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 God's Nature that they are
entitled to 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 and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty
and the pursuit of Happiness. To secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from
the consent of the governed (we the people.) 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.
Having
good sense in dealing with practical matters ( Prudence) the will dictates that; Governments long established should not be
changed for light and transient causes; and accordance to what has been just said; all experience hath shown that mankind
is more likely to suffer evil than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed to. However; when
a long train of abuses and their rights have been violated, with physical evidence and known and designed to reduce them under
absolute cruel and arbitrary use of power, it is their right and 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 oppressive government by one or more
people who exercise unjustly over these States. To prove this, let provide facts to prove our opinion.
He has refused to approve laws that
are wholesome and necessary for the public good and has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing
importance, unless they suspended their operations till they get his o.k. and when they do suspend, he has utterly
neglected to attend to their concerns.
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 only beneficial to
oppressive controllers. 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 endeavored 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, (Czars) and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass 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 benefit 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 neighboring 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 complete 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 endeavored 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.
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Ps.
From a Christian
perspective and bible backed wisdom; Paul tell us that; mankind is not having a fight with physical human beings; but against
evil spirits in high places over the earth that are influencing ignorant and unlearned people in all areas to be manipulated
by a tyrannical evil entity trying to bring God's creation into bondage to their bidding and having them lose their rights
to life, true liberty and the pursuit of true happiness. We do not have to have the King of England still in power over the
United States to be burdened down and be influenced by a men or women with these oppressive faults. Any where in society that
these human atrocities take place; the people suffer in one way or another and it attempts to rob them of the ability to stand
up for them self and vote people into office that are true servants of the needs of American people.
Unless this country is able to identify
and become educated with why and how this country was founded will they be able to understand what these candidates truly
believe and if they can all be trusted with integrity to keep their word or this country will be lead to be slaughtered. As
never before we need to recognize the sign of the times as the bible tells us what is coming to pass.
Would love to hear any comments as to what you have just read.
Phil
Amendments to the Constitution
ARTICLES
IN ADDITION TO, AND AMENDMENTS OF, THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PROPOSED BY CONGRESS, AND RATIFIED BY
THE LEGISLATURES OF THE SEVERAL STATES, PURSUANT TO THE FIFTH ARTICLE OF THE ORIGINAL CONSTITUTION
Article I.
Congress shall make no law concerning the establishment of religion, or passing a law that restricts
the free exercise there of; or deprive the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble,
and to petition the Government for and provide compensation or reparation for a loss or wrong experienced by same.
Article II.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State gives the right of the
people to keep and bear Arms and shall not be infringed upon.
Article
III.
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.
Article IV.
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 be issues except by probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the
place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Article V.
No person shall
be held to answer for a capital, or 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.
Article
VI.
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 by being informed of the nature and cause
of the accusation and be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in
his favor and Counsel Assistance for his defense.
Article VII.
In cases brought to court 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.
Article
VIII.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed,
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Article IX.
The number of articles in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be
interpreted that the people are denied or to be criticized as to the rights they have.
Article X.
The powers not delegated
to the United States government by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively,
or to the people.
Article XI.
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.
Proposal
and Ratification
The eleventh amendment to the Constitution
of the United States was proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the Third Congress, on the 4th of March 1794;
and was declared in a message from the President to Congress, dated the 8th of January, 1798, to have been ratified by the
legislatures of three-fourths of the States.
Article XII.
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 and 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.
However; 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 the 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.
Proposal and Ratification
The twelfth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed to the legislatures of
the several States by the Eighth Congress, on the 9th of December, 1803, in lieu of the original third paragraph of the first
section of the second article; and was declared in a proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated the 25th of September,
1804, to have been ratified by the legislatures of 13 of the 17 States.
Article
XIII.
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.
Proposal and Ratification
The thirteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed
to the legislatures of the several States by the Thirty-eighth Congress, on the 31st day of January, 1865, and was declared,
in a proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated the 18th of December, 1865, to have been ratified by the legislatures of
twenty-seven of the thirty-six States. Ratification was completed on December 6, 1865.
Article XIV.
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 deprive 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 power to enforce,
by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Proposal
and Ratification
The fourteenth amendment to the
Constitution of the United States was proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the Thirty-ninth Congress, on
the 13th of June, 1866. It was declared, in a certificate of the Secretary of State dated July 28, 1868 to have been ratified
by the legislatures of 28 of the 37 States. Ratification was completed on July 9, 1868.
Article XV.
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 power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
Proposal and Ratification
The fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed to the legislatures
of the several States by the Fortieth Congress, on the 26th of February, 1869, and was declared, in a proclamation of the
Secretary of State, dated March 30, 1870, to have been ratified by the legislatures of twenty-nine of the thirty-seven States.
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.
Proposal
and Ratification
The sixteenth amendment to the
Constitution of the United States was proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the Sixty-first Congress on the
12th of July, 1909, and was declared, in a proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated the 25th of February, 1913, to have
been ratified by 36 of the 48 States. Ratification was completed on February 3, 1913.
Article XVII.
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.
Proposal
and Ratification
The seventeenth amendment to the Constitution of
the United States was proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the Sixty-second Congress on the 13th of May,
1912, and was declared, in a proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated the 31st of May, 1913, to have been ratified by
the legislatures of 36 of the 48 States.
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.
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.
Proposal and Ratification
The eighteenth
amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed to the legislatures of the several States by the Sixty-fifth
Congress, on the 18th of December, 1917, and was declared, in a proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated the 29th of
January, 1919, to have been ratified by the legislatures of 36 of the 48 States.
Article
XIX.
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.
Proposal and Ratification
The nineteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was proposed to the legislatures
of the several States by the Sixty-sixth Congress, on the 4th of June, 1919, and was declared, in a proclamation of the Secretary
of State, dated the 26th of August, 1920, to have been ratified by the legislatures of 36 of the 48 States. Ratification was
completed on August 18, 1920.
Article XX.
Section 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.
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 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
has 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.
Proposal and Ratification
The twentieth amendment to the Constitution was proposed to the legislatures of the several states
by the Seventy-Second Congress, on the 2d day of March, 1932, and was declared, in a proclamation by the Secretary of State,
dated on the 6th day of February, 1933, to have been ratified by the legislatures of 36 of the 48 States. Ratification was
completed on January 23, 1933.
Article XXI.
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.
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. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an
Proposal and Ratification
The twenty-first amendment
to the Constitution was proposed to the several states by the Seventy-Second Congress, on the 20th day of February, 1933,
and was declared, in a proclamation by the Secretary of State, dated on the 5th day of December, 1933, to have been ratified
by 36 of the 48 States.
Amendment XXII
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 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
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
Section 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
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
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 any poll tax or
other tax.
Section 2.
The
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Amendment
XXV
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 assemble 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 office.
Amendment XXVI
Section
1.
The right of citizens of the United States, who are
18 years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of age.
Section 2.
The Congress shall
have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Amendment
XXVII
No law varying the compensation for the services
of the Senators and Representatives shall take effect until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.
