Post by TomLine on Jan 20, 2016 15:12:05 GMT -5
This is my proposed New Constitution for the United States of America. What do you think? We can consider this when we hold a convention of the people.
Section 1. There shall be no law prohibiting the free exercise of Christianity, nor establishing a National religion.
Section 2. There shall be no law prohibiting free speech or a free press except in cases of slander, libel, inciting riots or insurrection, or morality.
Section 3. There shall be no law prohibiting the people bearing of arms in defense of themselves, their family, their State, and the United States.
Section 4. There shall be no quartering of soldiers in any home of the people. Soldiers may only be quartered in bases or homes provided by the State or the United States.
Section 5. 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.
Section 6. 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 offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.
Section 7. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, property, or the pursuit of their own happiness without due process of law.
Section 8. Private property may not be taken for public use, without just compensation. No private property of any person may be taken for the private use of another person.
Section 9. 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 defense.
Section 10. In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed one hundred 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.
Section 11. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Section 12. The powers not delegated to the Union of the States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Section 13. The people of the United States of America have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness along with the rest of the rights of this Declaration of Rights, That to secure these rights, our new Government is instituted, 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.
Section 14. 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 15. No citizen having reached the age of eighteen shall be denied the right to vote, unless they are convicted of a crime and are in prison.
Section 16. No person shall ever be denied pure water and clean air.
Section 17. No State may deny the Constitutional Rights of citizens from other States.
Section 1. There is only one body of Legislators. The number of Legislators is 100, two from each State, who shall serve for four or two years respectively. The senior members from the 50 States when established shall serve for four years. The senior members will be limited to three four year terms.
States shall hold elections on the Tuesday after the First Monday of November in even numbered years for the election of Legislators. The new session of the Legislature of the Union shall begin at Noon on the First Monday after the First of the next January.
Section 2. They shall have the sole power to lay and collect indirect taxes. All taxes must be uniform throughout the United States. They shall have the sole power to make budgets to pay the debts of the United States of America. All debts must be Constitutional in nature. They also have the power to borrow to pay the debts as long as they can pay for what they borrow. No debt from borrowing may take more than Ten years to pay back. Payment of debts must be part of the current year budget.
They will provide for the Defense of the Union. They have the power to raise and support the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines for the purpose of Defending the Union.
They will have the power to:
To regulate International and Interstate Commerce;
To establish uniform rules of Naturalization;
To regulate Banking, make laws regarding Bankruptcies;
To coin or print currency and regulate the value thereof, with larger denominations backed by Gold and Silver, to make smaller coins from lesser metals such as copper and nickle, to be legal tender throughout the States;
To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting of currency;
To provide a Postal Service and Postal transportation;
To regulate interstate and International transportation;
To promote the progress of the sciences and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive rights to their writings, discoveries or inventions;
To establish judicial tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court, and to establish regulations for the Judiciary;
To establish punishment for piracies and felonies committed on the high seas or in the air;
To punish violations of the Law of Nations;
To declare war, and to establish rules regarding the humane treatment of prisoners of war;
To provide for and establish rules and regulations regarding the Military enforcing the Laws of the Union;
To provide for and maintain the Seats of Government in Washington, DC., and a Capitol Police Force to protect the Seats of Government; however the City of Washington shall be ruled by a Mayor and City Council elected by the people of the City;
To make Constitutional Laws and establish Departments which shall be necessary and proper for the smooth operation of the Government of the United States of America, but no Department shall be established that has no Constitutional function unless ratified by a majority of the States.
Section 3. This section is regarding Laws not enumerated by this Constitution to be a Power of the Legislature of the Union. These laws must be ratified by a majority of the States, which is twenty-six (26) at the time this Constitution is ratified.
The Legislature of the Union proposes a Law, if the majority of the Legislators agree, it shall be transmitted to the States. If the majority of the States ratify, including the signature of the Governors of those States, it shall be sent to the President of the United States for his or her signature or veto. Two-thirds of the Legislators must agree to override a Presidential veto.
Section 4. Before a Legislator elect goes into an office, he or she must make this oath:
"I promise that I will faithfully carry out the duties of Legislator of the United States of America, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, Foreign and Domestic."
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, limited to two terms, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same term, be elected, as follows:
States shall hold elections on the Tuesday after the First Monday of November for the election of President and Vice President. The candidate elected by a majority of the States will be the President elect. He, along with the Vice President Elect, shall be inaugurated on the Twentieth day of the next January.
No person except a person born in the United States of America whose parents are citizens of the United States of America at the time of birth, shall be eligible to the office of President or Vice President; neither shall any person be eligible to those offices who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States. The President and Vice President may not be an inhabitant of the same State.
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 taking office the President and Vice President elect must make this oath; "I promise that I will faithfully carry out the duties of President/Vice President of the United States of America, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, Foreign and Domestic."
Section 2. The President shall be commander in chief of the Armed Forces 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 offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.
He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislature of the Union, to propose treaties, provided two thirds of the Legislators present concur. Treaties must be ratified by a majority of the States.
He shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Legislature of the Union, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and all other officers of the United States that are Constitutionally valid. All others must be ratified by the States.
All vacancies may be filled by the President by and with the advice and consent of Legislature of the Union.
Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Legislature of the Union information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.
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.
When the Legislature of a State, or Several States shall prepare Articles of Impeachment, those Articles of Impeachment shall be transmitted to all the States. If a majority of the Legislatures of the States agree to the Articles of Impeachment, the Articles will be transmitted to the Legislature of the Union who shall hold a trial to determine guilt, and proper punishment. The trial shall be presided over by the Presiding Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America.
Section 1. The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Legislature of the Union 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 Legislature of the Union shall make.
In all appellate cases, the Supreme Court shall render opinions, not decisions, then send the case back to the Court of Original Jurisdiction. At no time shall the law of an individual State be stricken unless the Supreme Court declares the law to be unconstitutional. In those cases, the President or the Legislature of the Union may declare the ruling to be unconstitutional. Then those declarations will be transmitted to the States for ratification. Failing ratification, the Supreme Court decision stands.
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 Legislature of the Union 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 Legislature of the Union 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.
Section 4. The President of the United States, with the advice and consent of the Legislature of the Union, shall appoint Supreme and Inferior Court Justices and Judges to serve terms not exceeding ten years. No Supreme or Inferior Court Justices and Judges may serve after they have reached the age of Eighty.
Section 1. If any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive, or retain, any title of nobility or honor, or shall accept and retain any present, pension, office or emolument of any kind whatever, from any emperor, king, prince, or foreign power, such person shall cease to be a citizen of the United States, and shall be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under them, or in either of them.
Section 2. No member of one branch of Government may be a member of another branch of Government. Nor may they hold any other office within the United States.
Section 1. States have the right to have their own Constitutions and Laws as long as they do not conflict with the Constitution for the United States of America. No State is compelled to accept the Constitutions, Laws, Rules or Regulations of other States. States may cooperate with one another by agreement.
Section 2. New States may be admitted by the Legislature of the Union into this union. New States may be formed or erected when a State Government becomes detrimental of the people of of that State, and destructive to their Constitutional Rights, and a part of that State unites to become independent of that State. New States may also be formed when several contiguous States decide to form one State.
Section 1. The Legislature of the Union, whenever two-thirds 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, and signed by their Governors, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Legislature of the Union.
Section 1. This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, and the Law of Nations, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.
Section 1. 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.
PROPOSED NEW CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE I
DECLARATION OF RIGHTS
Section 1. There shall be no law prohibiting the free exercise of Christianity, nor establishing a National religion.
Section 2. There shall be no law prohibiting free speech or a free press except in cases of slander, libel, inciting riots or insurrection, or morality.
Section 3. There shall be no law prohibiting the people bearing of arms in defense of themselves, their family, their State, and the United States.
Section 4. There shall be no quartering of soldiers in any home of the people. Soldiers may only be quartered in bases or homes provided by the State or the United States.
Section 5. 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.
Section 6. 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 offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.
Section 7. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, property, or the pursuit of their own happiness without due process of law.
Section 8. Private property may not be taken for public use, without just compensation. No private property of any person may be taken for the private use of another person.
Section 9. 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 defense.
Section 10. In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed one hundred 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.
Section 11. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Section 12. The powers not delegated to the Union of the States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Section 13. The people of the United States of America have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness along with the rest of the rights of this Declaration of Rights, That to secure these rights, our new Government is instituted, 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.
Section 14. 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 15. No citizen having reached the age of eighteen shall be denied the right to vote, unless they are convicted of a crime and are in prison.
Section 16. No person shall ever be denied pure water and clean air.
Section 17. No State may deny the Constitutional Rights of citizens from other States.
ARTICLE II
LEGISLATURE OF THE UNION
Section 1. There is only one body of Legislators. The number of Legislators is 100, two from each State, who shall serve for four or two years respectively. The senior members from the 50 States when established shall serve for four years. The senior members will be limited to three four year terms.
States shall hold elections on the Tuesday after the First Monday of November in even numbered years for the election of Legislators. The new session of the Legislature of the Union shall begin at Noon on the First Monday after the First of the next January.
Section 2. They shall have the sole power to lay and collect indirect taxes. All taxes must be uniform throughout the United States. They shall have the sole power to make budgets to pay the debts of the United States of America. All debts must be Constitutional in nature. They also have the power to borrow to pay the debts as long as they can pay for what they borrow. No debt from borrowing may take more than Ten years to pay back. Payment of debts must be part of the current year budget.
They will provide for the Defense of the Union. They have the power to raise and support the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines for the purpose of Defending the Union.
They will have the power to:
To regulate International and Interstate Commerce;
To establish uniform rules of Naturalization;
To regulate Banking, make laws regarding Bankruptcies;
To coin or print currency and regulate the value thereof, with larger denominations backed by Gold and Silver, to make smaller coins from lesser metals such as copper and nickle, to be legal tender throughout the States;
To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting of currency;
To provide a Postal Service and Postal transportation;
To regulate interstate and International transportation;
To promote the progress of the sciences and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive rights to their writings, discoveries or inventions;
To establish judicial tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court, and to establish regulations for the Judiciary;
To establish punishment for piracies and felonies committed on the high seas or in the air;
To punish violations of the Law of Nations;
To declare war, and to establish rules regarding the humane treatment of prisoners of war;
To provide for and establish rules and regulations regarding the Military enforcing the Laws of the Union;
To provide for and maintain the Seats of Government in Washington, DC., and a Capitol Police Force to protect the Seats of Government; however the City of Washington shall be ruled by a Mayor and City Council elected by the people of the City;
To make Constitutional Laws and establish Departments which shall be necessary and proper for the smooth operation of the Government of the United States of America, but no Department shall be established that has no Constitutional function unless ratified by a majority of the States.
Section 3. This section is regarding Laws not enumerated by this Constitution to be a Power of the Legislature of the Union. These laws must be ratified by a majority of the States, which is twenty-six (26) at the time this Constitution is ratified.
The Legislature of the Union proposes a Law, if the majority of the Legislators agree, it shall be transmitted to the States. If the majority of the States ratify, including the signature of the Governors of those States, it shall be sent to the President of the United States for his or her signature or veto. Two-thirds of the Legislators must agree to override a Presidential veto.
Section 4. Before a Legislator elect goes into an office, he or she must make this oath:
"I promise that I will faithfully carry out the duties of Legislator of the United States of America, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, Foreign and Domestic."
ARTICLE III
EXECUTIVE POWER
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, limited to two terms, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same term, be elected, as follows:
States shall hold elections on the Tuesday after the First Monday of November for the election of President and Vice President. The candidate elected by a majority of the States will be the President elect. He, along with the Vice President Elect, shall be inaugurated on the Twentieth day of the next January.
No person except a person born in the United States of America whose parents are citizens of the United States of America at the time of birth, shall be eligible to the office of President or Vice President; neither shall any person be eligible to those offices who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States. The President and Vice President may not be an inhabitant of the same State.
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 taking office the President and Vice President elect must make this oath; "I promise that I will faithfully carry out the duties of President/Vice President of the United States of America, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, Foreign and Domestic."
Section 2. The President shall be commander in chief of the Armed Forces 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 offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.
He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislature of the Union, to propose treaties, provided two thirds of the Legislators present concur. Treaties must be ratified by a majority of the States.
He shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Legislature of the Union, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and all other officers of the United States that are Constitutionally valid. All others must be ratified by the States.
All vacancies may be filled by the President by and with the advice and consent of Legislature of the Union.
Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Legislature of the Union information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.
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.
When the Legislature of a State, or Several States shall prepare Articles of Impeachment, those Articles of Impeachment shall be transmitted to all the States. If a majority of the Legislatures of the States agree to the Articles of Impeachment, the Articles will be transmitted to the Legislature of the Union who shall hold a trial to determine guilt, and proper punishment. The trial shall be presided over by the Presiding Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America.
ARTICLE IV
JUDICIAL POWER
Section 1. The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Legislature of the Union 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 Legislature of the Union shall make.
In all appellate cases, the Supreme Court shall render opinions, not decisions, then send the case back to the Court of Original Jurisdiction. At no time shall the law of an individual State be stricken unless the Supreme Court declares the law to be unconstitutional. In those cases, the President or the Legislature of the Union may declare the ruling to be unconstitutional. Then those declarations will be transmitted to the States for ratification. Failing ratification, the Supreme Court decision stands.
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 Legislature of the Union 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 Legislature of the Union 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.
Section 4. The President of the United States, with the advice and consent of the Legislature of the Union, shall appoint Supreme and Inferior Court Justices and Judges to serve terms not exceeding ten years. No Supreme or Inferior Court Justices and Judges may serve after they have reached the age of Eighty.
ARTICLE V
NOBILITY AND SEPARATION OF POWERS
Section 1. If any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive, or retain, any title of nobility or honor, or shall accept and retain any present, pension, office or emolument of any kind whatever, from any emperor, king, prince, or foreign power, such person shall cease to be a citizen of the United States, and shall be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under them, or in either of them.
Section 2. No member of one branch of Government may be a member of another branch of Government. Nor may they hold any other office within the United States.
ARTICLE VI
STATES
Section 1. States have the right to have their own Constitutions and Laws as long as they do not conflict with the Constitution for the United States of America. No State is compelled to accept the Constitutions, Laws, Rules or Regulations of other States. States may cooperate with one another by agreement.
Section 2. New States may be admitted by the Legislature of the Union into this union. New States may be formed or erected when a State Government becomes detrimental of the people of of that State, and destructive to their Constitutional Rights, and a part of that State unites to become independent of that State. New States may also be formed when several contiguous States decide to form one State.
ARTICLE VII
AMENDMENTS TO THIS CONSTITUTION
Section 1. The Legislature of the Union, whenever two-thirds 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, and signed by their Governors, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Legislature of the Union.
ARTICLE VIII
SUPREME LAW OF THE LAND
Section 1. This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, and the Law of Nations, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.
ARTICLE IX
FORM OF GOVERNMENT
Section 1. 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.