Bills of Bull

Willie Lynch Letter {1712}
This Letter was created to control slave populations, then it was later reconstructed as a Constitutional Law
{1776}
The Constitution of the United States of America
The Constitution of the United States of America is the
supreme law of the United States.
The Constitution is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government to the states,
to citizens,
and to
all people within the United States.
The Constitution creates the three branches of the national government:
a legislature,
the
bicameral Congress;
an
executive branch led by the President;
and a
judicial branch headed by the Supreme Court.
The Constitution specifies the powers and duties of each branch.
The Constitution
reserves
all
unenumerated
powers to the respective states and the people,
thereby
establishing the federal system of government.
The Constitution was adopted
on
September 17, 1787,
by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, and
ratified by conventions in each
U.S. state in the name of
"The People".
The Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times;
the first ten amendments
are
known as the Bill of Rights.
The United States Constitution is the oldest written constitution
still in use
by
any nation in the world.
The Constitution holds a central place in United States law and political culture.
The handwritten original document penned
by
Jacob Shallus
is on
display at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C.
Drafting and ratification requirements
The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was the first constitution of the United States of America.
In September 1786, commissioners from five states met in the Annapolis Convention to discuss adjustments to the Articles of Confederation that would improve commerce.
They invited state representatives to convene in Philadelphia to discuss improvements to the federal government.
After debate,
the
Congress of the Confederation
endorsed the plan to revise
the Articles of Confederation on February 21, 1787.
Twelve states,
Rhode Island being the only exception, accepted this invitation and sent delegates to convene in May 1787.
The resolution calling the Convention specified that its purpose was to propose amendments to the Articles,
but through discussion and debate it became clear by mid-June that, rather than amend the existing Articles,
the
Convention decided to propose a rewritten Constitution.
The Philadelphia Convention voted to keep the debates secret,
so that the delegates could speak freely.
They also decided to draft a new fundamental government design. Despite Article 13 of the Articles of Confederation stating that the union created under the Articles was
"perpetual"
and
that any alteration
must be
"agreed to in a Congress of the United States, and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of every State,"
Article VII of the proposed constitution stipulated that only nine of the thirteen states would have to ratify for the new government to go into effect
(for the participating states).
Current knowledge of the drafting and construction of the United States Constitution comes primarily from the diaries left by James Madison, who kept a complete record of the proceedings at the Constitutional Convention.
The contentious issue of
slavery
was too controversial to be resolved during the convention.
As a result, the original Constitution contained four provisions tacitly allowing
slavery to continue for the next 20 years.
Section 9 of Article I allowed the continued
"importation"
of
such persons,
Section 2 of Article IV prohibited the provision of assistance to escaping persons and required their return if successful and Section 2 of Article I defined other persons as
"three-fifths"
of a
person
for
calculations of each state's official population for representation and federal taxation.
Article V prohibited any amendments or legislation changing the provision regarding slave importation until 1808, thereby giving the States then existing 20 years to resolve this issue.
The failure to do so contributed to the Civil War.
Article One describes the Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government.
The United States Congress is a
bicameral body
consisting of two co-equal houses:
the
House of Representatives and the Senate.
The article establishes the manner of election and the qualifications of members of each body.
Representatives must be at least 25 years old,
be a citizen of the United States for seven years, and live in the state they represent.
Senators must be at least 30 years old,
be a citizen for nine years, and live in the state they represent.
Article I, Section 1, reads,
"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."
This provision gives Congress more than simply the responsibility to establish the rules governing its proceedings and for the punishment of its members;
it places the power of the government primarily in Congress.
Article I Section 8
enumerates
the
legislative powers.
The powers listed and all other powers are made the exclusive responsibility of the legislative branch:
The Congress shall have power...
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.
Article I Section 9 provides
a list
of
eight specific limits on congressional power
and
Article I Section 10 limits the rights of the states.
The United States Supreme Court has interpreted the Commerce Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause in Article One to allow Congress to enact legislation that is neither expressly listed in the
enumerated
power nor expressly denied in the limitations on Congress.
In McCulloch v. Maryland
(1819),
the
United States Supreme Court fell back
on the
strict
construction of the necessary
and
proper clause to read
that Congress
had
"[t]he foregoing powers and all other powers..."
Amendments
The framers of the Constitution
were aware
that changes would be necessary
if the
Constitution was to endure
as
the nation grew.
However,
they were also conscious that such change should not be easy,
lest it permit ill-conceived
and
hastily passed amendments.
On the other hand,
they also wanted to ensure that a rigid requirement
of
unanimity would not block action desired
by the
vast majority of the population.
Their solution was a two-step process for proposing and ratifying new amendments.
Amending the Constitution is a two-part process:
amendments must be proposed then ratified.
Amendments can be proposed one of two ways.
To date, all amendments,
whether ratified or not, have been proposed by a two-thirds vote in each house of Congress.
Over 10,000 constitutional amendments have been introduced in Congress since 1789;
during the last several decades, between 100 and 200 have been offered in a typical congressional year.
Most of these ideas never leave Congressional committee, and far fewer get proposed by the Congress for ratification.
Alternatively, if two-thirds of the state legislatures demand one, Congress must call for a constitutional convention, which would have the power to propose amendments.
As no such convention has been called, it is unclear how one would work in practice.
In two instances
—reapportionment in the 1960s and a balanced federal budget during the 1970s and 1980s
—attempts to use this process have come extremely close to triggering a constitutional convention.
The apportionment debate of the 1960s fell only one state short of the required number of states
Regardless of how the amendment is proposed, it must also be ratified by three-fourths of states.
Congress determines whether the state legislatures or special state conventions ratify the amendment.
The 21st Amendment is the only one that employed state conventions for ratification.
There are currently only a few proposals for amendments which have entered mainstream political debate.
These include the
Federal Marriage Amendment,
the
Balanced Budget Amendment, and the Flag Desecration Amendment.
All three proposals are supported primarily by conservatives,
but failed during periods of
Republican
control of Congress to achieve the
supermajorities
necessary for submission to the states.
As such,
none of these is likely to be proposed under the current Congress,
which is controlled by the more liberal
Democratic Party.
Unlike amendments to most constitutions, amendments to the United States Constitution are appended to the body of the text without altering or removing what already exists, although nothing prevents a future amendment from doing so.