Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

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 or 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 Representatives 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 twothirds 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 snall 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: out all such debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5.

The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this Article.

[blocks in formation]

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Section 2.

The Congress shall have power to enforce this Article by appropriate legislation.

ARTICLE XVI.

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.

Amendment to the first paragraph of section 3, article I, of the constitution of the United States, and in lieu of so much of paragraph two of the same section as relates to the filling of vacancies, as follows: "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 legislature. 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 vacancy; 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 to affect the election or term of any senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the constituion."

ARTICLE XVIII

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. (This article takes effect on January 20, 1920.)

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

In addition to the above States, Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico are Territories and the United States holds the Phil. ippines as a colonial possession.

[blocks in formation]

A Short History of the United States

In 1775, there were in the Eastern portion of the United States thirteen Colonies, occupied by English people, covering land now embraced by the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, and adjoining territory afterwards relinquished by them to new states formed since that time. For many years prior to 1775 there was a great deal of dissatisfaction with the tyrannical government of King George of England, who held sovereignty over the American Colonies. The war of the American Revolution began with the Battle of Lexington, near Boston, on April 19, 1775. This war continued for eight years, when Great Britain acknowledged the independence of these thirteen Colonies, who in the meantime, on the 4th day of July, 1776, had adopted the Declaration of Independence. This Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress, composed of delegates from these Colonies who met in Philadelphia. The Fourth of July is the Nation's birthday and the national holiday of the United States. After the Revolution was over, a Constitutional Congress, composed of delegates from the thirteen Colonies, was called in 1786, and adopted the present Constitution of the United States, except the seventeen amendments which have been adopted from time to time since then.

Under this Constitution, George Washington was elected the first President of the United States and was inaugurated April 30th, 1789. He had been, during the Revolutionary War, the Commander-in-Chief of the American forces. At this time the United States had about four million inhabitants. Within the next ten years the State of Vermont was created out of the western part of New Hampshire, Kentucky out of the western portion of Virginia, Tennessee out of the western part of North Carolina, and Ohio was made a state in 1802. Louisiana was purchased in the year 1803 from France and admitted to the Union in 1812.

In 1812 there was another war with Great Britain, which lasted two years. This was caused by England impressing American sea-men. It resulted in a victory for the United

« ÎnapoiContinuă »