Here is a story I received today regarding the Social Security Program. I Hope
you will read this and think about it. ____________________________________________
Franklin
Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social Security (FICA) Program. He promised:
1.) Participation in the Program
would be completely voluntary,
2.)
The participants would only have to pay 1% of the first $1,400 of their annual incomes into the Program,
3.) The money the participants
elected to put into the Program would be deductible from their income for tax purposes each year,
4.) The money the participants
put into the independent "Trust Fund" rather than into the General operating fund, and therefore, would only be used to fund
the Social Security Retirement Program, and no other Government program, and,
5.) The annuity payments to
the retirees would never be taxed as income.
Since
many of us have paid into FICA for years and are now receiving a Social Security check every month -- and then finding that
we are getting taxed on 85% of the money we paid to the Federal government to "put away" -- you may be interested in the following:
Q:
Which Political Party decided to start giving annuity payments to immigrants?
AND
MY FAVORITE:
A: That's right! Jimmy Carter and
the Democratic Party. Immigrants moved into this country, and at age 65, began to receive Social Security payments! The Democratic
Party gave these payments to them, even though they never paid a dime into it!
Then,
after doing all this lying, thieving and violating of the original contract (FICA), the Democrats turn around and tell you
that the Republicans want to take your Social Security away!
Look at history before you vote and forget all the B.S. Political adds.
In addition to what you see below remember our troops in Iraq, not enough,
serving back to back tours , reserves called up, inadequate body armor and other equipment.
The first President to reduce military strength and budget was Jimmy Carter.
Ronald Reagan,tried desperately to stop the bleeding and bring The Military
back to the requirements need to protect America and our interest.
Bill Clinton bound and determined to re ignite Carter's plan has cadre
more units and moth balled more equipment, and forced many good service personal out.
Just remember when the Democrats say they have a Plan for Iraq, be afraid
,very afraid the plan they speak of is not only cut and run from Iraq, but desert our other allies like South Korea and Japan,
and caring on the Carter and Clinton tradition of destruction are Military
And
the worst part about it is uninformed citizens believe it!
Commandant of the USMC Gen. Shoup Speech on Patriotism
Author/Presenter: General David M. Shoup, USMC Commandant
of the Marine Corps
Date: 4 July 1962
It is said that patriotism is the love of country. I think it is the
love of the things about your country that you don’t want to see lost—that you want to see perpetuated—and
you’re willing to sacrifice to ensure it.
Patriotism is not something you put on each morning like a clean shirt.
Patriotism is not something you can buy at the super market. Patriotism is not something you can get in return for a monthly
paycheck to a man in uniform. It is devotion to an ideal—a principle; a burning desire that the things that people think
are best for their country and its people are protected from erosion—protected from any and everything which would tend
to lessen in the mind of the individual the image he has of how things should be in his ideal country.
Patriotism
is an abstract thing. You can’t see it, you can’t feel it, you can’t hear it—albeit at times you can
see the action and hear the things that people do, who are imbued with patriotism.
In the armed forces we have one
fundamental mission—to provide for the security of this nation. Everything else is included in this goal. Devotion to
country—patriotism, if you will—is essential to our success.
The men and women in the armed forces are
not so different from other Americans. The uniforms they wear merely signify what their job is and in which service they carry
out their important duties. But soldier, sailor, airman or Marine, they are bound by a common promise and a common responsibility.
Patriotism is something from our hearts—a faith—a dedication.
We cannot confine patriotism to
a single day, year, or to whenever it is convenient, any more than we can confine a belief in God to the occasion when one
is trapped in a foxhole under fire, or a Sunday morning in church. If patriotism is faith—and I believe it is—then
it is a faith based on love, the love of the things that we believe are best for the people of our country, and thus for the
nation itself. It is a deep faith in what we are for, not a hatred for things we are against. American patriots need not hate
nor fear anyone. Fear and hate are corrosive and carry the seeds for the destruction of the deep patriotism so necessary to
ensure the future of America.
I am firmly convinced that the cornerstone of our Democracy are Americans who have pride
in their country—true patriots.
We are not born with this sense of patriotism. This thing called patriotism
is not just handed to us. We must know our history, we must participate in our country’s current affairs of concern—vote
for leaders—foster education for more of our people—and stand beside our country as her defenders.
Let
us all do these things, and there will be no lack of patriots in this great country.
"Oh, God of grace and glory, We thank you for giving
him to us, his family and friends, to know and to love as a companion on our earthly pilgrimage. In your boundless compassion,
console us who mourn. Give us faith to see in death the gate of eternal life, so that in quiet confidence we may continue
our course on earth, until, by your call, we are reunited with those who have gone before."
Rest At Peace Knowing That You Will Not Be Forgotten
Speakout: A jubilant homecoming from Iraq
STORY TOOLS
By Roger Merrill October 20, 2006
It is late afternoon on a fine Colorado day in October - a good day for change, a good day for a homecoming.
I sit on the gymnasium's hard bleacher seats and look around at the gathering crowd. I had flown three hours and driven
two to arrive here at Fort Carson, but I was far from alone. Many had flown farther and driven through the night to be at
this place at this time.
I adjusted a bouquet of flowers that rested on the bleachers at my side. I sipped some lemonade and thought about my deep
anticipation. More than a year had passed since my daughter deployed to Iraq with the 10th Combat Support Hospital and she
was now returning.
She was unharmed but changed. I heard in her voice in recent phone calls the maturity that comes with such a life experience.
The long-distance connections could not mask the clear sense of purpose and calm confidence that had blossomed in this young
Army officer.
Looking right and left I scan the crowd of people carrying balloons, signs, flowers and smiles. Children squirming. Patriotic
songs and country music softly play in the background. A murmur of conversations among people who did not know one another
yesterday but gather today for the same reason . . . time to bring them home.
A young lieutenant approaches the microphone and says, "Folks, we just received word that they have landed at the airport.
They should be on base in an hour. They need to process in and should be here soon. Sorry for the delay. Thanks for your patience."
A groan rises from the seats. I think about the concept of patience in these circumstances. What is an hour more when your
loved one has been deployed for the last 10,000 hours? The building warms with the radiance of gathered humans. It has the
comfortable feel of church service. God is present and I know he is pleased.
The same lieutenant steps to the podium and announces: "Folks, I have an update. They are now on the base and in-processing.
Turning in their M-16, etc. They should be here in 30 minutes. When we close the doors on the far side that means that the
buses are in back and they are assembling in the parking lot. I recommend you round up the loose children and grab your seats.
They are almost here."
Well, here we are. Down to 30 revolutions of the second hand. I stand up and stretch to dissipate the anxiety that permeates
my every bone.
Suddenly the doors close. There is a succession of metallic latches snapping into place. One. Then two. Then three. Finally,
the fourth door is closed. There is a hush punctuated by the crying of tired babes. Five hundred people breathe in and hold.
All eyes focus on the doors. The warm gym air crackles with emotion.
Time passes. People exhale. More time passes. Too much time passes. In frustration someone at the end of the bleachers
begins stomping their feet. Others join and the wave of rhythmic stomping sweeps down the planks. The gym undulates with the
drumbeat of impatience: "We are in here waiting for you. Come in loved ones, come in."
With no response, the banging ceases. There is a long, anxious pause.
Then Bruce Springsteen's rock anthem Born in the U.S.A. pours from the speakers. You can taste red, white and blue
at this moment. The doors slam open and the daylight flashes across the varnished oak floor.
The first soldiers step into the four light portals and lead a column of comrades into the gym. The next two minutes cannot
easily be described. The moment pervades your senses and lifts your spirit. With the first crack of light from those magic
doors, the waiting crowd simply explodes with exaltation and pure love. Screams of joy cascade to the floor below and reverberate
throughout four corners of the small gym.
The columns of soldiers enter the building, turn left and form four lines across the gym in front of 100 flags. They halt
and turn right to face us and snap to attention with a salute of respect and gratitude.
Trembling slightly they hold the salute, absorbing the moment to the fullest. The crowd roars with cheers, returning the
respect and gratitude in kind.
The soldiers remain at attention, struggling to hold their composure. Knees are locked. Eyes are glistening. Desert-chapped
lips are smiling beyond the cracking point. Tears roll off rosy, sand-etched cheeks and sprinkle down to camo jackets below.
They are fully enveloped by a warm cloud of love and respect.
A man next to me from West Virginia turns and says: "It wasn't like this for us after Vietnam." Without turning, I responded
softly: "Consider this your homecoming. too . . . "
It is good to be an American. It is good to feel human. It is good to feel the presence of God. It is good to be at this
homecoming.
Roger G. Merrill is a resident of Menlo Park, Calif.
Constitution of the United States of America
Note: The following text is a transcription of the Constitution in its original
form.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union,
establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the
Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Section. 1. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the
United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
Section. 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second
Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors
of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.
No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age
of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant
of that State in which he shall be chosen.
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States
which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the
whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three
fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress
of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number
of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative;
and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, 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 chuse their Speaker and other Officers;
and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.
Section. 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each
State, chosen by the Legislature thereof for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.
Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election,
they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated
at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at
the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation,
or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until
the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies.
No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty
Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State
for which he shall be chosen.
The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate,
but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.
The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore,
in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.
The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting
for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice
shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.
Judgment 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.
Section. 4. The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives,
shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations,
except as to the Places of chusing Senators.
The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting
shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.
Section. 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their
Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason,
Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses,
and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in
any other Place.
No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected,
be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments
whereof shall have been encreased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member
of either House during his Continuance in Office.
Section. 7. All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives;
but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.
Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate,
shall, before it become 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 it shall likewise be reconsidered,
and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be
determined by yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal
of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it
shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their
Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.
Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and
House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the
United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed
by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of
a Bill.
Section. 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 State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;--And
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution
the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department
or Officer thereof.
Section. 9. The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing
shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight,
but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.
The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless
when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.
No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to
the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.
No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.
No Preference shall be given 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.
Section. 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 it's inspection Laws: and the net Produce of
all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States;
and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul 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.
Section. 1. The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United
States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for
the same Term, be elected, as follows:
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the
Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the
State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under
the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.
The Electors shall meet in their respective States,
and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And
they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify,
and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President
of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes
shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority
of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number
of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person
have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing
the President, the 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 chuse from them
by Ballot the Vice President.
The Congress may determine the Time of chusing
the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.
No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen
of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither
shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen
Years a Resident within the United States.
In Case of the Removal of the President from Office,
or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on
the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of
the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly,
until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.
The President shall, at stated Times, receive for
his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased 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."
Section. 2. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of
the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he
may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating
to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the
United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and
Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by
and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the
supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and
which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think
proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.
The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies
that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.
Section. 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.
Section. 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.
Section. 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 Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services
a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.
Section. 2. The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity,
arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;--to
all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;--to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;--to
Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;--to Controversies between two or more States;-- between a State
and Citizens of another State;--between Citizens of different States;--between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under
Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.
In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers
and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other
Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions,
and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.
The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment,
shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not
committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.
Section. 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying
War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless
on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment
of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person
attainted.
Article. IV.
Section. 1. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public
Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in
which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.
Section. 2. The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and
Immunities of Citizens in the several States.
A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or
other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the
State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.
No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under
the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service
or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.
Section. 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no
new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of
two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the
Congress.
The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make
all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in
this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.
Section. 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a
Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or
of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic Violence.
Article. V.
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses
shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of 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.
All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into,
before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the
Confederation.
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States
which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United
States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution
or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
The Senators and Representatives 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.
The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States,
shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.
The Word, "the," being interlined between the seventh
and eighth Lines of the first Page, the Word "Thirty" being partly written on an Erazure in the fifteenth Line of the first
Page, The Words "is tried" being interlined between the thirty second and thirty third Lines of the first Page and the Word
"the" being interlined between the forty third and forty fourth Lines of the second Page.
Attest William Jackson Secretary
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,
G°. Washington Presidt and deputy from Virginia
Delaware
Geo: Read
Gunning Bedford jun
John Dickinson
Richard Bassett
Jaco: Broom
Maryland
James McHenry
Dan of St Thos. Jenifer
Danl. Carroll
Virginia
John Blair
James Madison Jr.
North Carolina
Wm. Blount
Richd. Dobbs Spaight
Hu Williamson
South Carolina
J. Rutledge
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
Charles Pinckney
Pierce Butler
Georgia
William Few
Abr Baldwin
New Hampshire
John Langdon Nicholas Gilman
Massachusetts
Nathaniel Gorham
Rufus King
Connecticut
Wm. Saml. Johnson Roger Sherman
New York
Alexander Hamilton
New Jersey
Wil: Livingston
David Brearley Wm. Paterson Jona: Dayton
Pennsylvania
B Franklin Thomas Mifflin Robt. Morris Geo.
Clymer Thos. FitzSimons Jared Ingersoll James Wilson Gouv Morris
Constitutional Amendments 11-27 of the United States
AMENDMENT XI
Passed by Congress March 4, 1794. Ratified February 7, 1795.
Note: Article III, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by
amendment 11.
The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend
to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by
Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.
AMENDMENT XII
Passed by Congress December 9, 1803. Ratified June 15, 1804.
Note: A portion of Article II, section 1 of the Constitution was superseded
by the 12th amendment.
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 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 majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the
list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But
in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum
for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall
be necessary to a choice. [And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall
devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in case
of the death or other constitutional disability of the President. --]* The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President,
shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have
a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose
shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice.
But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United
States.
*Superseded by section 3 of the 20th amendment.
AMENDMENT XIII
Passed by Congress January 31, 1865. Ratified December 6, 1865.
Note: A portion of Article IV, section 2, of the Constitution was
superseded by the 13th amendment.
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,
except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or
any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this
article by appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT XIV
Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July 9, 1868.
Note: Article I, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by section
2 of the 14th amendment.
Section 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 to any person within
its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among
the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians
not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United
States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof,
is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age,* and citizens of the United States,
or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be
reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one
years of age in such State.
Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative
in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or
under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or
as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of
the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies
thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United
States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection
or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation
incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave;
but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Section 5. The Congress shall have the power to enforce,
by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
*Changed by section 1 of the 26th amendment.
AMENDMENT XV
Passed by Congress February 26, 1869. Ratified February 3, 1870.
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States
to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition
of servitude--
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce
this article by appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT XVI
Passed by Congress July 2, 1909. Ratified February 3, 1913.
Note: Article I, section 9, of the Constitution was modified by amendment
16.
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.
AMENDMENT XVII
Passed by Congress May 13, 1912. Ratified April 8, 1913.
Note: Article I, section 3, of the Constitution was modified by the
17th amendment.
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 appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election
as the legislature may direct.
This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term
of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.
AMENDMENT XVIII
Passed by Congress December 18, 1917. Ratified January 16, 1919. Repealed
by amendment 21.
Section 1. After one year from the ratification of this
article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation
thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.
Section 2. The Congress and the several States shall
have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it
shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the
Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT XX
Passed by Congress March 2, 1932. Ratified January 23, 1933.
Note: Article I, section 4, of the Constitution was modified by section
2 of this amendment. In addition, a portion of the 12th amendment was superseded by section 3.
Section 1. The terms of the President and the 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.
Section 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.
Section 3. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of
the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President. If a President
shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed
to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress
may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President 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.
Section 4. The Congress may by law provide for the case
of the death of any of the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever the right of choice
shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice
President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.
Section 5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the
15th day of October following the ratification of this article.
Section 6. This article shall be inoperative unless it
shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within
seven years from the date of its submission.
AMENDMENT XXI
Passed by Congress February 20, 1933. Ratified December 5, 1933.
Section 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the
Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.
Section 2. The transportation or importation into any
State, Territory, or Possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of
the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.
Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it
shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution,
within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.
AMENDMENT XXII
Passed by Congress March 21, 1947. Ratified February 27, 1951.
Section 1. No person shall be elected to the office of
the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two
years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of President more than once.
But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by Congress,
and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within
which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such
term.
Section 2. This article shall be inoperative unless it
shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within
seven years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress.
AMENDMENT XXIII
Passed by Congress June 16, 1960. Ratified March 29, 1961.
Section 1. The District constituting the seat of Government
of the United States shall appoint in such manner as Congress may direct:
A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number
of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event more
than the least populous State; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the States, but they shall be considered, for
the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors appointed by a State; and they shall meet in
the District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this
article by appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT XXIV
Passed by Congress August 27, 1962. Ratified January 23, 1964.
Section 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 poll tax or other tax.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this
article by appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT XXV
Passed by Congress July 6, 1965. Ratified February 10, 1967.
Note: Article II, section 1, of the Constitution was affected by the
25th amendment.
Section 1. In case of the removal of the President from
office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.
Section 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office
of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority
vote of both Houses of Congress.
Section 3. Whenever the President transmits to the President
pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge
the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and
duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
Section 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority
of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit
to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that
the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the
powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of
the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume
the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive
department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of
the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge
the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that
purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if
Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of
both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue
to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.
AMENDMENT XXVI
Passed by Congress March 23, 1971. Ratified July 1, 1971.
Note: Amendment 14, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by
section 1 of the 26th amendment.
Section 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.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this
article by appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT XXVII
Originally proposed Sept. 25, 1789. Ratified May 7, 1992.
No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives,
shall take effect, until an election of representatives shall have intervened.
THE FIRST 10 AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION AS RATIFIED
BY THE STATES
also known as the Bill of Rights
These amendments were ratified December 15, 1791,
and form what is known as the "Bill of Rights."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy
shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise
reexamined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
The Declaration of Independence
Transcript
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human
events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to
assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle
them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit
of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent
of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to
alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers
in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that
Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath 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 our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which
they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province,
establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument
for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering
fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with
power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection
and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed
the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat
the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled
in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to
bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their
Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to
bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished
destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the
most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked
by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish 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.
The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett Lyman Hall George Walton
North Carolina: William Hooper
Joseph Hewes John Penn South Carolina: Edward Rutledge Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr. Arthur Middleton Massachusetts: John Hancock Maryland:
Samuel Chase William Paca Thomas Stone Charles Carroll of Carrollton Virginia:
George Wythe Richard Henry Lee Thomas Jefferson Benjamin Harrison Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee Carter Braxton Pennsylvania: Robert Morris Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin John Morton George Clymer James Smith George Taylor James
Wilson George Ross Delaware: Caesar Rodney George Read Thomas McKean New
York: William Floyd Philip Livingston Francis Lewis Lewis Morris New Jersey:
Richard Stockton John Witherspoon Francis Hopkinson John Hart Abraham Clark New
Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett William Whipple Massachusetts: Samuel Adams
John Adams Robert Treat Paine Elbridge Gerry Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery Connecticut: Roger Sherman Samuel Huntington William Williams
Oliver Wolcott New Hampshire: Matthew Thornton
U.S. Flag thru time
1776: January 1 - The Grand Union flag is displayed on Prospect
Hill. It has 13 alternate red and white stripes and the British Union Jack in the upper left-hand corner (the canton).
1776: May - Betsy Ross reports that she has sewn the first
American flag.
1777: June 14 - Continental Congress adopts the following: Resolved: that the flag
of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field,
representing a new constellation. The stars represent Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts,
Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island)
1787: Captain Robert Gray carries the flag around the world
on his sailing vessel (around the tip of South America, to China, and beyond). He discovered the Columbia river and named
it after his boat The Columbia. His discovery was the basis of America's claim to the Oregon Territory.
1795: Flag with 15 stars and 15 stripes with the additional states of Vermont &
Kentucky.
1814: September 14 -- Francis Scott Key writes "The Star-Spangled
Banner."It officially becomes the national anthem in 1931.
1818: Flag with 20 stars and 13 stripes with the additional states of Tennessee,
Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana & Mississippi. The 13 stripes will now be permanent. The Act of April 4, 1818 - provided for
13 stripes and one star for each state, to be added to the flag on the 4th of July following the admission of each new state.
1819: Flag with 21 stars with the additional state of Illinois.
1820: Flag with 23 stars with the additional states of Alabama & Maine.
1822: Flag with 24 stars with the additional state of Missouri.
1836: Flag with 25 stars with the additional state of Arkansas.
1837: Flag with 26 stars with the additional state of Michigan.
1845: Flag with 27 stars with the additional state of Florida.
1846: Flag with 28 stars with the additional state of Texas.
1847: Flag with 29 stars with the additional state of Iowa.
1848: Flag with 30 stars with the additional state of Wisconsin.
1851: Flag with 31 stars with the additional state of California.
1858: Flag with 32 stars with the additional state of Minnesota.
1859: Flag with 33 stars with the additional state of Oregon.
1861: Flag with 34 stars; with the additional state of Kansas. The first Confederate
Flag (Stars and Bars) adopted in Montgomery, Alabama
1863: Flag with 35 stars with the additional state of West Virginia.
1865: Flag with 36 stars with the additional state of Nevada.
1867: Flag with 37 stars with the additional state of Nebraska.
1869: First flag on a postage stamp
1877: Flag with 38 stars with the additional state of Colorado.
1890: Flag with 43 stars with the additional states of North Dakota, South Dakota,
Montana, Washington & Idaho.
1891: Flag with 44 stars with the additional state of Wyoming.
1892: "Pledge of Allegiance" first published in a magazine
called "The Youth's Companion." Authorship was claimed for James B. Upham and Francis Bellamy. In 1939 the United States Flag
Association ruled that Bellamy was the author of the original pledge. The words, "under God" were added on June 14, 1954.
In pledging allegiance to the flag, stand with the right hand over the heart or at attention. Men remove their headdress.
Persons in uniform give the military salute. All pledge together: 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.
1896: Flag with 45 stars with the additional state of Utah.
1908: Flag with 46 stars with the additional state of Oklahoma
1909: Robert Peary places the flag his wife sewed atop the
North Pole. He left pieces of another flag along the way.
1912: Flag with 48 stars with the additional states of New Mexico & Arizona.
Executive Order of President Taft dated June 24, 1912 - established proportions of the flag and provided for arrangement of
the stars in six horizontal rows of eight each, a single point of each star to be upward.
1931: Congress officially recognizes `The Star-Spangled Banner'
as the national anthem of the United States . Its stirring words were written by Francis Scott Key.
1945: The flag that flew over Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941,
is flown over the White House on August 14, when the Japanese accepted surrender terms.
1949: August 3 -- Truman signs bill requesting the President
call for Flag Day (June 14) observance each year by proclamation.
1959: Flag with 49 stars with the additional state of Alaska. Executive Order of
President Eisenhower dated January 3, 1959 - provided for the arrangement of the stars in seven rows of seven stars each,
staggered horizontally and vertically. Executive Order of President Eisenhower dated August 21, 1959 - provided for the arrangement
of the stars in nine rows of stars staggered horizon tally and eleven rows of stars staggered vertically.
1960: Flag with 50 stars with the additional state of Hawaii.
1963: Flag placed on top of Mount Everest by Barry Bishop.
1969: July 20 -- The American flag is placed on the moon by
Neil Armstrong.
1995: December 12 -- The Flag Desecration Constitutional Amendment
is narrowly defeated in the Senate. The Amendment to the Constitution would make burning the flag a punishable crime.
United States flag law does not specify the proportions of the
flag. The proportions of 10:19, so often quoted, are the product of an executive order of the president, and are actually
binding only in certain military uses. The United States government buys and uses flags in several other proportions (2:3,
3:5, 5:8) for numerous civilian and military applications. Private citizens are free to use their own judgment. John
Ayer, 6 February 1999
The proportions of the U.S. flag are almost the same as those
of British naval ensigns in the 1770's. They attained this rather strange proportion because the table of sizes, issued by
Samuel Pepys, Secretary of the Admiralty in 1687, laid down that flags should be made a yard long for every breadth of bewper
(bunting) used in their construction. At the time bewper was 22 inches wide, so 22 x 36 gave the excellent proportions of
11:18, which are the whole numbers, nearest to the "Golden Ratio" of 1 : 1.618. Later, bewper was woven in successively smaller
widths, but the flags were still made-up in yard lengths. Consequently the proportions changed from 11:18 in 1687 to 1:2 in
1837. In the 1770's bewper was 19 inches wide, so the flags then had the proportions 19:36 or 9.5:18; very close to 10:19. Note.
The flags were actually made-up in half-breadths and half-yards, but the explanation is simpler if given in whole units and
doesn't affect the proportions. David Prothero, 30 January 1999
The source for U.S. flag proportions is actually Executive Order
10834.
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