shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted. ARTICLE IV.-Section 1. 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each state State acts. 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. Section 2. 1. The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all Privileges of privileges and immunities of citizens in the several citizens. states. 2. A person charged in any state with treason, felony, Fugitives or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found from justice in another state, shall, on demand of the executive to be deliver authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime. ed up. 3. No person held to service or labor in one state Runaways to under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall be delivered in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be dis- up. charged from such service or labor; but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due. Section 3. 1. New states may be admitted by the congress into New states 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. property. 2. The congress shall have power to dispose of, and Territorial make all needful rules and regulations respecting the and other 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. protection, &c. Section 4. Guarantee of 1. 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 can not be convened,) against domestic violence. Amendments. Debts. Supreme law of the land. ARTICLE V. 1. The congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this constitution; or, on the application of the legislatures 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. 1. 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. 2. 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, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding. 8. The senators and representatives before mentioned, Oatn. 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 reli- No religious gious test shall ever be required as a qualification to test. any office or public trust under the United States. ARTICLE VII. 1. The ratification of the conventions of nine states shall be sufficient for the establishment of this constiution between the states so ratifying the same. Done in convention by the unanimous consent of GEORGE WASHINGTON, Free exercise of religion. AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE [The following amendments were proposed at the first session of the first congress of the United States, which was begun and held at the city of New York, on the 4th of March, 1789, and were adopted by the requisite number of states. 1 vol. Laws of U. S., page 72.] [The following preamble and resolution preceded the original proposition of the amendments, and as they have been supposed by a high equity judge, (8th Wendell's Reports, p. 100,) to have an important bearing on the construction of those amendments, they are here inserted. They will be found in the journals of the first session of the first congress. CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, Begun and held at the City of New York, on Wednesday, the 4th of March, 1789. The conventions of a number of the 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 best insure the beneficent ends of its institution: Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two-thirds of both houses concurring, that the following articles be proposed to the legislatures of the several states, as amendments to the constitution of the United States; all or any of which articles, when ratified by three-fourths of the said legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said constitution, namely:] ARTICLE I. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof: or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. ARTICLE II. A well regulated militia being necessary to the secu- Right to bear rity of a free state, the right of the people to keep and arms. bear arms shall not be infringed. ARTICLE III. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in No soldier to any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in be billeted, time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. ARTICLE IV. &c. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, Unreasonahouses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches ble searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrants prohibited. 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. ARTICLE V. No person shall be held to answer for a capital or Criminal otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or proceedings. 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. ARTICLE VI. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy Mode of trial 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 |