Volume II Part 8 (1/2)

MONDAY AUGUST 6^{TH}. IN CONVENTION

M^r John Francis Mercer from Maryland took his seat.

M^r Rutlidge delivered in the Report of the Committee of detail as follows: a printed copy being at the same time furnished to each member[16]:

[16] Madison's printed copy is marked: ”As Reported by Com^e of Detail viz of five. Aug. 6. 1787.” It is a large folio of seven pages. In the enumeration of the Articles by a misprint VI. was repeated, and the alterations in Article VII. and succeeding articles were made by Madison. In Sect.

II of Article VI., as it was printed, it appeared: ”The enacting stile of the laws of the United States shall be.

'Be it enacted and it is hereby enacted by the House of Representatives, and by the Senate of the United States, in Congress a.s.sembled,'” which Madison altered to read: ”The enacting stile of the laws of the United States shall be.

'Be it enacted by the Senate & representatives, in Congress a.s.sembled.'” The printed copy among the Madison papers is a duplicate of the copy filed by General Was.h.i.+ngton with the papers of the Const.i.tution, and Sec. II is there given as actually printed.--_Journal of the Federal Convention_, 219.

(Const. MSS.)

Madison accurately transcribed the report for his journal and it is this copy which is used in the text.

”We the people of the States of New Hamps.h.i.+re, Ma.s.sachusetts, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia, do ordain, declare, and establish the following Const.i.tution for the Government of Ourselves and our Posterity.

ARTICLE I

The stile of the Government shall be, ”The United States of America.”

II

The Government shall consist of supreme legislative, executive, and judicial powers.

III

The legislative power shall be vested in a Congress, to consist of two separate and distinct bodies of men, a House of Representatives and a Senate; each of which shall in all cases have a negative on the other. The Legislature shall meet on the first Monday in December in every year.

IV

Sect. 1. The members of the House of Representatives shall be chosen every second year, by the people of the several States comprehended within this Union. The qualifications of the electors shall be the same, from time to time, as those of the electors in the several States, of the most numerous branch of their own legislatures.

Sect. 2. Every member of the House of Representatives shall be of the age of twenty five years at least; shall have been a citizen in the United States for at least three years before his election; and shall be, at the time of his election, a resident of the State in which he shall be chosen.

Sect. 3. The House of Representatives shall, at its first formation, and until the number of citizens and inhabitants shall be taken in the manner hereinafter described, consist of sixty-five Members, of whom three shall be chosen in New-Hamps.h.i.+re, eight in Ma.s.sachusetts, one in Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, five in Connecticut, six in New-York, four in New-Jersey, eight in Pennsylvania, one in Delaware, six in Maryland, ten in Virginia, five in North-Carolina, five in South-Carolina, and three in Georgia.

Sect. 4. As the proportions of numbers in different States will alter from time to time; as some of the States may hereafter be divided; as others may be enlarged by addition of territory; as two or more States may be united; as new States will be erected within the limits of the United States, the Legislature shall, in each of these cases, regulate the number of representatives by the number of inhabitants, according to the provisions herein after made, at the rate of one for every forty thousand.

Sect. 5. All bills for raising or appropriating money, and for fixing the salaries of the officers of Government, shall originate in the House of Representatives, and shall not be altered or amended by the Senate. No money shall be drawn from the Public Treasury, but in pursuance of appropriations that shall originate in the House of Representatives.

Sect. 6. The House of Representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment. It shall choose its Speaker and other officers.

Sect. 7. Vacancies in the House of Representatives shall be supplied by writs of election from the executive authority of the State, in the representation from which they shall happen.

V

Sect. 1. The Senate of the United States shall be chosen by the Legislatures of the several States. Each Legislature shall chuse two members. Vacancies may be supplied by the Executive until the next meeting of the Legislature. Each member shall have one vote.

Sect. 2. The Senators shall be chosen for six years; but immediately after the first election they shall be divided, by lot, into three cla.s.ses, as nearly as may be, numbered one, two and three. The seats of the members of the first cla.s.s shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second cla.s.s at the expiration of the fourth year, of the third cla.s.s at the expiration of the sixth year, so that a third part of the members may be chosen every second year.