posted on July 4, 2001 08:16:29 AM
God Bless the USA
(by Lee Greenwood)
If tomorrow all the things were gone
I'd worked for all my life,
And I had to start again
with just my children and my wife,
I'd thank my lucky stars
to be living here today,
'Cause the flag still stands for freedom
and they can't take that away.
I'm proud to be an American
where at least I know I'm free,
And I won't forget the men who died
who gave that right to me,
And I gladly stand up next to you
and defend her still today,
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land
God Bless the U.S.A.
From the lakes of Minnesota
to the hills of Tennessee,
Across the plains of Texas
from sea to shining sea.
From Detroit down to Houston
and New York to L.A.,
There's pride in every American heart
and it's time we stand and say:
I'm proud to be an American
where at least I know I'm free,
And I won't forget the men who died
who gave that right to me,
And I gladly stand up next to you
and defend her still today,
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land
God Bless the U.S.A.
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 shewn, 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 for 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 harrass 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 out 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 and 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 Attentions 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.
JOHN HANCOCK, President
Attest.
CHARLES THOMSON, Secretary.
SIGNERS
Adams, John MA Lawyer
Adams, Samuel MA Political leader
Bartlett, Josiah NH Physician, Judge
Braxton, Carter VA Farmer
Carroll, Charles of Carrollton MD Lawyer
Chase, Samuel MD Judge
Clark, Abraham NJ Surveyor
Clymer, George PA Merchant
Ellery, William RI Lawyer
Floyd, William NY Soldier
Franklin, Benjamin PA Printer, Publisher
Gerry, Elbridge MA Merchant
Gwinnett, Button GA Merchant
Hall, Lyman GA Physician
Hancock, John MA Merchant
Harrison, Benjamin VA Farmer
Hart, John NJ Farmer
Hewes, Joseph NC Merchant
Heyward, Thomas Jr. SC Lawyer, Farmer
Hooper, William NC Lawyer
Hopkins, Stephen RI Judge, Educator
Hopkinson, Francis NJ Judge, Author
Huntington, Samuel CT Judge
Jefferson, Thomas VA Lawyer
Lee, Francis Lightfoot VA Farmer
Lee, Richard Henry VA Farmer
Lewis, Francis NY Merchant
Livingston, Philip NY Merchant
Lynch, Thomas Jr. SC Farmer
McKean, Thomas DE Lawyer
Middleton, Arthur SC Farmer
Morris, Lewis NY Farmer
Morris, Robert PA Merchant
Morton, John PA Judge
Nelson, Thomas Jr. VA Farmer
Paca, William MD Judge
Paine, Robert Treat MA Judge
Penn, John NC Lawyer
Read, George DE Judge
Rodney, Caesar DE Judge
Ross, George PA Judge
Rush, Benjamin PA Physician
Rutledge, Edward SC Lawyer
Sherman, Roger CT Lawyer
Smith, James PA Lawyer
Stockton, Richard NJ Lawyer
Stone, Thomas MD Lawyer
Taylor, George PA Ironmaster
Thornton, Matthew NH Physician
Walter, George GA Judge
Whipple, William NH Merchant, Judge
Williams, William CT Merchant
Wilson, James PA Judge
Witherspoon, John NJ Educator
Wolcott, Oliver CT Judge
Wythe, George VA Lawyer
posted on July 4, 2001 08:20:22 AM
The Star Spangled Banner
By Francis Scott Key
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
posted on July 4, 2001 08:21:17 AM
The Gettysburg Address
Lincoln's Address at Gettysburg, 1863
Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this
continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or
any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on
a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of
that field, as a final restingplace for those who here gave their lives
that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that
we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate - we can not consecrate - we
can not hallow - this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who
struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or
detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say
here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the
living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they
who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to
be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from
these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which
they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly
resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation,
under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of
the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the
earth.
posted on July 4, 2001 08:24:10 AM
The Constitution of the United States of America
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 blessing of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do
ordain and establish the Constitution of the United States of
America.
Article I.
Sect. 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in
a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate
and a House of Representatives.
Sect. 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.
Representative 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 be law direct. The number of
representative 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 choose three, Massachusetts eight, 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 choose the Speaker and other
officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment.
Sect. 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two
senators from each state chosen by the legislature thereof, for
six years and each senator shall have one vote.
Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the
first election, they hall 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, 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 choose 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 cases 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, judgment 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
choosing 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 be 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 may provide.
Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its
members for disorderly behaviour, and with the concurrence of two-
thirds, expel a member.
Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time
to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their
judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members
either house on any question shall, at the desire of one-fifth of
those present be entered on the journal.
Neither house, during the session of Congress shall, without the
consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any
other place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting.
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 increased during such time; and
no person holding any office under the United States, shall be a
member of either house during his continuance in office.
Sect. 7. All bill for raising revenue shall originate in the house
of representative; 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 a 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
in 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 is 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 Representative 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 miles square) as may, by cession
of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the
seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like
authority over all places purchased by the consent of the
legislature of the states in which the same shall be, for the
erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, 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 the 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
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 by any regulation of commerce or
revenue to the ports of one state over those of another: nor shall
vessels bound to, or from, one state, be obliged to enter, clear,
or pay duties in another.
No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of
appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of
the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be
published from time to time.
No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States:--And
no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall,
without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present,
emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king,
prince, or foreign state.
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 the Congress, lay any
imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be
absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the
net produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any state on
imports or exports, shall be for the use of the Treasury of the
United States; 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 am equal number of electors
appointed; and if there be more than one who have such majority,
and have an equal number of votes, then the house of
representatives shall immediately choose by ballot one of them for
president; and if no person have a majority, then from the five
highest on the list the said house shall in like manner choose the
president. But in choosing the president, the votes shall be
taken by states, the representation from each state having one
vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or
members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the
states shall be necessary to a choice. In every case, after the
choice of the president, the person having the greatest number of
votes of the electors shall be the vice-president. But if there
should remain two or more who have equal votes, the senate shall
choose from them by ballot the vice-president.
The Congress may determine the time of the choosing the electors,
and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall
be the same throughout the United States.
No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the
United States, at the time of the adoption of this constitution,
shall be eligible to the office of president; neither shall any
person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to
the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident
within the United States.
In case of the removal of the president from office, or 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 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 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 time, receive for their
services a compensation which shall not be diminished during their
continuance in office.
Sect. 2.
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
1. 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 confession in open court.
2. 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
attained.
Article IV
Sect. 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the
public act, 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.
1. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges
and immunities of citizens in the several States.
2. 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.
3. No person held to service or labor 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 labor,
but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such
service or labor may be due.
Sect. 3.
1. 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.
2. 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 House 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.
Sect. 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.
Sect. 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.
Sect. 3. The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, 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 of America the twelfth. In
Witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names.
Attest: William Jackson, Secretary
George Washington
PRESIDENT AND DEPUTY FROM VIRGINIA
NEW HAMPSHIRE
John Langdon
Nicholas Gilman
MASSACHUSETTS
Nathaniel Gorham
Rufus King
NEW YORK
Alexander Hamilton
NEW JERSEY
William Livingston
David Brearley
William Paterson
Jonathan Dayton
PENNSYLVANIA
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Mifflin
Robert Morris
George Clymer
Thomas Fitzsimons
Jared Ingersoll
James Wilson
Gouverneur Morris
DELAWARE
George Read
Gunning Bedford, Jr.
John Dickinson
Richard Bassett
Jacob Broom
MARYLAND
James McHenry
Dan of St. Thomas Jennifer
Daniel Carroll
VIRGINIA
John Blair
James Madison, Jr.
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
Amendments
Bill of Rights
The Conventions of a number of the States having, at the time of 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:
1st Amendment (1791)
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.
2nd Amendment (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.
3rd Amendment (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.
4th Amendment (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.
5th Amendment (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.
6th Amendment (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 defence.
7th Amendment (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 re-
examined in any court of the United States than according to the
rules of the common law.
8th Amendment (1791)
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines
imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted.
9th Amendment (1791)
The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not
be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
10th Amendment (1791)
The powers not delegated to 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.
End Bill of Rights
11th Amendment (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.
12th Amendment (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 the presence of the
Senate and the 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
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 a President, the House of
Representative 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] the Vice President shall act as President,
as in case of 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, form 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; 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.
13th Amendment (1865)
Sect. 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.
Sect. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.
14th Amendment (1868)
Sect. 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States,
and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the
United States and of 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 any person within its jurisdiction
the equal protection of the laws.
Sect. 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.
Sect. 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.
Sect. 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.
Sect. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate
legislation, the provisions of this article.
15th Amendment (1870)
Sect. 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.
Sect. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.
16th Amendment (1913)
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on
incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment
among the several States and without regard to any census or
enumeration.
17th Amendment (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: Provided, That the
legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to
make temporary appointment 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.
18th Amendment (1919)
Sect. 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.
Sect. 2. The Congress and the several States shall have
concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
Sect. 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 of the date of the submission
hereof to the States by Congress.
19th Amendment (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.
20th Amendment (1933)
Sect. 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 3d 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.
Sect. 2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every
year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d day of
January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.
Sect. 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 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.
Sect. 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. Sect. 5.
Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October
following the ratification of this article. Sect. 6. This article
shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an
amendment to the Constitution by three-fourths of the several
States within seven years from the date of its submission.
21st Amendment (1933)
Sect. 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution
of the United States is hereby repealed.
Sect. 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.
Sect. 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.
22d Amendment (1951)
Sect. 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 the 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
his Article becomes operative from holding the office of President
or acting as President during the remainder of such term.
Sect. 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.
23rd Amendment (1961)
Sect. 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 Representative 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 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.
Sect. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.
24th Amendment (1964)
Sect. 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any
primary or other election for President or Vice President, for
electors 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.
Sect. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.
25th Amendment (1967)
Sect. 1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of
his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become
President.
Sect. 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.
Sect. 3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro
tempore of the Senate and the Speakers 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.
Sect. 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 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.
26th Amendment (1971)
Sect. 1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are
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.
Sect. 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article
by appropriate legislation.
27th Amendment (1992)
No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators
and Representatives shall take effect, until election of Representa-
tives shall have intervened.
posted on July 4, 2001 08:26:36 AM
The Emancipation Proclamation
Whereas, On the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President
of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:
That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or
designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion
against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and
the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval
authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and
will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts
they may make for their actual freedom.
That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by
proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the
people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United
States; and the fact that any State or the people thereof shall on that day be,
in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members
chosen thereto at elections where in a majority of the qualified voters of such
States shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing
testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such state, and the people
thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States.
Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue
of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the
United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and
government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for
suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my
purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days,
from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts
of States wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in rebellion
against the United States, the following, to wit:
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines,
Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne,
Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New
Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North
Carolina, and Virginia (except the forty-eight counties designated as West
Virginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth
City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and
Portsmouth); and which excepted parts are, for the present, left precisely as if
this proclamation were not issued.
And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and
declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts
of States, are, and henceforward shall be, free; States, including the military
and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said
persons.
And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from
all violence, unless in necessary self-defense; and I recommend to them that, in
all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.
And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable
condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to
garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all
sorts in said service.
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by
the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of
mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
In witness thereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the
United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the eighty-seventh.
I pledge Allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands,
one nation under God, indivisible,
with Liberty and Justice for all.
Guidelines for Displaying the Flag:
1. The flag of the United States should be flown daily from sunrise to
sunset in good weather from public buildings, schools, permanent
staffs, and in or near polling places on election days. The flag
may be displayed 24 hours a day on patriotic holidays or if properly
illuminated.
2. The flag should not be displayed on days when the weather is bad,
except when an all-weather flag is used.
3. The flag should always be flown on national and state holidays and
on those occasions proclaimed by the President. On Memorial Day,
the flag should be half staffed until noon.
4. The flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously. It
should never be dipped to any person nor should it ever be displayed
with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress.
5. The flag should never touch anything beneath it, nor should it ever
be carried flat or horizontally.
6. It should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, drapery, or
decoration, nor for carrying or holding anything.
7. The flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored
in such a manner as to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged. It should
never be used as a covering for a ceiling.
8. The flag should not be draped over the hood, top, sides, or back of
a vehicle. When a flag is displayed on a car, the flag's staff
should be fixed firmly to the chassis or clamped to the right
fender.
9. The flag or its staff should never be used for advertising purposes
in any manner whatsoever. Nor should any picture, drawing, insignia
or other decoration be placed on or attached to the flag, its staff,
or halyard.
10. The flag should not be embroidered on cushions, handkerchiefs, or
other personal items nor printed on anything designed for temporary
use and discarded. However, a flag patch may be affixed to the
uniform of military personnel, firemen, policemen, or members of
other patriotic organizations.
11. When the flag is so worn or soiled that it is no longer suitable
for display, it should be destroyed in a dignified manner,
preferably by burning.
FLAG-FLYING HOLIDAYS
New Year's Day
Lincoln's Birthday
Washington's Birthday
Armed Forces Day
Memorial Day
Flag Day
Independence Day
V-J Day
Labor Day
Thanksgiving
Veterans' Day
Pearl Harbor Day
Christmas
State Admission Day
posted on July 4, 2001 08:54:31 AM
Ashlandtrader: Here is the actual "Federal Flag Code 94-344...
The Federal Flag Code prescribes the proper display of and respect for the United States Flag. Each state has its own flag law. Here is the code in its entirety (PUBLIC LAW 94 - 344):
JOINT RESOLUTION
To amend the joint resolution entitled "Joint resolution to codify and emphasize existing rules and customs pertaining to the display and use of the flag of the United States of America".
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the joint resolution entitled "Joint resolution to codify and emphasize existing rules and customs pertaining to the display and use of the flag of the United States of America", as amended (36 U.S.C. 171-178), is amended --
SEC. I That the following codification of existing rules and customs pertaining to the display and use of the flag of the United States of America be, and is hereby, established for the use of such civilians or civilian groups or organizations as may not be required to conform with regulations promulgated by one or more executive departments of the Government of the United States. The flag of the United States for the purpose of this chapter shall be defined according to title 4, United States Code, Chapter I, section I and section 2 and Executive Order 10834 issued pursuant thereto.
SEC. 2
(a) It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed twenty-four hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.
(b) The flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously.
(c) The flag should not be displayed on days when the weather is inclement, except when an all weather flag is displayed.
(d) The flag should be displayed on all days, especially on New Year's Day, January 1; Inauguration Day, January 20; Lincoln's Birthday, February- 12; Washington's Birthday, third Monday in February; Easter Sunday (variable); Mother's Day, second Sunday in May; Armed Forces Day, third Saturday in May; Memorial Day (half-staff until noon), the last Monday in May; Flag Day, June 14; Independence Day, July 4; Labor Day, first Monday in September; Constitution Day, September 17; Columbus Day, second Monday in October; Navy Day, October 27; Veterans Day, November 11; Thanksgiving Day, fourth Thursday in November; Christmas Day, December 25; and such other days as may be proclaimed by the President of the United States; The birthdays of States (date of admission); and on State holidays.
(e) The flag should be displayed daily on or near the main administration building of every public institution.
(f) The flag should be displayed in or near every polling place on election days.
(g) The flag should be displayed during school days in or near every schoolhouse.
SEC. 3 That the flag, when carried in a procession with another flag or flags, should be either on the marching right; that is, the flag's own right, or, if there is a line of other flags, in front of the center of that line.
(a) The flag should not be displayed on a float in a parade except from a staff, or as provided in subsection (j).
(b) The flag should not be draped over the hood, top, sides, or back of a vehicle or of a railroad train or a boat. When the flag is displayed on a motor car, the staff should be fixed firmly to the chassis or clamped to the right fender.
(c) No other flag or pennant should be placed above or, if on the same level, to the right of the flag of the United States of America, except during church services conducted by naval chaplains at sea, when the church pennant may be flown above the flag during church services for the personnel of the Navy. (See Public Law 107, page 4)
(d) The flag of the United States of America, when it is displayed with another flag against a wall from crossed staffs, should be on the right, the flag's own right, and its staff should be in front of the staff of the other flag.
(e) The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of States or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs.
(f) When flags of states, cities, or localities, or pennants of societies are flown on the same halyard with the flag of the United States, the latter should always be at the peak. When the flags are flown from adjacent staffs, the flag of the United States should be hoisted first and lowered last. No such flag or pennant may be placed above the flag of the United States or to the United States Flag's right.
(g) When flags of two or more nations are displayed, they are to be flown from separate staffs of the same height. The flags should be of approximately equal size. International usage forbids the display of the flag of one nation above that of another nation in time of peace.
(h) When the flag of the United States is displayed from a staff projecting horizontally or at an angle from the window sill, balcony, or front of a building, the union of the flag should be placed at the peak of the staff unless the flag is at half staff. When the flag is suspended over a sidewalk from a rope extending from a house to a pole at the edge of the sidewalk, the flag should be hoisted out, union first, from the building.
(i) When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall, the union should be uppermost and to the flag's own right, that is, to the observer's left. When displayed in a window, the flag should be displayed in the same way, with the union or blue field to the left of the observer in the street.
(j) When the flag is displayed over the middle of the street, it should be suspended vertically with the union to the north in an east and west street or to the east in a north and south street.
(k) When used on a speaker's platform, the flag, if displayed flat, should be displayed above and behind the speaker. When displayed from a staff in a church or public auditorium, the flag of the United States of America should hold the position of superior prominence, in advance of the audience, and in the position of honor at the clergyman's or speaker's right as he faces the audience. Any other flag so displayed should be placed on the left of the clergyman or speaker or to the right of the audience.
(l) The flag should form a distinctive feature of the ceremony of unveiling a statue or monument, but it should never be used as the covering for the statue or monument.
(m) The flag, when flown at half-staff, should be first hoisted to the peak for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff position. The flag should be again raised to the peak before it is lowered for the day. On Memorial Day the flag should be displayed at half-staff until noon only, then raised to the top of the staff. By order of the President, the flag shall be flown at half-staff upon the death of principal figures of the United States Government and the Governor of a State, territory, or possession, as a mark of respect to their memory. In the event of the death of other officials or foreign dignitaries, the flag is to be displayed at half-staff according to Presidential instructions or orders, or in accordance with recognized customs or practices not inconsistent with law. In the event of the death of a present or former official of the government of any State, territory, or possession of the United States, the Governor of that State, territory, or possession may proclaim that the National flag shall be flown at half-staff. The flag shall be flown at half-staff thirty days from the death of the President or a former President; ten days from the day of death of the Vice President, the Chief Justice or a retired Chief Justice of the United States, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives; from the day of death until interment of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, a Secretary of an executive or military department, a former Vice President, or the Governor of a State, territory, or possession; and on the day of death and the following day for a Member of Congress. As used in this subsection -
(1) the term 'half-staff' means the position of the flag when it is one-half the distance between the top and bottom of the staff;
(2) the term 'executive or military department' means any agency listed under sections 101 and 102 of title 5, United States Code; and
(3) the term Member of Congress' means a Senator, a Representative, a Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico.
(n) When the flag is used to cover a casket, it should be so placed that the union is at the° head and over the left shoulder. The flag should not be lowered into the grave or allowed to touch the ground.
(o) When the flag is suspended across a corridor or lobby in a building with only one main entrance, it should be suspended vertically with the union of the flag to the observer's left upon entering. If the building has more than one main entrance, the flag should be suspended vertically near the center of the corridor or lobby with the union to the north, when entrances are to the east and west or to the east when entrances are to the north and south. If there are entrances in more than two directions, the union should be to the east.
SEC. 4 That no disrespect should be shown to the flag the United States of America; the flag should not be dipped to any person or thing. Regimental colors, State flags, and organization or institutional flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor.
(a) The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.
(b) The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water,
(c) The flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free.
(d) The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free. Bunting of blue, white, and red, always arranged with the blue above, the white in the middle, and the red below, should be used for covering a speaker's desk, draping the front of the platform, and for decoration in general.
(e) The flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner as to permit it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.
(f) The flag should never be used as a covering for a ceiling.
(g) The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature.
(h) The flag should never be used as a receptacle for receiving, holding, carrying or delivering anything.
(i) The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever. It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use and discard. Advertising signs should not be fastened to a staff or halyard from which the flag is flown.
(j) No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform. However, a flag patch may be affixed to the uniform of military personnel, firemen, policemen, and members of patriotic organizations. The flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing. Therefore, the lapel flag pin being a replica, should be worn on the left lapel near the heart.
(k) The Flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.
SEC. 5 During the ceremony of hoisting or lowering the flag or when the flag is passing in a parade or in review, all persons present except those in uniform should face the flag and stand at attention with the right hand over the heart. Those present in uniform should render the military salute. When not in uniform, men should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Aliens should stand at attention. The salute to the flag in a moving column should be rendered at the moment the flag passes.
SEC. 6 During rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed, all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. Men not in uniform should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should render the military salute at the first note of the anthem and retain this position until the last note. When the flag is not displayed, those present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they would if the flag were displayed there.
SEC. 7 The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all", should be rendered by standing at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. When not in uniform men should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should remain silent, face the flag and render the military salute.
SEC. 8 Any rule or custom pertaining to the display of the flag of the United States of America, set forth herein, may be altered, modified, or repealed, or additional rules with respect thereto may be prescribed, by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, whenever he deems it to be appropriate or desirable; and any such alteration or additional rule shall be set forth in proclamation.
