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{{Infobox document|document_name = United States Constitution|image = Constitution Pg1of4 AC.jpg|image_width = 220px|image_caption = Page one of the original copy of the Constitution|date_created = September 17 1787 [1788|writer = Delegates of the [Philadelphia Convention to replace the [Articles of Confederation-->

The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States. It was adopted on September 17 1787 by the Philadelphia Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and later ratification by conventions in each U.S. state in the name of "the People"; it has been amended twenty-seven times since.http://www.constitution.org/cons/constitu.htmhttp://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Constitution.html The Constitution has a central place in Law of the United States and Politics of the United States. Casey (1974) The U.S. Constitution is argued by many to be the oldest written national constitution.Among possible exceptions is San Marino's Constitution of San Marino#The Statutes of 1600, whose status as a true constitution is disputed by scholars. The handwritten, or "engrossed", Jacob Shallus is on display at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C..

History Drafting and ratification requirements In September 1786, commissioners from five states met in the Annapolis Convention (1786) to discuss adjustments to the Articles of Confederation that would improve commerce. They invited state representatives to convene in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to discuss improvements to the History of the United States (1776–1789)#Development of federal institutions. After debate, the Congress of the Confederation endorsed the plan to revise the Articles of Confederation on February 21 1787. Twelve states, Rhode Island being the only exception, accepted this invitation and sent delegates to convene in May 1787. The resolution calling the Convention specified that its purpose was to propose amendments to the Articles, but the Convention decided to propose a rewritten Constitution. The Philadelphia Convention voted to keep the deliberations top secret and decided to draft a new fundamental government design which eventually stipulated that only nine of the thirteen states would have to ratify for the new government to go into effect (for the participating states).

Work of the Philadelphia Convention The Virginia Plan was the unofficial agenda for the Convention, and was drafted chiefly by James Madison, considered to be "The Father of the Constitution" for his major contributions. It was weighted toward the interests of the larger states, and proposed among other points: An alternative proposal, William Patterson's New Jersey Plan, gave states equal weights and was supported by the smaller states. Roger Sherman of Connecticut brokered Connecticut Compromise whereby the House would represent population, the Senate would represent states, and a powerful president would be elected by elite United States Electoral College. Slavery in the United States was not explicitly mentioned, but 3/5 of the number of slaves would be counted toward the population used to apportionment (politics) the House, and runaway slaves would have to be returned.

Ratification {| class="infobox" border="1" cellpadding="4" style="border-collapse:collapse; margin: 0 0 1em 1em;" align=right|-!colspan=5 align=center style="background:#ccccff" | Ratification of the Constitution|-! bgcolor="#efefef" rowspan="2" | ! bgcolor="#efefef" rowspan="2" | Date! bgcolor="#efefef" rowspan="2" | State! bgcolor="#efefef" colspan="2" | Votes|-! Yes! No|-|align="right"|1||December 7 1787|align="right"|30|align="right"|0|-|align="right"|2||[December 12 1787|align="right"|46|align="right"|23|-|align="right"|3||[December 18 1787|align="right"|38|align="right"|0|-|align="right"|4||[January 2 1788|align="right"|26|align="right"|0|-|align="right"|5||[January 9 1788|align="right"|128|align="right"|40|-|align="right"|6||[February 6 1788|align="right"|187|align="right"|168|-|align="right"|7||[April 28 1788|align="right"|63|align="right"|11|-|align="right"|8||[May 23 1788|align="right"|149|align="right"|73|-|align="right"|9||[June 21 1788|align="right"|57|align="right"|47|-|align="right"|10||[June 25 1788|align="right"|89|align="right"|79|-|align="right"|11||[July 26 1788|align="right"|30|align="right"|27|-|align="right"|12||[November 21 1789|align="right"|194|align="right"|77|-|align="right"|13||[May 29 1790|align="right"|34|align="right"|32|}Contrary to the process for "alteration" spelled out in Article 13 of the [Articles of Confederation, Congress submitted the proposal to the states and set the terms for representation.

On September 17 1787, the Constitution was completed in Philadelphia at the Federal Convention, followed by a speech given by Benjamin Franklin who urged unanimity, although they decided they only needed nine states to ratify the constitution for it to go into effect. The Convention submitted the Constitution to the Congress of the Confederation, where it received approval according to Article 13 of the Articles of Confederation, but the resolution of the Congress submitting the Constitution to the states for ratification and agreeing with its provision for implementation upon ratification by nine states is contrary to Article 13, though eventually all thirteen states did ratify the Constitution, albeit after it took effect.

After fierce fights over ratification in many of the states, New Hampshire became that ninth state on June 21 1788. Once the Congress of the Confederation received word of New Hampshire's ratification, it set a timetable for the start of operations under the Constitution, and on March 4 1789, the Federal government of the United States under the Constitution began operations.

Historical influences Several of the ideas in the Constitution were new, and a large number of ideas were drawn from the literature of Republicanism in the United States, from the experiences of the 13 states, and from the Kingdom of Great Britain experience with mixed government. The most important influence from the European continent was from Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, who emphasized the need to have balanced forces pushing against each other to prevent tyranny. (This in itself reflects the influence of Polybius' 2nd-century BC treatise on the separation of powers of the constitution of the Roman Republic.) John Locke is known to have been a major influence, and the due process clause of the United States Constitution was partly based on common law stretching back to the Magna Carta of 1215.

Influences on the Bill of Rights The United States Bill of Rights were the ten amendments added to the Constitution in 1791, as the supporters had promised opponents during the debates of 1788. The English Bill of Rights 1689 was an inspiration for the American Bill of Rights. For example, both require jury trials, contain a right to bear arms, and prohibit excessive bail as well as "cruel and unusual punishments". Many liberties protected by state constitutions and the Virginia Declaration of Rights were incorporated into the United States Bill of Rights.

Articles of the Constitution The Constitution consists of a preamble, seven original articles, List of amendments to the United States Constitution, and a paragraph certifying its enactment by the constitutional convention.

wikisource:Constitution of the United States of America#Preamble: Statement of purpose The Preamble states:

The Preamble neither grants any powers nor inhibits any actions; it only explains the rationale behind the Constitution and notes by what authority it is enacted. The preamble is a basic statement of purpose that precedes the constitution. The Preamble, especially the first three words ("We the people"), is one of the most-quoted sections of the Constitution.

wikisource:Constitution of the United States of America#Article I: Legislative power Article One establishes the legislature of government, the United States Congress, which includes the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. The Article establishes the manner of Elections in the United States and qualifications of members of each House. In addition, it provides for free debate in Congress and limits self-serving behavior of congressmen, outlines legislative procedure and indicates the powers of the legislative branch. There is a debate as to whether the powers listed in Article 1 Section 8 are a list of enumerated powers. These powers may also be interpreted as a list of powers, formerly either executive or judicial in nature, that have been explicitly granted to the U.S. Congress. This interpretation may be further supported by a broad definition of both the commerce clause and the necessary-and-proper clause of the Constitution. The argument for enumerated powers can be traced back to the 1819 McCulloch v. Maryland Supreme Court of the United States ruling. Finally, it establishes limits on federal and state legislative power.

wikisource:Constitution of the United States of America#Article II: Executive power Article Two describes the President of the United States (the executive (government)): procedures for the selection of the president, qualifications for office, the oath of office to be affirmed and the powers and duties of the office. It also provides for the office of Vice President of the United States, and specifies that the Vice President United States presidential line of succession if the President is incapacitated, dies, or resigns, although whether this succession was on an acting or permanent basis was left unclear. In practice, this has always been treated as succession, and the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides explicitly for succession. Article Two also provides for the impeachment and removal from office of civil officers (the President, Vice President, judges, and others).

wikisource:Constitution of the United States of America#Article III: Judicial power Article Three describes the United States Federal judiciary (the judiciary), including the supreme Court of the United States. The article requires that there be one court called the supreme Court; Congress, at its discretion, can create lower courts, whose judgments and orders are reviewable by the supreme Court. Article Three also requires jury trial in all criminal law, defines the crime of treason, and charges Congress with providing for a punishment for it.It also sets the kinds of cases that may be heard by the federal judiciary, which cases the supreme Court may hear first (called original jurisdiction), and that all other cases heard by the supreme Court are by appeal.

wikisource:Constitution of the United States of America#Article IV: States' powers and limits Article Four describes the relationship between the states and the Federal government and amongst the states. For instance, it requires states to give "Full Faith and Credit Clause" to the public acts, records and court proceedings of the other states. Congress is permitted to regulation the manner in which proof of such acts, records or proceedings may be admitted. The Privileges and Immunities Clause prohibits state governments from discriminating against United States nationality law of other states in favor of resident citizens (e.g., having tougher penalties for residents of Ohio convicted of crimes within Michigan). It also establishes extradition between the states, as well as laying down a legal basis for freedom of movement and travel amongst the states. Today, this provision is sometimes taken for granted, especially by citizens who live near state borders; but in the days of the Articles of Confederation, crossing state lines was often a much more arduous (and costly) process. Article Four also provides for the creation and admission of new states. The Territorial Clause gives Congress the power to make rules for disposing of Federal property and governing non-state territories of the United States. Finally, the fourth section of Article Four requires the United States to guarantee to each state a Republic, and to protect the states from invasion and violence.

wikisource:Constitution of the United States of America#Article V: Process of Amendments Article Five describes the process necessary to amend the Constitution. It establishes two methods of proposing amendments: by Congress or by a Convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution requested by the states. Under the first method, Congress can propose an amendment by a two-thirds vote (of a quorum, not necessarily of the entire body) of the Senate and of the House of Representatives. Under the second method, two-thirds (2/3) of the State legislature (United States)s may convene and "apply" to Congress to hold a national convention, whereupon Congress must call such a convention for the purpose of considering amendments. As of 2007, only the first method (proposal by Congress) has been used.

Once proposed—whether submitted by Congress or by a national convention—amendments must then be ratified by three-fourths (3/4) of the states to take effect. Article Five gives Congress the option of requiring ratification by state legislatures or by special Conventions within the states to ratify an amendment to the United States Constitution assembled in the states. The convention method of ratification has been used only once (to approve the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution). Article Five currently places only one limitation on the amending power—that no amendment can deprive a state of its equal representation in the Senate without that state's consent.

wikisource:Constitution of the United States of America#Article VI: Federal power Article Six establishes the Constitution, and the laws and treaties of the United States made in accordance with it, to be the supremacy clause of the land, and that "the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, any thing in the laws or constitutions of any state notwithstanding." It also validates government debt created under the Articles of Confederation and requires that all legislators, federal officers, and judges take oaths or affirmations to "support" the Constitution. This means that the states' constitutions and laws should not conflict with the laws of the federal constitution—and that in case of a conflict, state judges are legally bound to honor the federal laws and constitution over those of any state.

Article Six also states that "no religious test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States".

wikisource:Constitution of the United States of America#Article VII: Ratification Article Seven sets forth the requirements for ratification of the Constitution. The Constitution would not take effect until at least nine states had ratified the Constitution in state conventions specially convened for that purpose. (See above #History.)

Provisions for amendment The authors of the Constitution were clearly aware that changes would be necessary from time to time if the Constitution was to endure and cope with the effects of the anticipated growth of the nation. However, they were also conscious that such change should not be easy, lest it permit ill-conceived and hastily passed Constitutional amendment. Balancing this, they also wanted to ensure that an overly rigid requirement of unanimity would not block action desired by the vast majority of the population. Their solution was to devise a dual process by which the Constitution could be altered.

Constitutional amendment#Form of changes to the text, amendments to the U.S. constitution are appended to the existing body of the text, rather than being revisions of or insertions into the main articles. There is no provision for expunging from the text obsolete or rescinded provisions.

Some argue that Demography of the United States changes in the U.S.—specifically the great disparity in population between states—have made the Constitution too difficult to amend, with states representing as little as 4% of the population theoretically able to block an amendment desired by over 90% of Americans; others feel that it is unlikely that such an extreme result would occur. However, any proposals to change this would necessarily involve amending the Constitution itself.

Aside from the direct process of amending the Constitution, the practical effect of its provisions may be altered by judicial decision and review. The United States is a common law country, rooted in English common law, with courts following the precedents established in prior cases. However, when a Supreme Court decision clarifies the application of a part of the Constitution to existing law, the effect is to establish the meaning of that part for all practical purposes. Not long after adoption of the Constitution, in the 1803 case of Marbury v. Madison the Supreme Court established the doctrine of judicial review, which is the power of the Court to examine legislation and other acts of Congress and to decide their constitutionality. The doctrine also embraces the power of the Court to explain the meaning of various sections of the Constitution as they apply to particular cases brought before the Court. Since such cases will reflect changing legal, political, economic, and social conditions, this provides a mechanism, in practice, for adjusting the Constitution without needing to amend its text. Over the years, a series of Court decisions, on issues ranging from governmental regulation of radio and television to the rights of the accused in criminal cases, has affected a change in the way many Constitutional clauses are interpreted, without amendment to the actual text of the Constitution.

Congressional legislation, passed to implement provisions of the Constitution or to adapt those implementations to changing conditions, also broadens and, in subtle ways, changes the meanings given to the words of the Constitution. Up to a point, the rules and regulations of the many agencies of the federal government have a similar effect. In case of objection, the test in both cases is whether, in the opinion of the courts, such legislation and rules conform with the meanings given to the words of the Constitution.

Amendments The Constitution has a total of 27 amendments. The first ten, collectively known as the United States Bill of Rights, were ratified simultaneously. The following seventeen were ratified separately.

The Bill of Rights (1–10) The Bill of Rights comprises the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Those amendments were adopted between 1789 and 1791, and all relate to limiting the power of the federal government. They were added in response to criticisms of the Constitution by the state ratification conventions and by prominent individuals such as Thomas Jefferson (who was not a delegate to the Constitutional Convention). These critics argued that without further restraints, the strong central government would become tyrannical. The amendments were proposed by Congress as part of a block of twelve in September 1789. By December 1791 a sufficient number of states had ratified ten of the twelve proposals, and the Bill of Rights became part of the Constitution.

It is commonly understood that the Bill of Rights was not originally intended to apply to the states, though except where amendments refer specifically to the Federal Government or a branch thereof (as in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, under which some states in the early years of the nation officially state religion), there is no such delineation in the text itself. Nevertheless, a general interpretation of inapplicability to the states remained until 1868, when the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed, which stated, in part, that:

The Supreme Court has interpreted this clause to extend most, but not all, parts of the Bill of Rights to the states. Nevertheless, the balance of state and federal power has remained a battle in the Supreme Court.

The amendments that became the Bill of Rights were actually the last ten of the twelve amendments proposed in 1789. The second of the twelve proposed amendments, regarding the compensation of members of Congress, remained unratified until 1992, when the legislatures of enough states finally approved it and, as a result, it became the Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution despite more than two centuries of pendency. The Congressional Apportionment Amendment—still technically pending before the state legislatures for ratification—pertains to the apportionment of the United States House of Representatives after each decennial United States Census. The most recent state whose lawmakers are known to have ratified this proposal is Kentucky in 1792, during that commonwealth's first month of statehood.





















Subsequent amendments (11–27) Amendments to the Constitution subsequent to the Bill of Rights cover many subjects. The majority of the seventeen later amendments stem from continued efforts to expand individual civil or political liberties, while a few are concerned with modifying the basic governmental structure drafted in Philadelphia in 1787. Although the United States Constitution has been amended a total of 27 times, only 26 of the amendments are currently used because the 21st amendment supersedes the 18th.



Unratified amendments Over 10,000 Constitutional amendments have been introduced in Congress since 1789; in a typical Congressional year in the last several decades, between 100 and 200 are offered. Most of these concepts never get out of Congressional committee, and far fewer get proposed by the Congress for ratification. Backers of some amendments have attempted the alternative, and thus-far never-utilized, method mentioned in Article Five. In two instances—reapportionment in the 1960s and a balanced federal budget during the 1970s and 1980s—these attempts have come within just two state legislative "applications" of triggering that alternative method.

Of the thirty-three amendments that have been proposed by Congress, six have failed ratification by the required three-quarters of the state legislatures—and four of those six are still technically pending before state lawmakers (see Coleman v. Miller). Starting with the 18th Amendment, each proposed amendment (except for the 19th Amendment and for the still-pending Child Labor Amendment of 1924) has specified a deadline for passage. The following are the unratified amendments:



Properly placed in a separate category from the other four constitutional amendments that Congress proposed to the states, but which not enough states have approved, are the following two offerings which—because of deadlines—are no longer subject to ratification.



There are currently only a few proposals for amendments which have entered mainstream political debate. These include the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment, the Balanced Budget Amendment, and the Flag Desecration Amendment.

Original pages of the Constitution Image:Constitution_Pg1of4_AC.jpg|Page 1Image:Constitution Pg2of4 AC.jpg|Page 2Image:Constitution Pg3of4 AC.jpg|Page 3Image:Constitution Pg4of4 AC.jpg|Page 4

See also General

Related documents

Notes References Primary sources

Reference books

Secondary sources | first=Akhil Reed | last = Amar | authorlink = Akhil Amar | year = 2005 | title= America's Constitution: A Biography | chapter = In the Beginning | publisher = Random House | location = [New York City | isbn = 1-4000-6262-4 --> | last = Edling | first = Max M. | title=A Revolution in Favor of Government: Origins of the U.S. Constitution and the Making of the American State | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2003 | isbn = 0-19-514870-3 --> | last = Fallon | first = Richard H. | title = The Dynamic Constitution: An Introduction to American Constitutional Law | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 2004 | isbn = 0-521-84094-5 --> | last = Kammen | first = Michael | title= A Machine that Would Go of Itself: The Constitution in American Culture | location = New York | publisher = Alfred A. Knopf | year=1986 | isbn = 0-394-52905-7 --> | author=Kelly, Alfred Hinsey; Harbison, Winfred Audif; Belz, Herman | title=The American Constitution: its origins and development | edition = 7th edition | location = New York | publisher = Norton & Co | year = 1991 | isbn = 0-393-96119-2 -->
 

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