the subtle corps of sappers and
miners constantly working under ground to undermine the foundations of our
confederated fabric." (1820)
". . . the Federal Judiciary; an irresponsible body (for impeachment is
scarcely a scarecrow), working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a
little to-day and a little to-morrow, and advancing its noiseless step like
a thief, over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall be usurped from the
States, and the government of all be consolidated into one.
. . . when all government . . . in little as in great things, shall be
drawn to Washington as the centre of all power, it will render powerless the
checks provided of one government on another and will become as venal and
oppressive as the government from which we separated. (1821)
"The opinion which gives to the judges the right to decide what laws are
constitutional and what are not, not only for themselves in their own sphere
of action, but for the legislative and executive also in their spheres,
would make the judiciary a despotic branch.
". . . judges should be withdrawn from the bench whose erroneous biases
are leading us to dissolution. It may, indeed, injure them in fame or
fortune; but it saves the Republic. . ."
SEC. III INDEX TO THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
GENERAL INDEX TO:
THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION
I. Need to dissolve certain political relationships.
II. Need to assume powers which God entitles man.
III. Declaring separation from an unjust government.
IV. Self-evident truths elaborated.
A. All men are created equal.
B. God our Creator gives to each unalienable Rights
1. Life, Liberty, Happiness, property, safety, respect, privacy,
etc.
C. The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the strong.
1. Fact: The Revolution was not out of rebellion by the colonies,
but rather England rebelled against God's Law by repeated
injuries of usurpation and tyranny. The young colonies were
forced to defend themselves against England's tyranny.
a. eg. Bad laws, bad courts, police state (swarms of soldiers),
taxes without consent, deprived of trial by jury, deporting
people for trial, England declared the colonies out of their
protection, rights of individuals plundered.
b. The colonies repeatedly petitioned England, but only
received repeated injury.
c. England was warned from time to time.
d. England was deaf to the voice of justice.
V. The colonies appealed to God the Supreme Judge of the world.
VI. The colonies right to be free and independent.
VII. Under the protection of God they pledged their lives, fortunes and
honor.
GENERAL INDEX TO:
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
Preamble: The people hold the power: "We the People . . . in order to form a
more perfect union, . . . and secure the blessing of liberty . . ."
ARTICLE I.
SECTION.
1. Legislative powers.
2. House of representatives; qualifications of members; appointment of
representatives and direct taxes; census; first appointment; vacancies;
officers of the house; impeachments.
3. Senate, classification of senators; qualifications of; vice president
to preside; other officers; trial of impeachments.
4. Election of members of congress; time assembling of congress.
5. Powers of each house; punishment for disorderly Behaviour; journal;
adjournments.
6. Compensation and privileges; disabilities of members.
7. Revenue bills; passage and approval of bills; orders and resolutions.
8. General powers of congress; borrowing money; regulating commerce;
naturalization and bankruptcy; money; weights and measures;
counterfeiting; post offices; patents and copyrights; inferior courts;
piracies and felonies; war; marque and reprisal; armies; navy; land and
naval forces; calling the militia; District of Columbia; to enact laws
necessary to enforce the Constitution.
9. Limitations of congress; migration; writ; of habeas corpus; bills of
attainder and ex post facto laws prohibited; direct taxes; exports not
to be taxed; interstate shipping; drawing money from the treasury;
financial statements to be published; titles of nobility and favors
from foreign powers prohibited.
10. Limitations of the individual states; no treaties; letters of marque
and reprisal; no coining of money; bills of credit; not allowed to make
any Thing but gold and silver Coin for payment of debts; no bills of
attainder; ex post facto Law or law impairing the obligation of
contracts; no title of nobility; state imposts and duties; further
restrictions on state powers.
ARTICLE II.
SECTION
1. Executive powers; electors; qualifications, vacancy, compensation and
Oath of the president.
2. Powers and duties of the president; making of treaties; powers of
appointments.
3. Other powers and duties.
4. All government officers are liable to impeachment.
ARTICLE III.
SECTION
1. Judicial powers; all judges must have good Behaviour to stay in office;
compensation not to be diminished.
2. Jurisdiction of federal courts and supreme court; trials for crime by
jury except impeachment.
3. Treason defined; trial for and punishment.
ARTICLE IV.
SECTION
1. Message to the states; each state is to give full faith and credit to
public acts and records of other states.
2. Citizens of each state shall be entitled; fleeing from justice.
3. Admission of new states; power of congress over territories.
4. Republican form of government guaranteed to every state; protection
from invasion or domestic violence.
ARTICLE V.
SECTION
1. Amending the Constitution.
ARTICLE VI.
SECTION
1. National obligations; Public debt; Constitution to be the supreme Law
of the land; Constitutional Oath of office; no religious test required.
ARTICLE VII.
SECTION
1. Ratification of the Constitution; George Washington signs Twelfhindi,
the highest ranking Saxon government, eg. He was equal of 1200 King
Georges, or you as a juror are equal to 1200 presidents, congressmen or
judges, local, federal or of the supreme Court.
GENERAL INDEX TO:
THE BILL OF RIGHTS
and Amendments
PREAMBLE: Limiting the federal government: An expressed desire to prevent
abuse of federal powers!
ARTICLES -- COMMON LAW
I. Religious freedom, both to an establishment as well as the free
exercise thereof; freedom of speech, press; right of petition.
II. Right to bear arms.
III. Quartering of soldiers.
IV. The right to privacy and security against unreasonable search and
seizures; search warrants.
V. Grand Jury, double jeopardy, no one must witness against himself,
no loss of life, liberty or property without due process.
VI. Speedy and public trials, impartial jury; nature and cause, right
to confront; compulsory witnesses, assistance of Counsel -- note,
does not say attorney.
VII. Right to trial by jury according to the rules of common law -- Ten
Commandments are the foundation of Common Law.
VIII. Excessive bail, fines, punishment etc. prohibited.
IX. Rights beyond Bill of Rights belong to the people.
X. Undelegated powers belong to the people unless given by the people
to the states.
Articles I-X were proposed Sept. 25, 1789, ratified Dec. 15, 1791.
AMENDMENTS -- EQUITY LAW
XI. Restriction of judicial powers, proposed Mar. 5, 1794, adopted Jan.
8, 1798.
XII. Manner of electing the president and vice president, proposed Dec.
12, 1803, adopted Sept. 25, 1904.
XIII. Slavery and involuntary servitude prohibited, took effect* Dec. 18,
1865.
XIV. Citizenship and status defined, privilege of 2nd, 3rd, or whatever
status of citizenship one selects for oneself, as opposed to
Freeholder with full sovereign rights; apportionment of
representatives; who is prohibited from holding office; public
debt. Caution: There is serious doubt as to the legality of this
amendment because of the manner of ratification which was highly
suspect. At least 10 States were held by force of arms until the
proper authorities agreed to vote for this amendment. An excellent
overview of this was written by the Utah Supreme Court -- 439
Pacific Reporter 2d Series pp 266-276, and for a more detailed
account of how the 14th amendment was forced upon the Nation see
articles in 11 S.C. L. Q. 484 and 28 Tul. L. Rev. 22., took effect
July 28, 1868.
XV. Non Freeholders given right to vote, took effect Mar. 30, 1870.
XVI. Income tax, took effect Feb. 25, 1913, possibly only four states
ratified it properly.
XVII. Direct elections of senators; electors; vacancies in the senate,
took effect May 31, 1913. This moved us from a complex Republic to
a simple Republic much like the style of government of the Soviet
Union. State rights were lost and we were plunged headlong into a
democracy of which our forefathers warned was the vilest form of
government because it always ends in oppression.
XVIII. Prohibition of liquor traffic, took effect Jan. 29, 1920.
XIX. Voting for women, took effect Aug. 27, 1920.
XX. Terms of the president, vice president, senators and
representatives; date of assembling of congress, vacancies of the
president, power of congress in presidential succession, took
effect Feb. 6, 1933.
XXI. Eighteenth Article repealed; took effect Dec. 5, 1933.
XXII. Limits of the presidential term, took effect mar. 1, 1951.
XXIII. Electors for the District of Columbia, took effect April 3, 1961.
XXIV. Failure to pay any tax does not deny one the right to vote, took
effect Feb. 4, 1964.
XXV. Filling the office of the president or vice president during a
vacancy, took effect Feb. 23, 1967.
XXVI. Right to vote at 18, took effect July 5, 1971.
* Took effect is used as there is a great deal of suspicion as to the nature
of these amendments (common law vs equity), also whether the last 16
amendments are legal, how many were ratified correctly, do they create a
federal constitution in opposition to the original, etc. For further
studies a good place to begin is with the article by the Utah Supreme
Court on the 14th amendment, 439 Pacific Reporter 2d Series, pp 266-276,
and Senate Doc. 240.
In Congress, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of
the thirteen united States
of America
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to
dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to
assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to
which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent
respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the
causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends,
it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to
institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and
organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to
effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that
Governments long established should not be changed for light and
transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind
are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right
themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a
long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same
Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is
their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to
provide new Guards for their future security.
Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the
necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.
The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated
injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of
an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be
submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for
the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing
importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should
be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to
them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts
of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of
Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and
formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual,
uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records,
for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly
firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause
others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of
Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise;
the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of
invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that
purpose obstructing the Laws of Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to
pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the
conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to
Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their
offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of
Officers to harass our People, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent
of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the
Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to
our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to
their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders
which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province,
establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its
Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for
introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and
altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested
with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection
and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and
destroyed the Lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to
compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with
circumstances of Cruelty & 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 endeavoured
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
which 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 connections 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 connection
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.
SIGNERS OF THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION
According to the Authenticated List printed by
Order of Congress of January 18, 1877
JOHN HANCOCK.
New Hampshire
JOSIAH BARTLETT
WILLIAM WHIPPLE
MATTHEW THORNTON
Massachusetts-Bay
SAMUEL ADAMS
JOHN ADAMS
ROBERT TREAT PAINE
ELBRIDGE GERRY
Rhode Island
STEPHEN HOPKINS
WILLIAM ELLERY
Connecticut
ROGER SHERMAN
SAMUEL HUNTINGTON
WILLIAM WILLIAMS
OLIVER WOLCOTT
Georgia
BUTTON GWINNETT
LYMAN HALL
GEO. WALTON
Maryland
SAMUEL CHASE
WILLIAM PACA
THOMAS STONE
CHARLES CARROLL
OF CARROLLTON
Virginia
GEORGE WYTHE
RICHARD HENRY LEE
THOMAS JEFFERSON
BENJAMIN HARRISON
THOMAS NELSON, JR.
FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE
CARTER BRAXTON.
New York
WILLIAM FLOYD
PHILIP LIVINGSTON
FRANCIS LEWIS
LEWIS MORRIS
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
North Carolina
WILLIAM HOOPER
JOSEPH HEWES
JOHN PENN
South Carolina
EDWARD RUTLEDGE
THOMAS HEYWARD, JR.
THOMAS LYNCH, JR.
ARTHUR MIDDLETON
New Jersey
RICHARD STOCKTON
JOHN WITHERSPOON
FRANCIS HOPKINS
JOHN HART
ABRAHAM CLARK
YOUR TURN!
You -- as a juror -- armed merely with the knowledge of what a COMMON
LAW JURY really is and what your common law rights, powers and duties really
are, can do more to re-establish "liberty and justice for all" in this State
and ultimately throughout all of the United States than all out Senators and
Representatives put together. Why? Because even without the concurrence of
any of your fellow jurors in a criminal trial, you, with your single vote of
"NOT GUILTY" can nullify every rule or "law" that is not in accordance with
the principles of natural, God-given, Common, or Constitutional Law. It is
precisely this power of nullification that makes the trial by JURY one of
our most important RIGHTS. It can protect and preserve all of the citizen's
other RIGHTS.
The CONSTITUTION OF THE
UNITED STATES
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.
* Originally, the Constitution had no title but simply began "We the
People..."
ARTICLE I
SECTION 1. ALL LEGISLATIVE POWERS HEREIN GRANTED SHALL BE VESTED IN A
CONGRESS of the UnitedStates, which shall consist of a Senate and a 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,
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] 3 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.
Judgement in case 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, judgement and
punishment, according to law.
Sect. 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.
Sect. 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 shall provide.
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 shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time
publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgement 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 sessions 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.
Sect. 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.
Sect. 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 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 it 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.
Sect. 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 square miles) as may, by cession of particular
States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of 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.
Sect. 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 for 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.
Sect. 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 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. 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
Sect. 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, 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 vote 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 senator 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."
Sect. 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.
Sect. 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.
Sect. 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
Sect. 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 behavior, and shall, at stated
times, receive for their services, a compensation, which shall not be
diminished during their continuance in office.
Sect. 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 a 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.
Sect. 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 open 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
Sect. 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.
Sect. 2. The Citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and
immunities of Citizens in the several states.
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.
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.
Sect. 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.
Sect. 4. 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.
ARTICLE V.
The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary,
shall propose amendments to this constitution, or, on the application 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
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.
The senators and representatives beforementioned, 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
The ratification of the conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for
the establishment of this constitution between the States so ratifying the
same.
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 the
twelfth. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our Names.
GEORGE WASHINGTON, president,
And Deputy from Virginia.
In CONVENTION,
Monday, September 17th, 1787.
PRESENT
The States of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Mr. Hamilton
from New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia,
North-Carolina, South-Carolina and Georgia:
RESOLVED,
That the preceding Constitution be laid before the United States in
Congress assembled, and that it is the opinion of this Convention, that it
should afterwards be submitted to a Convention of Delegates, chosen in each
State by the People thereof, under the Recommendation of its legislature,
for their Assent and Ratification; and that each Convention assenting to,
and ratifying the Same, should give Notice thereof to the United States in
Congress assembled.
Resolved, That it is the Opinion of this Convention, that as soon as the
Conventions of nine States shall have ratified this Constitution, the United
States in Congress assembled should fix a Day on which Electors should be
appointed by the States which shall have ratified the same, and a Day on
which the Electors should assemble to vote for the President, and the TIme
and Place for commencing Proceedings under this Constitution. THat after
such Publication the Electors should be appointed, and the Senators and
Representatives elected: That the Electors should meet on the Day fixed for
the Election of the President, and should transmit their Votes certified,
signed, sealed and directed, as the Constitution requires, to the Secretary
of the United States in Congress assembled, that the Senators and
Representatives should convene at the Time and Place assigned; that the
Senators should appoint a President of the Senate, for the sole Purpose of
receiving, opening and counting the Votes for President; and, that after he
shall be chosen, the Congress, together with the President, should, without
Delay, proceed to execute this Constitution.
By the Unanimous Order of the Convention,
GEORGE WASHINGTON, President,
WILLIAM JACKSON, Secretary
New-Hampshire John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman
Massachusetts Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King
Connecticut William Samuel Johnson, Roger Sherman
New-York Alexander Hamilton
New-Jersey William Livingston, David Brearley, William Paterson,
Jonathan Dayton,
Pennsylvania Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Miffin, Robert Morris,
George Clymer, Thomas Fitzsimons, Jared Ingersoll,
James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris,
Delaware George Read, Gunning Bedford, Junior, John Dickinson,
Richard Bassett, Jacob Broom.
Maryland James M'Henry, Daniel of St. Tho. Jenifer, Daniel Carrol
Virginia John Blair, James Madison, Junior
North-Carolina William Blount, Richard Dobbs Spaight, Hugh Williamson.
South-Carolina John Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney,
Charles Pinckney, Pierce Butler.
Georgia William Few, Abraham Baldwin.
attest, William Jackson, Secretary
The BILL OF RIGHTS
As provided in the FIRST TEN
AMENDMENTS
TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE
UNITED STATES
Effective December 15, 1791
Preamble to the bill of rights of the Constitution of the United
States of America
Conventions of a number of States, having at the time of their adopting the
Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or
abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should
be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the
Government, will but ensure the beneficent ends of its institution
RESOLVED...the following articles be ... part of the said
Constitution;
NOTE: THIS PREAMBLE IS NOT OFFICIALLY A PART OF THE CONSTITUTION
ARTICLES IN ADDITION TO, AND AMENDMENT OF, THE CONSTITUTION OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PROPOSED BY CONGRESS, AND RATIFIED BY THE
LEGISLATURES OF THE SEVERAL STATES, PURSUANT TO THE FIFTH ARTICLE OF
THE ORIGINAL CONSTITUTION
AMENDMENT I
(1791)
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,
or the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to
petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
AMENDMENT II
(1791)
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free
State,the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
AMENDMENT III
(1791)
No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the
consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed
by law.
AMENDMENT IV
(1791)
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and
effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated,
and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or
affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the
persons or things to be seized.
AMENDMENT V
(1791)
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous
crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in
cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual
service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for
the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be
compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be
deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor
shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
AMENDMENT VI
(1791)
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy
and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the
crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously
ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the
accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have
compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the
Assistance of Counsel for his defense.
AMENDMENT VII
(1791)
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty
dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by
a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any Court of the United States,
than according to the rules of the common law.
AMENDMENT VIII
(1791)
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel
and unusual punishments inflicted.
AMENDMENT IX
(1791)
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be
construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
AMENDMENT X
(1791)
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or
to the people.
AMENDMENT XI
(1795)
The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to
any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United
States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any
Foreign State.
AMENDMENT XII
(1804)
The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for
President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an
inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their
ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the
person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of
all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as
Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists 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 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 for President, shall be the President,
if such number be a majority of the whole number of the Electors appointed;
and if no person have such a majority, then from the persons having the
highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as
President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by
ballot, 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. [And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President
whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day
of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as
in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the
President. -] The person having the greatest number of votes as
Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of
the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority,
then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the
Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the
whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be
necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the
office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the
United States.
AMENDMENT XIII
(1865)
SECTION 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment
for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist
within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
SECTION 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
AMENDMENT XIV
(1868)
SECTION 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject
to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State
wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall
abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor
shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without
due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.
SECTION 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States
according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons
in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at
any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of
the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial
officers of a State or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to
any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age,
and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for
participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation
therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male
citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of
age in such State.
SECTION 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or
elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or
military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having
previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the
United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive
or Judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United
States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or
given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of
two-thirds of each House, remove such disability
SECTION 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States,
authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and
bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be
questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay
any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against
the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave;
but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
SECTION 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate
legislation, the provisions of this article.
AMENDMENT XV
(1870)
SECTION 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race,
color, or previous condition of servitude.
SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT XVI
(1913)
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on income, from
whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and
without regard to any census or enumeration.
AMENDMENT XVII
(1913)
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each
State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall
have one vote. The electors in each state shall have the qualifications
requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State
legislatures.
When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the
executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such
vacancies: Provide, That the legislature of any State may empower the
executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the
vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.
This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term
of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.
AMENDMENT XVIII
(1919)
SECTION 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the
manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the
importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States
and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes
is hereby prohibited.
SECTION 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power
to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
SECTION 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been
ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the
several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the
date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.
AMENDMENT XIX
(1920)
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
AMENDMENT XX
(1933)
SECTION 1. The terms of the President and Vice-President shall end at noon
on the 20th day of January, and the terms of senators and Representatives at
noon on the 3rd day of January, of the years in which such terms would have
ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their
successors shall then begin.
SECTION 2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such
meeting shall begin at noon on the 3rd day of January, unless they shall by
law appoint a different day.
SECTION 3. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the
President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice-President elect
shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the
time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall
have failed to qualify, then the Vice-President elect shall act as President
until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide
for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice-President elect
shall have qualified, declaring who then shall then act as President, or the
manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall
act accordingly until a President or Vice-President shall have qualified.
SECTION 4. The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any
of the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President
whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case
of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a
Vice-President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.
SECTION 5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October
following the ratification of this article.
SECTION 6. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been
ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of
three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its
submission.
AMENDMENT XXI
(1933)
SECTION 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the
United States is hereby repealed.
SECTION 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or
possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating
liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.
SECTION 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been
ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several
States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of
the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.
AMENDMENT XXII
(1951)
SECTION 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more
than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as
President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was
elected President shall be elected to the office of President more than
once. But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of
President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not
prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as
President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from
holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder
of such term.
SECTION 2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been
ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of
three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its
submission to the States by the Congress.
AMENDMENT XXIII
(1961)
SECTION 1. The District constituting the seat of government of the United
States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct:
A number of electors of President and Vice-President equal to the whole
number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District
would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least
populous State; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the States,
but they shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President
and Vice-President, to be electors appointed by a State; and they shall meet
in the District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article
of amendment.
SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this amendment by
appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT XXIV
(1964)
SECTION 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any
primary or other election for President or Vice-President, or for Senator
or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United
States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.
SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this amendment by
appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT XXV
(1967)
SECTION 1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his
death or resignation, the Vice-President shall become President.
SECTION 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice-
President, the President shall nominate a Vice-President who shall take
office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
SECTION 3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore
of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written
declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his
office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the
contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice-President
as acting President.
SECTION 4. Whenever the Vice-President and a majority of either the
principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as
Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the
Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written
declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties
of his office, the Vice-President shall immediately assume the powers and
duties of the office as Acting President.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the
senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written
declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties
of his office unless the Vice-President and a majority of either the
principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as
Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro
tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their
written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and
duties of his office. Thereupon, Congress shall decide the issue, assembling
within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the
Congress, within twenty-one days after the receipt of the latter written
declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after
Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both
Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of
his office, the Vice-President shall continue to discharge the same as
Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and
duties of his office.
AMENDMENT XXVI
(1971)
SECTION 1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are (18) eighteen
years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United
States or by any State on account of age.
SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.
"The poorest man may, in his cottage, bid defiance to all the
forces of the Crown. It may be frail, its roof may shake; the
wind may blow through it; the storm may enter; the rain may
enter; but the King of England may not enter; all his force dares
not cross the threshhold of the ruined tenement."
This neglected warning, was sounded by William Pitt before the
British House of Commons addressing the need for PRIVACY -- the
protection of LIFE, LIBERTY and HAPPINESS. Will it go unheeded?
PROCLAIM LIBERTY!
Inscribed on our hallowed LIBERTY BELL are these words "PROCLAIM
LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND UNTO ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREOF."
-Lev. XXV X
"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! Like
fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
-George Washington
"Woe to those who decree unjust statutes and to those who
continually record unjust decisions, to deprive the needy of
justice, and to rob the poor of My people of their rights..."
-Isaiah 10:1,2
TAKING THE PLUNGE!
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...!"
-Hosea 4:6
"The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to
do nothing."
-Edmund Burke 1729-1797
"If My people which are called by My name, shall humble
themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked
ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin,
and will heal their land."
-II Chron. 7:14
"We must obey GOD rather than men."
-Acts 5:29
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| WARNING: |
| THIS DOCUMENT MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO BAD |
| LAWS. Courts may not welcome or approve |
| of these truths, neither are they to be |
| considered as legal advice. Therefore, |
| to act on these facts is to do so at |
| your own risk or opportunity. |
+------------------------------------------+
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