query: when was the constitution ratified by all states

pos: Timeline of drafting and ratification of the United States Constitution addition to key events during the Constitutional Convention and afterward while the Constitution was before the states for their ratification, this timeline includes important events that occurred during the run-up to the convention and during the nation's transition from government under the Articles of Confederation to government under the Constitution, and concludes with the unique ratification vote of Vermont, which at the time was a sovereign state outside the Union. The time span covered is , from March 25, 1785 to January 10, 1791. March 25 • Maryland–Virginia conference convenes March 28 • Maryland–Virginia conference concludes January 21 • Conference

pos: Congressional Apportionment Amendment Constitution. That number rose to ten on May 29, 1790, when Rhode Island ratified the Constitution. It rose to eleven on March 4, 1791, when Vermont joined the Union. By the end of 1791, the amendment was only one state short of adoption. However, when Kentucky attained statehood on June 1, 1792, the number of necessary ratifications climbed to twelve, and, even though Kentucky ratified the amendment that summer (along with the other eleven amendments), it was still one state short. No additional states ratified this amendment. With 50 states, 27 additional ratifications are necessary to reach the required threshold

pos: Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Tenth Amendment (Amendment X) to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, was ratified on December 15, 1791. It expresses the principle of federalism and states' rights, which strictly supports the entire plan of the original Constitution for the United States of America, by stating that the federal government possesses only those powers delegated to it by the United States Constitution. All remaining powers are reserved for the states or the people. The amendment was proposed by the 1st United States Congress in 1789 during its first

pos: Civil liberties in the United States white male adult property owners to vote (about 6% of the population). The 'Three-Fifths Compromise' allowed the southern slaveholders to consolidate power and maintain slavery in America for eighty years after the ratification of the Constitution. And the Bill of Rights had little impact on judgements by the courts for the first 130 years after ratification. The text of Amendment I to the United States Constitution, ratified December 15, 1791, states that: The text of Amendment I to the United States Constitution, ratified December 15, 1791, states that: The text of Amendment I to the United States Constitution, ratified December

pos: Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution to join the federal program by conditioning the continued provision of Medicaid funds on states agreeing to materially alter Medicaid eligibility to include all individuals who fell below 133% of the poverty line. Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Tenth Amendment (Amendment X) to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, was ratified on December 15, 1791. It expresses the principle of federalism and states' rights, which strictly supports the entire plan of the original Constitution for the United States of America, by stating that the federal government possesses only those powers delegated

pos: Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution states: Connecticut and Georgia found a Bill of Rights unnecessary and so refused to ratify, while Massachusetts ratified most of the amendments, but failed to send official notice to the Secretary of State that it had done so. In February through June 1790, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island ratified eleven of the amendments, though all three rejected the amendment on Congressional pay raises. Virginia initially postponed its debate, but after Vermont was admitted to the Union in 1791, the total number of states needed for ratification rose to eleven. Vermont ratified on November 3, 1791, approving all twelve amendments,

pos: Third Amendment to the United States Constitution states: Connecticut and Georgia found a Bill of Rights unnecessary and so refused to ratify, while Massachusetts ratified most of the amendments, but failed to send official notice to the Secretary of State that it had done so. In February through June 1790, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island ratified eleven of the amendments, though all three rejected the amendment on Congressional pay raises. Virginia initially postponed its debate, but after Vermont was admitted to the Union in 1791, the total number of states needed for ratification rose to eleven. Vermont ratified on November 3, 1791, approving all twelve amendments,

pos: Confederation Period in March 1789 and the inauguration of Washington the following month. In September 1789, Congress approved the United States Bill of Rights, a group of Constitutional amendments designed to protect individual liberties against federal interference, and the states ratified these amendments in 1791. After Congress voted for the Bill of Rights, North Carolina and Rhode Island ratified the Constitution in 1790 and 1791, respectively. Confederation Period The Confederation Period was the era of United States history in the 1780s after the American Revolution and prior to the ratification of the United States Constitution. In 1781, the United States ratified the

pos: Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution later ratify the Bill of Rights for sesquicentennial celebrations in 1939.) In February through June 1790, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island each ratified eleven of the amendments, including the Fourth. Virginia initially postponed its debate, but after Vermont was admitted to the Union in 1791, the total number of states needed for ratification rose to eleven. Vermont ratified on November 3, 1791, approving all twelve amendments, and Virginia finally followed on December 15, 1791. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson announced the adoption of the ten successfully ratified amendments on March 1, 1792. The Bill of Rights originally only restricted

pos: Hate speech in the United States liberties, including freedom of speech, was not written into the original 1788 Constitution of the United States but was added two years later with the Bill of Rights, implemented as several amendments to the Constitution. The First Amendment, ratified December 15, 1791, provides (in relevant part) that "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press". The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified on July 9, 1868, has been interpreted by the Supreme Court as extending this prohibition to laws enacted by the states. Some limits on expression were contemplated by the framers and have been defined

pos: United States Bill of Rights have been a federal Constitution without Madison but certainly no Bill of Rights." The twelve articles of amendment approved by congress were officially submitted to the Legislatures of the several States for consideration on September 28, 1789. The following states ratified some or all of the amendments: Having been approved by the requisite three-fourths of the several states, there being 14 States in the Union at the time (as Vermont had been admitted into the Union on March 4, 1791), the ratification of Articles Three through Twelve was completed and they became Amendments 1 through 10 of the Constitution. President

pos: Establishment Clause Massachusetts, agreed to add a group of Amendments to the Constitution after its ratification that would serve as a Bill of Rights. Later, six more states likewise recommended the addition of a Bill of Rights, and the idea also gained the support of Jefferson and Madison. When the First Federal Congress met in 1789, Madison implemented the idea by introducing 17 Amendments to the Constitution. By December 1791, ten of his Amendments were ratified by the necessary three quarters of the states, and they became part of the US Constitution, thereafter becoming known as "the Bill of Rights". The Establishment

neg: United States v. Sprague however, ruling that the Constitution explicitly authorized Congress to determine the method used in ratifying amendments. In part, Article Five states that any amendment "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, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, "as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress"" (emphasis added). Furthermore, the court rejected the defendants' claim that the Eighteenth Amendment needed to be ratified by state conventions since "all [previous amendments] save the Eighteenth dealt solely with

neg: Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution state to ratify. This was a surprise as "no Southern help could be expected" for the amendment. The Georgia Senate quickly and unanimously passed it, but the House did not act in time. Georgia's ratification was apparently dropped after South Dakota's ratification. The amendment was subsequently ratified by the following states: The following states have not ratified the amendment: Arkansas effectively repealed its poll tax for all elections with Amendment 51 to the Arkansas Constitution at the November 1964 general election, several months after this amendment was ratified. The poll-tax language was not completely stricken from its Constitution until Amendment

neg: Confederation Period public campaign to shape the ratification debate, though the Federalists tended to be better financed and organized. Over time, the Federalists were able to convince many in the skeptical public of the merits of the new Constitution. The Federalists won their first ratification victories in December 1787, when Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey all ratified the Constitution. By the end of February 1788, six states, including Massachusetts, had ratified the Constitution. In Massachusetts, the Federalists won over skeptical delegates by promising that the first Congress of the new Constitution would consider amendments limiting the federal government's power. This promise to

neg: Country Party (Rhode Island) anti-federalists absented themselves and Governor John Collins decided to support the Constitution, which eventually cost him his office. Rhode Island was the last of the original 13 states to ratify the Constitution in 1790 and ratified it by the narrowest margin of any state: 34 votes to 32. The United States Constitution went into effect when George Washington was inaugurated as president on April 30, 1789; so, technically speaking, Rhode Island was an independent nation for one year until it ratified the Constitution. Rhode Islanders retaliated for Collins's switch to supporting the Constitution by electing anti-federalist Arthur Fenner as governor

neg: Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution proposed amendment was adopted on December 5, 1933. It is the only amendment to have been ratified by state ratifying conventions, specially selected for the purpose. All other amendments have been ratified by state legislatures. It is also the only amendment that was approved for the explicit purpose of repealing a previously existing amendment to the Constitution. The Twenty-first Amendment ending national prohibition became officially effective on December 15, though people started drinking openly before that date. The various responses of the 48 states is as follows: The following states ratified the amendment: Ratification was completed on December 5, 1933.

neg: Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution The Twenty-first Amendment (Amendment XXI) to the United States Constitution repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which had mandated nationwide Prohibition on alcohol. The Twenty-first Amendment was proposed by Congress on February 20, 1933, and was ratified by the requisite number of states on December 5, 1933. It is unique among the 27 amendments of the U.S. Constitution for being the only one to repeal a prior amendment, as well as being the only amendment to have been ratified by state ratifying conventions. The Eighteenth Amendment was ratified on January

neg: United States Bill of Rights Washington informed Congress of this on January 18, 1792. As they had not yet been approved by 11 of the 14 states, the ratification of Article One (ratified by 10) and Article Two (ratified by 6) remained incomplete. The ratification plateau they needed to reach soon rose to 12 of 15 states when Kentucky joined the Union (June 1, 1792). On June 27, 1792, the Kentucky General Assembly ratified all 12 amendments, however this action did not come to light until 1996. Article One came within one state of the number needed to become adopted into the Constitution on two

neg: History of the United States Constitution ratify the new Constitution, with its vote being unanimous. Pennsylvania ratified on December 12, 1787, by a vote of 46 to 23 (66.67%). New Jersey ratified on December 19, 1787, and Georgia on January 2, 1788, both unanimously. The requirement of ratification by nine states, set by Article Seven of the Constitution, was met when New Hampshire voted to ratify, on June 21, 1788. In New York, fully two thirds of the convention delegates were at first opposed to the Constitution. Hamilton led the Federalist campaign, which included the fast-paced appearance of "The Federalist Papers" in New York newspapers. An

neg: Report of 1800 on the Resolutions. Particularly at issue was the sense in which the states were parties to the federal compact. The Report was ultimately amended to provide greater clarity on this issue by emphasizing that when the Virginians claimed that the "states" were parties to the federal Constitution, the referent of the word "state" was the sovereign people of the particular state. Thus, to say that "the state of Virginia ratified the Constitution" was to say that the sovereign people of Virginia ratified the Constitution. The amended Report passed the House of Delegates on January 7 by a margin of 60

neg: Slavery in the United States the Senate in April 1864, and by the House of Representatives in January 1865. The amendment did not take effect until it was ratified by three fourths of the states, which occurred on December 6, 1865, when Georgia ratified it. On that date, all remaining slaves became officially free. Legally, the last 40,000-45,000 slaves were freed in the last two slave states of Kentucky and Delaware by the final ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution on December 18, 1865. Slaves still held in Tennessee, Kentucky, Kansas, New Jersey, Delaware, West Virginia, Maryland, Missouri, Washington, D.C., and twelve parishes

neg: Titles of Nobility Amendment York (March 12, 1812), Connecticut (May 13, 1813), and Rhode Island (September 15, 1814). No other state legislature has completed ratification action on it. When the proposed amendment was submitted to the states, ratification by 13 states was required for it to become part of the Constitution; 11 had done so by early 1812. However, with the addition of Louisiana into the Union that year (April 30, 1812), the ratification threshold rose to 14. Thus, when New Hampshire ratified it in December 1812, the proposed amendment again came within 2 states of being ratified. No additional states ratified the proposed

neg: Article Five of the United States Constitution in Article V. Thirty-three amendments to the United States Constitution have been approved by the Congress and sent to the states for ratification. Twenty-seven of these amendments have been ratified and are now part of the Constitution. The first ten amendments were adopted and ratified simultaneously and are known collectively as the Bill of Rights. Six amendments adopted by Congress and sent to the states have not been ratified by the required number of states and are not part of the Constitution. Four of these amendments are still technically open and pending, one is closed and has failed by its

neg: Civil liberties in the United States Constitution, ratified February 3, 1870, states that: The text of Amendment XIX to the United States Constitution, ratified August 18, 1919, states that: The text of Amendment XXIII to the United States Constitution, ratified January 23, 1964, states that: The text of Amendment XXVI to the United States Constitution, ratified July 1, 1971, states that: In the 1967 United States Supreme Court ruling in the case of "Loving v. Virginia" found a fundamental right to marriage, regardless of race. In the 2015 United States Supreme Court ruling in the case of "Obergefell v. Hodges" found a fundamental right to marriage,

neg: Reconstruction Amendments crime. It was passed by the U.S. Senate on April 8, 1864, and, after one unsuccessful vote and extensive legislative maneuvering by the Lincoln administration, the House followed suit on January 31, 1865. The measure was swiftly ratified by all but three Union states (the exceptions were Delaware, New Jersey, and Kentucky), and by a sufficient number of border and "reconstructed" Southern states, to be ratified by December 6, 1865. On December 18, 1865, Secretary of State William H. Seward proclaimed it to have been incorporated into the federal Constitution. It became part of the Constitution 61 years after the

neg: Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States district court systems into one district system where each state comprised one district. The Provisional Constitution was then unanimously ratified near midnight on February 8, 1861 and was signed by all present members at noon the day of Jefferson Davis's inaugural address on February 18, 1861. There are fifty signatures in all, including those of the Texas delegation who were admitted on March 2. The Provisional Constitution was nullified with the ratification of the permanent Constitution of the Confederate States of America on March 11, 1861. The framers of the Provisional Constitution used the Constitution of the United States as

neg: Constitution of Oklahoma Constitution of Oklahoma The Constitution of the State of Oklahoma is the governing document of the U.S. State of Oklahoma. Adopted in 1907, Oklahoma ratified the United States Constitution on November 16, 1907, as the 46th U.S. state. At its ratification, the Oklahoma Constitution was the most lengthy governing document of any government in the U.S. All U.S. state constitutions are subject to federal judicial review; any provision can be nullified if it conflicts with the U.S. Constitution. The constitution has been regularly amended, beginning with an amendment approved in the same election in which it was ratified. More than

neg: Constitution of North Carolina was in 2012, when an amendment was added to limit the rights of citizens by constitutionally preventing recognition of same-sex marriage. The following are significant amendments made since the 1971 constitution: Ratified in 1789, the current North Carolina Constitution contains a Preamble and 14 articles. Each of the articles covers a different area, with the last article including all miscellaneous topics. Each article is further divided into sections. This constitution incorporates amendments into the document, unlike the United States Constitution which only appends amendments. "We, the people of the State of North Carolina, grateful to Almighty God, the Sovereign Ruler

neg: Internal Revenue Service successor William Howard Taft, the United States saw a populist movement for tax reform. This movement culminated during then candidate Woodrow Wilson's election of 1912 and in February 1913, the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution: This granted Congress the specific power to impose an income tax without regard to apportionment among the states by population. By February 1913, 36 states had ratified the change to the Constitution. It was further ratified by six more states by March. Of the 48 states at the time, 42 ratified it. Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Utah rejected the amendment;

neg: World Conference against Racism 2001 Forum also called upon the United States to ratify all major human rights treaties that had already been ratified. One such treaty was the UN Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which the U.S. had ratified in 1994, but (per the Supremacy Clause of Article Six of the United States Constitution, which does not permit treaties to override the Constitution) had attached a reservation that its ratification did not accept treaty requirements that were incompatible with the Constitution of the United States. The NGOs, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, demanded that U.S. drop its reservations and

neg: Incorporation of international law Supremacy Clause (VI.2) of the United States Constitution states that "all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the land." However, the term "treaty" has a more restricted sense in American law than in international law. Of the more than 16,000 international agreements entered into by the United States between 1946 and 1999, only 912 were ratified by the required two thirds of the US Senate of the Treaty Clause of the Constitution. The US Supreme Court has also limited the direct effect of ratified treaties, notably

neg: Timeline of drafting and ratification of the United States Constitution Timeline of drafting and ratification of the United States Constitution The drafting of the Constitution of the United States began on May 25, 1787, when the Constitutional Convention met for the first time with a quorum at the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to revise the Articles of Confederation, and ended on September 17, 1787, the day the Constitution drafted by the convention's delegates to replace the Articles was adopted and signed. The ratification process for the Constitution began that day, and ended when the final state, Rhode Island, ratified it on May 29, 1790. In

neg: 1st United States Congress informally grouped into factions of similar interest, based on an analysis of their voting record. Details on changes are shown below in the "Changes in membership" section. During this congress, two Senate seats were added for North Carolina and Rhode Island when each ratified the Constitution. During this congress, five House seats were added for North Carolina and one House seat was added for Rhode Island when they ratified the Constitution. This list is arranged by chamber, then by state. Senators are listed by class, and Representatives are listed by district. Senators were elected by the state legislatures every two

neg: James Monroe convention ratified the constitution by a narrow vote, though Monroe himself voted against it. Virginia was tenth state to ratify the Constitution, and all thirteen states eventually ratified the document. Henry and other anti-federalists hoped to elect a Congress that would amend the Constitution to take away most of the powers it had been granted ("commit suicide on [its] own authority," as Madison put it). Henry recruited Monroe to run against Madison for a House seat in the First Congress, and he had the Virginia legislature draw a congressional district designed to elect Monroe. During the campaign, Madison and Monroe

neg: Nullification (U.S. Constitution) v. Aaron", explicitly holding that the states may not nullify federal law. The Constitution does not contain any clause expressly providing that the states have the power to declare federal laws unconstitutional. Supporters of nullification have argued that the states' power of nullification is inherent in the nature of the federal system. They have argued that before the Constitution was ratified, the states essentially were separate nations. Under this theory, the Constitution is a contract, or "compact," among the states by which the states delegated certain powers to the federal government, while reserving all other powers to themselves. The states,

neg: African Americans in the United States Congress and to serve in the United States Congress was established after the Civil War by amendments to the Constitution. The Thirteenth Amendment (ratified December 6, 1865), abolished slavery. The Fourteenth Amendment (ratified July 9, 1868) made all people born or naturalized in the United States citizens. The Fifteenth Amendment (ratified February 3, 1870) forbade the denial or abridgment of the right to vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, and gave Congress the power to enforce the law by appropriate legislation. In 1866, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act and the four Reconstruction Acts, which dissolved

neg: United States Constitution influence of many state politicians would be Antifederalist, delegates to the Philadelphia Convention provided for ratification of the Constitution by popularly elected ratifying conventions in each state. The convention method also made it possible that judges, ministers and others ineligible to serve in state legislatures, could be elected to a convention. Suspecting that Rhode Island, at least, might not ratify, delegates decided that the Constitution would go into effect as soon as nine states (two-thirds rounded up) ratified. Once ratified by this minimum number of states, it was anticipated that the proposed Constitution would become "this Constitution" between the nine

neg: United States Constitution set in 1789, when Congress considered and proposed the first several Constitutional amendments. Among these, Amendments 1–10 are collectively known as the Bill of Rights, and Amendments 13–15 are known as the Reconstruction Amendments. Excluding the Twenty-seventh Amendment, which was pending before the states for , the longest pending amendment that was successfully ratified was the Twenty-second Amendment, which took . The Twenty-sixth Amendment was ratified in the shortest time, days. The average ratification time for the first twenty-six amendments was 1 year, 252 days, for all twenty-seven, 9 years, 48 days. A proposed amendment becomes an operative part of

neg: Legal system of Armenia Armenian legal system when they are ratified or adopted by the relevant national authorities. Moreover, the wording of Article 6 of the Constitution indicates: “If a ratified international treaty stipulates norms other than those stipulated in the laws, the norms of the treaty shall prevail. International treaties contradicting Constitution cannot be ratified.” The consistent parts of Armenian legal system are almost all international treaties in the field of human rights and fundamental freedoms. In particular the following: A comprehensive list of international treaties the Republic of Armenia has acceded/ratified may be found in the following "Human Rights", 3rd edition. The

neg: Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution portions of the Constitution, such as the federal judiciary and direct taxation, intact. On November 20, 1789, New Jersey ratified eleven of the twelve amendments, rejecting an amendment to regulate congressional pay raises. On December 19 and 22, respectively, Maryland and North Carolina ratified all twelve amendments. On January 19, 25, and 28, 1790, respectively, South Carolina, New Hampshire, and Delaware ratified the Bill, though New Hampshire rejected the amendment on Congressional pay raises, and Delaware rejected the Congressional Apportionment Amendment. This brought the total of ratifying states to six of the required ten, but the process stalled in other

neg: Second Amendment to the United States Constitution governments ... forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition". By January 1788, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia and Connecticut ratified the Constitution without insisting upon amendments. Several amendments were proposed, but were not adopted at the time the Constitution was ratified. For example, the Pennsylvania convention debated fifteen amendments, one of which concerned the right of the people to be armed, another with the militia. The Massachusetts convention also ratified the Constitution with an attached list of proposed amendments. In the end, the ratification convention was so evenly divided between those for and against the Constitution that the federalists

neg: Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Twelfth Amendment (Amendment XII) to the United States Constitution provides the procedure for electing the President and Vice President. It replaced the procedure provided in , by which the Electoral College originally functioned. The amendment was proposed by the Congress on December 9, 1803, and was ratified by the requisite three-fourths of state legislatures on June 15, 1804. The new rules took effect for the 1804 presidential election and have governed all subsequent presidential elections. Under the original rules of the Constitution, each member of the Electoral College cast two electoral votes,

neg: Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution that the amendment's ratification had been completed. Michigan's May 7, 1992, ratification was believed to be the 38th state, but it later came to light that the Kentucky General Assembly had ratified the amendment during that state's initial month of statehood, making Missouri the state to finalize the amendment's addition to the Constitution. The amendment was later ratified by: Four states have not ratified the Twenty-seventh Amendment: Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, and Pennsylvania. On May 19, 1992, the 27th Amendment's certificate of ratification, signed by the Archivist of the United States on May 18, 1992, was printed and published in

neg: Initiative Section I of the United States Constitution vests "all legislative powers herein granted" to the Congress of the United States. Establishing a national initiative procedure would likely require an amendment to the Constitution, which would under Article V require two-thirds of both houses of Congress or the application of two-thirds of the state legislatures to propose, and three-fourths of all state legislatures (or conventions in three-fourths of the states) to ratify. The Constitution itself, pursuant to Article VII, was ratified by state conventions rather than by a referendum. Several proposals have been made to institute a national referendum. The Ludlow

neg: Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution Republican small state. The Twelfth Amendment was proposed by the 8th Congress on December 9, 1803, when it was approved by the House of Representatives by vote of 84–42, having been previously passed by the Senate, 22–10, on December 2. The amendment was officially submitted to the states on December 12, 1803, and was ratified by the legislatures of the following states: The amendment was rejected by Delaware, on January 18, 1804, and by Connecticut, on May 10, 1804. In a September 25, 1804, circular letter to the governors of the states, Secretary of State Madison declared the amendment ratified

neg: Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Ninth Amendment (Amendment IX) to the United States Constitution addresses rights, retained by the people, that are not specifically enumerated in the Constitution. It is part of the Bill of Rights. The Ninth Amendment has generally been regarded by the courts as negating any expansion of governmental power on account of the enumeration of rights in the Constitution, but the Amendment has not been regarded as further limiting governmental power. The amendment as proposed by Congress in 1789 and later ratified as the Ninth Amendment reads as follows: When the U.S. Constitution

neg: Robert Morris (financier) the weakness of the national government, Morris resigned as Superintendent of Finance in 1784. In 1787, Morris was selected as a delegate to the Philadelphia Convention, which wrote and proposed a new constitution for the United States. Morris rarely spoke during the convention, but the constitution produced by the convention reflected many of his ideas. Morris and his allies helped ensure that Pennsylvania ratified the new constitution, and the document was ratified by the requisite number of states by the end of 1788. The Pennsylvania legislature subsequently elected Morris as one of its two inaugural representatives in the United States

neg: Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1857 Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1857 The Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1857 () often called simply the Constitution of 1857 is the liberal constitution drafted by 1857 Constituent Congress of Mexico during the presidency of Ignacio Comonfort. It was ratified on February 5, 1857, establishing individual rights such as freedom of speech; freedom of conscience; freedom of the press; freedom of assembly; and the right to bear arms. It also reaffirmed the abolition of slavery, eliminated debtor prison, and eliminated all forms of cruel and unusual punishment, including the death penalty. Some articles

neg: Richard Platt (military officer) ratification of the United States Constitution. Contrary to popular opinion, New York had not yet ratified the Constitution by the time of that state's Federal Procession. Once news that sufficient ratification by the requisite nine states had been achieved upon New Hampshire's ratification on June 21, 1788, officials in New York City planned a celebratory procession for July 22, hoping that by that time, New York would have also ratified the constitution. Although New York still had not ratified as the planned procession's date approached, Platt determined that, due to the overwhelming public excitement surrounding the constitution's consummation, the celebratory

neg: Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution December 22, 1789, and January 19, 1790, respectively, Maryland, North Carolina, and South Carolina ratified all twelve amendments. On January 25 and 28, 1790, respectively, New Hampshire and Delaware ratified eleven of the Bill's twelve amendments, including the Fourth. This brought the total of ratifying states to six of the required ten, but the process stalled in other states: Connecticut and Georgia found a Bill of Rights unnecessary and so refused to ratify, while Massachusetts ratified most of the amendments, but failed to send official notice to the Secretary of State that it had done so. (All three states would

neg: Congress of the Confederate States laws of the United States. From February 28 until March 11, 1861, the Provisional Congress resolved itself into a Constitutional Convention each day, and as a convention, it adopted the Permanent Confederate Constitution unanimously. On March 12, Howell Cobb of Georgia, as president of the Constitutional Convention, forwarded it to the state secessionist conventions. Several Congressmen returned to their home states to lobby for adoption, and all conventions ratified without submitting the new Constitution to a referendum by the people. The permanent Constitution, like the provisional one before it, was primarily modeled on the U.S. Constitution, modified by the Convention’s

neg: Perpetual Union Civil War. During the American Civil War, the U.S. was called "the Union". When the United States Constitution replaced the Articles, nothing in it expressly stated that the Union is perpetual. Even after the Civil War, which had been fought by the U.S. to prevent the southern slave states from overthrowing the Constitution and leaving the Union, some still questioned whether any such inviolability survived after the U.S. Constitution replaced the Articles. This uncertainty also stems from the fact that the Constitution, technically an amendment of the perpetual Articles, was not ratified unanimously before going into effect, as required by

neg: Constitution of Montana that finally permitted the people of Montana to be admitted to the Union after adopting and ratifying a constitution, and the third constitution for the incipient state was written and ratified later that year. It entered into force on November 8, 1889, when Montana became the 41st state admitted to the Union by the Presidential Proclamation of Benjamin Harrison. The 1889 Constitution remained in force until 1972, when a new constitutional convention was held. The 1972 Constitution was adopted by the 100 delegates to the Constitutional Convention on March 22, 1972, and was ratified by the citizens of Montana on

neg: Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Twenty-sixth Amendment (Amendment XXVI) to the United States Constitution prohibits the states and the federal government from using age as a reason for denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States who are at least eighteen years old. It was proposed by Congress on March 23, 1971, and ratified on July 1, 1971, making it the quickest amendment ever ratified. Various public officials had supported lowering the voting age during the mid-20th century, but were unable to gain the legislative momentum necessary for passing a constitutional amendment. The drive

neg: Article Five of the United States Constitution non-justiciable one, leaving the issue to Congress's discretion. It would appear that the length of time elapsing between proposal and ratification is irrelevant to the validity of the amendment. Based upon this precedent, the Archivist of the United States proclaimed the Twenty-seventh Amendment as having been ratified when it surpassed the "three fourths of the several states" plateau for becoming a part of the Constitution. Declared ratified on May 7, 1992, it had been submitted to the states for ratification—without a ratification deadline—on September 25, 1789, an unprecedented time period of . Whether once it has prescribed a ratification period

neg: Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2008 the new rules on the functioning of the European Institutions, but gives up any symbolic or terminologic reference to a Constitution. (See Treaty of Lisbon compared to the European Constitution.) Because of the decision of the Supreme Court in "Crotty v. An Taoiseach" (1987), an amendment to the Constitution was required before it could be ratified by Ireland. Ireland was the only one of the then 15 EU member states to put the Treaty to the people in a referendum. Ratification of the Treaty in all other member states was decided upon by national parliaments alone. The Twenty-eighth Amendment of

neg: Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution ratified on April 14, 1869, tried to revoke its ratification on January 5, 1870. However, in February 1870, Georgia, Iowa, Nebraska, and Texas ratified the amendment, bringing the total ratifying states to twenty-nine—one more than the required twenty-eight ratifications from the thirty-seven states, and forestalling any court challenge to New York's resolution to withdraw its consent. The first twenty-eight states to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment were: Secretary of State Hamilton Fish certified the amendment on March 30, 1870, also including the ratifications of: The remaining seven states all subsequently ratified the amendment: The amendment's adoption was met with widespread celebrations

neg: Rufus King a startling transformation during the debates. He worked with Chairman William Samuel Johnson, James Madison, Gouverneur Morris, and Alexander Hamilton on the Committee of Style and Arrangement to prepare a final draft of the United States Constitution. King is one of the more prominent delegates namely because of playing "a major role in the laborious crafting of the fundamental governing character. The constitution was signed on September 17, only needing to be ratified by each of the subsequent states. After signing the Constitution, he returned home and went to work to get the Constitution ratified and unsuccessfully position himself to

neg: Afroyim v. Rusk from being repealed by a later Congress, the drafters of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution included a Citizenship Clause, which would entrench in the Constitution (and thereby set beyond the future reach of Congress or the courts) a guarantee of citizenship stating that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States". The Fourteenth Amendment—including the Citizenship Clause—was ratified by state legislatures and became a part of the Constitution in 1868. The Constitution does not specifically deal with loss of citizenship. An amendment proposed by Congress in

neg: The Law that Never Was The Law that Never Was The Law That Never Was: The Fraud of the 16th Amendment and Personal Income Tax is a 1985 book by William J. Benson and Martin J. "Red" Beckman which claims that the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, commonly known as the income tax amendment, was never properly ratified. In 2007, and again in 2009, Benson's contentions were ruled to be fraudulent. Under Article V of the U.S. Constitution, an amendment proposed by Congress must be ratified by three-fourths of the states to become part of the Constitution. The Article permits Congress to specify,

neg: History of the United States Constitution being ratified (submitted for ratification in 1789 as part of the Bill of Rights, but not ratified until 1992), the Twenty-second Amendment held the record for longest time taken to successfully complete the ratification process – 3 years, 11 months, 6 days. The Twenty-sixth Amendment holds the record for shortest time taken – 3 months, 8 days. Six amendments adopted by Congress and sent to the states have not been ratified by the required number of states and are not part of the Constitution. Four of these are still technically open and pending, one is closed and has failed by

neg: Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution list of States included both Alabama and Georgia, as well as Ohio and New Jersey. The inclusion of Ohio and New Jersey has led some to question the validity of rescission of a ratification. The inclusion of Alabama and Georgia has called that conclusion into question. While there have been Supreme Court cases dealing with ratification issues, this particular question has never been adjudicated. The Fourteenth Amendment was subsequently ratified: Since Ohio and New Jersey re-ratified the Fourteenth Amendment in 2003, all U.S. states that existed during Reconstruction have ratified the amendment. Section 1 of the amendment formally defines United

neg: Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution Since the 1860s, an increasing number of states had given women the right to vote, but several states still denied women the right to vote at the time the amendment was ratified. The Nineteenth Amendment was originally introduced in Congress in 1878 by Senator Aaron A. Sargent. Forty-one years later, in 1919, Congress submitted it to the states for ratification. It was ratified by three-fourths of the states a year later, with Tennessee's ratification being the last needed to add the amendment to the Constitution. In "Leser v. Garnett" (1922), the Supreme Court rejected claims that the amendment was unconstitutionally

neg: Congress of the Republic of Peru officials made by the Chamber of Deputies. The Chamber of Deputies would approve the budget, delegate legislative faculties to the executive, and conduct investigations. The Constitution states that constitutional amendments are to be ratified by a referendum or by a two-thirds votes in two successive legislative sessions of congress. Since the promulgation of the 1993 Constitution all amendments have been ratified by the later method and never by referendum. President Vizcarra has insisted in making the bicameralism question a matter of referendum which has become an extremely popular idea in the country. The constitutional referendum is set for December 9,

neg: Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution a four-Justice dissent in "Alden", said the states surrendered their sovereign immunity when they ratified the Constitution. He read the amendment's text as reflecting a narrow form of sovereign immunity that limited only the diversity jurisdiction of the federal courts. He concluded that neither the Eleventh Amendment in particular nor the Constitution in general insulates the states from suits by individuals. Eleventh Amendment immunity also protects states from lawsuits by foreign states in federal courts. Although the Eleventh Amendment grants immunity to states from suit for money damages or equitable relief without their consent, in "Ex parte Young", , the

neg: 1788 United States House of Representatives election in Pennsylvania 1788 United States House of Representatives election in Pennsylvania An Election to the United States House of Representatives in Pennsylvania were held on November 26, 1788 for the 1st Congress. The United States Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787, by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, and then ratified by the States. Pennsylvania's legislature ratified the Constitution on December 12, 1787 by a vote of 46-23. On July 8, 1788, the Congress of the Confederation passed a resolution calling the first session of the 1st United States Congress for March 4, 1789, to convene at New York City and the

neg: Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution purposes, as a part of the Constitution. Included on the enrolled list of ratifying states were the three ex-Confederate states that had given their assent, but with strings attached. Seward accepted their affirmative votes and brushed aside their "interpretive declarations" without comment, challenge or acknowledgment. The Thirteenth Amendment was subsequently ratified by: The Thirteenth Amendment became part of the Constitution 61 years after the Twelfth Amendment. This is the longest interval between constitutional amendments. The impact of the abolition of slavery was felt quickly. When the Thirteenth Amendment became operational, the scope of Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation was widened to

neg: Utah admitted to the Union in 1896. Utah is one of the 15 states that have not ratified the U.S. Equal Rights Amendment. In March 2018, Utah passed America's first "free-range parenting" bill. The bill was signed into law by Republican Governor Gary Herbert and states that parents who allow their children to engage in certain activities without supervision are not considered neglectful. The constitution of Utah was enacted in 1895. Notably, the constitution outlawed polygamy, as requested by Congress when Utah had applied for statehood, and reestablished the territorial practice of women's suffrage. Utah's Constitution has been amended many times

neg: United States Constitution ratification, have been frequently cited by the Supreme Court as an authoritative contemporary interpretation of the meaning of its provisions. The dispute over additional powers for the central government was close, and in some states ratification was effected only after a bitter struggle in the state convention itself. On June 21, 1788, the constitution had been ratified by the minimum of nine states required under Article VII. Towards the end of July, and with eleven states then having ratified, the process of organizing the new government began. The Continental Congress, which still functioned at irregular intervals, passed a resolution on

neg: Lieutenant Governor of Maryland present constitution, adopted in 1867, abolished the lieutenant governorship. However, the position was re-established by a constitutional amendment ratified on November 3, 1970. Under the 1970 amendment, the Lieutenant Governor "shall have only the duties delegated to him by the Governor." Maryland's lieutenant governorship is thus weaker than the office in several, but not all, other states that have one. For instance, in many states, including Texas, the lieutenant governor is the president of the state's Senate and in California the Lieutenant Governor assumes "all" of the Governor's powers when he or she is out of the state. In both

neg: History of the United States Constitution between power and liberty" had begun anew. Since the beginning of federal operations under the Constitution in 1789 through the beginning of 2013, approximately 11,539 proposals to amend the Constitution have been introduced in the United States Congress. Of these, thirty-three have been approved by Congress and sent to the states for ratification. Twenty-seven of these amendments have been ratified and are now part of the Constitution. The first ten amendments were adopted and ratified simultaneously and are known collectively as the Bill of Rights. Prior to the Twenty-seventh Amendment, which languished for 202 years, 7 months, 12 days before

neg: Vicinage Clause Constitutional Convention. The omission of a vicinage right from the United States Constitution was among the objections of the Anti-federalists to the ratification of the Constitution. James Madison explained the omission of a vicinage clause in the Virginia Ratifying Convention as follows: Virginia ratified the Constitution, with a proviso that a Bill of Rights, including a right to "trial by an impartial jury of his vicinage," be added by amendment. North Carolina adopted the same proviso as Virginia, but refused to ratify the Constitution in its absence. New York and Rhode Island ratified the constitution with similar provisos as Virginia

neg: District attorney in each judicial district to prosecute federal crimes and to represent the United States in all civil actions to which it was a party. Initially, there were 13 districts to cover the 11 States that had by that time ratified the constitution. Each State was a district, except for Massachusetts and Virginia which formed two. Districts were added when additional States were admitted. The statute did not confer a title upon these local agents of federal authority, but subsequent statutes and court decisions referred to them most frequently as "district attorneys". In 1948, the Judicial Code adopted the term "United

neg: Primacy of European Union law tradition of member states, different solutions have been developed to adapt questions of incompatibility between national law and EU law to one another. Union law is accepted as having supremacy over the law of member states, but not all member states share the ECJ's analysis of why EU law takes precedence over national law when there is a conflict. Article 10 of the Constitution of the Czech Republic states that every international treaty ratified by parliament of the Czech Republic is a part of the Czech legislative order and takes precedence over all other laws. Like many countries within the

neg: Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution 1960 presidential election, Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy from Massachusetts, endorsed the proposal. Amendment supporters ran an effective ratification campaign, mobilizing persons in almost every state to press for its approval. The following states ratified the amendment: Ratification was completed on March 29, 1961, 9 months and 12 days after being proposed by Congress. The amendment was subsequently ratified by the following states: On April 3, 1961, John L. Moore, Administrator of General Services, certified that the amendment had been adopted by the requisite number of States and had become a part of the Constitution. The

neg: Single European Act states of the EEC had ratified the treaty by that date. The deadline failed to be achieved when the Irish government were restrained from ratifying the SEA pending court proceedings. In the court case, the Irish Supreme Court ruled that the Irish Constitution would have to be amended before the state could ratify the treaty, something that can only be done by referendum. Such a referendum was ultimately held on 26 May 1987 when the proposal was approved by Irish voters, who voted by 69.9% in favour to 30.1% against, on a turnout of 44.1%. Ireland formally ratified the Single

neg: Section 113 of the Constitution of Australia cautionary measure. The question of whether the Constitution gave States a police power was unresolved at the time the Constitution was ratified. However, it was later resolved by the High Court that the American concept of police power had no application in relation to the Australian Constitution. Section 113 of the Constitution of Australia Section 113 of the Constitution of Australia provides that legally, all intoxicating liquids in a State are to be treated as if they were produced in that State and subject to that State's laws, even if in reality they were produced in another State. It was

neg: Treaties of the European Union was due to come into force on 1 November 2006 if it was ratified by all member states. However, this did not occur, with France rejecting the document in a national referendum on 29 May 2005 and then the Netherlands in their own referendum on 1 June 2005. Although it had been ratified by a number of member states, following a "period of reflection", the constitution in that form was scrapped and replaced by the Treaty of Lisbon. Although not formally part of European Union law, several closely related treaties have been signed outside the framework of the EU and

neg: Article One of the United States Constitution Senate adjusted without its consent. That is to say, an amendment that changed this clause to provide that all states would get only one Senator (or three Senators, or any other number) could become valid as part of the Constitution if ratified by three-fourths of the states; however, one that provided for some basis of representation other than strict numerical equality (for example, population, wealth, or land area), would require the unanimous consent of all the states. Denying the states their intended role as joint partners in the federal government by abolishing their equality in the Senate would, according to

neg: First Amendment to the United States Constitution their state conventions both ratify the Constitution and call for the addition of a bill of rights. The U.S. Constitution was eventually ratified by all thirteen states. In the 1st United States Congress, following the state legislatures' request, James Madison proposed twenty constitutional amendments, and his proposed draft of the First Amendment read as follows: The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext, infringed. The people shall not be

neg: Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified by the state legislatures of the following states: On January 8, 1798, approximately three years after the Eleventh Amendment's adoption, President John Adams stated in a message to Congress that the Eleventh Amendment had been ratified by the necessary number of States and that it was now a part of the Constitution of the United States. New Jersey and Pennsylvania did not take action on the amendment during that era; neither did Tennessee, which had become a State on June 16, 1796. However, on June 25, 2018, the New Jersey Senate adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 75 to

neg: Parliaments of the Australian states and territories Australian colonies were self-governing colonies, with parliaments which had come into existence at various times between 1825, when the New South Wales Legislative Council was created, to 1891, when Western Australia became the last of the colonies to gain full self-government. The colonies ratified the Constitution of Australia, becoming States of the Commonwealth in the new federation, and ceding certain of their legislative powers to the Commonwealth Parliament, but otherwise retaining their self-governing status with their own constitutions and parliaments. The state parliaments were all created by legislation of the British Imperial Parliament, and their original constitutions were contained in

neg: Slavery in the United States Revolution (1775–1783), the status of slave had been institutionalized as a racial caste associated with African ancestry. When the United States Constitution was ratified in 1789, a relatively small number of free people of color were among the voting citizens (male property owners). During and immediately following the Revolutionary War, abolitionist laws were passed in most Northern states and a movement developed to abolish slavery. Northern states depended on free labor and all had abolished slavery by 1805. The rapid expansion of the cotton industry in the Deep South after the invention of the cotton gin greatly increased demand for

neg: Iraq disarmament crisis by Congress. The Constitution also provides that international treaties ratified by the United States are among the highest law of the land (US Constitution, Article VI). The UN Charter is a treaty ratified by the US, which forbids member states, including the US, from attacking fellow member states, including Iraq, except in two carefully circumscribed situations (see UN Charter). After the invasion of Iraq, the Iraq Survey Group, headed by David Kay was formed to find the alleged weapons of mass destruction. Apart from a small quantity of degraded pre-1991 shells, nothing was found. Iraq disarmament crisis The Iraq disarmament

neg: Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution 94–0 in favor of proposing a Constitutional amendment to guarantee that the minimum voting age could not be higher than 18. On March 23, 1971, the House of Representatives voted 401–19 in favor of the proposed amendment. Having been passed by the 92nd United States Congress, the proposed Twenty-sixth Amendment was sent to the state legislatures for their consideration. Ratification was completed on July 1, 1971, after the amendment had been ratified by the following thirty-eight states: Having been ratified by three-fourths of the States (38), the Twenty-sixth Amendment became part of the Constitution. On July 5, 1971, the Administrator

neg: Treaty of Accession 2005 states, and provides for the situation when one or more country have ratified the Treaty, but have failed to deposit the ratification instruments by 1 January 2007. The ratification procedures were completed in time and the Treaty entered into force on 1 January 2007 on the territory of all member states. Article 5 stipulates that the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe drawn up in the Bulgarian and Romanian languages shall be annexed to this Treaty and they will be authentic under the same conditions as the texts in all other official languages of the European union. Article 6 states

neg: History of New York City the Articles of Confederation. In 1789, New York City became the first national capital of the United States under the new United States Constitution. The Constitution also created the current Congress of the United States, and its first sitting was at Federal Hall on Wall Street. The first United States Supreme Court sat there. The United States Bill of Rights was drafted and ratified there. George Washington was inaugurated at Federal Hall. New York City remained the capital of the U.S. until 1790, when the role was transferred to Philadelphia. During the 19th century, the city was transformed by immigration,

neg: Ratification of the United States Constitution by Rhode Island the United States Senate passed a bill that would ban all trade with Rhode Island if enacted, effectively isolating the diminutive state from the outside world. Rhode Island capitulated eleven days later and ratified the constitution, before the proposed embargo could be acted on by the United States House of Representatives. However, Rhode Island's ratification included a lengthy list of caveats, including that "the powers of government may be reassumed by the people whensoever it shall become necessary". The ratification also contained a list of proposed amendments to the constitution that Rhode Island wished to see taken up, such as

neg: Convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution by Congress and ratified by the unanimous vote of all thirteen state legislatures. This proved to be a major flaw in the Articles, as it created an insurmountable obstacle to constitutional reform. The amendment process crafted during the Constitutional Convention, James Madison later wrote in The Federalist No. 43, was designed to establish a balance between pliancy and rigidity: One of the main reasons for the 1787 Convention was that the Articles of Confederation required the unanimous consent of all 13 states for the national government to take action. This system had proved unworkable, and the newly written Constitution sought

neg: National Freedom Day National Freedom Day National Freedom Day is a United States observance on February 1 honoring the signing by Abraham Lincoln of a joint House and Senate resolution that later became the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. President Lincoln signed the Amendment outlawing slavery on February 1, 1865, although it was not ratified by the states until later. Major Richard Robert Wright Sr., a former slave, believed that there should be a day when freedom for all Americans is celebrated. Wright invited national and local leaders to meet in Philadelphia to formulate plans to set aside February 1 each year

neg: Originalism Originalism In the context of United States law, originalism is a concept regarding the interpretation of the Constitution that asserts that all statements in the constitution must be interpreted based on the original understanding of the authors or the people at the time it was ratified. This concept views the Constitution as stable from the time of enactment, and that the meaning of its contents can be changed only by the steps set out in Article Five. This notion stands in contrast to the concept of the living constitution, which asserts that the Constitution is intended to be interpreted based

neg: Constitution of Florida Coast Railway. This project, "All Aboard Florida", is due to begin operations as early as 2017. This article provides a transition between the 1885 and 1968 Constitutions. Constitution of Florida The Constitution of the State of Florida is the document that establishes and describes the powers, duties, structure and function of the government of the U.S. state of Florida, and establishes the basic law of the state. The current Constitution of Florida was ratified on November 5, 1968. Florida has been governed by six different constitutions since acceding to the United States. Before 1838, only the Spanish Constitution of 1812

neg: Antonin Scalia concluded that the benefit of citing legislative history does not outweigh its costs. It is likely for this reason that the percentage of cases citing it has decreased dramatically. No one likes an unnecessary fight, especially not one with as formidable an opponent as Justice Scalia. Scalia described himself as an originalist, meaning that he interpreted the United States Constitution as it would have been understood when it was adopted. According to Scalia in 2008, "It's what did the words mean to the people who ratified the Bill of Rights or who ratified the Constitution". In 2006, before George W.

neg: Birthright citizenship in the United States on "a skewed reading of history.". Justice Benjamin R. Curtis in his dissent showed that under the Articles of Confederation, free blacks had already been considered citizens in five states and carried that citizenship forward when the Constitution was ratified. Justice Curtis wrote: The first section of the second article of the Constitution uses the language "a natural-born citizen." It thus assumes that citizenship may be acquired by birth. Undoubtedly, this language of the Constitution was used in reference to that principle of public law, well understood in the history of this country at the time of the adoption of

neg: Section 127 of the Australian Constitution Section 127 of the Australian Constitution Section 127 of the Australian Constitution was the final section within Chapter VII (dealing with miscellaneous matters), and mandated the exclusion of Aboriginal Australians from population counts conducted for electoral purposes. It came into effect on 1 January 1901 when the founding states federated into the Commonwealth of Australia, and was repealed effective 10 August 1967 following the 1967 referendum. Section 127 was included in the Constitution of Australia when it was ratified, and stated that: The interpretation of section 127 depends on the language used in other parts of the Constitution. Section 24

neg: Constitution of Mississippi the second constitution was created and adopted to end property ownership as a prerequisite for voting, which was limited to white men in the state at the time. The third constitution, adopted in 1868 and ratified the following year, was the first Mississippian constitution to be approved and ratified by the people of the state at large and bestowed state citizenship to all of the state's residents, namely newly freed slaves. The fourth constitution was adopted in November 1890 and was created by a convention consisting mostly of Democrats in order to prevent the state's African-American citizens from voting. The

neg: United States Constitution United States to guarantee to each state a republican form of government, and to protect them from invasion and violence. Article Five outlines the process for amending the Constitution. Eight state constitutions in effect in 1787 included an amendment mechanism. Amendment making power rested with the legislature in three of the states and in the other five it was given to specially elected conventions. The Articles of Confederation provided that amendments were to be proposed by Congress and ratified by the unanimous vote of all thirteen state legislatures. This proved to be a major flaw in the Articles, as it

neg: Constitution of Albania the Constitution. The First Secretary of the Party was Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Chairmen of the Defense Council (Art. 89). The 1976 Constitution remained in effect until September 5, 1991 when a temporary basic law was passed to legalize a pluralist system and re-establish a capitalist economy in Albania. Based on this document, which defined Albania as a parliamentary republic, the new Constitution was drafted in 1998. Many drafts, such as the one proposed in 1994, failed to be ratified. The current Constitution was ratified by a popular referendum in 1998. Constitution of Albania It is the fundamental

neg: Article Five of the United States Constitution latter two campaigns came very close to meeting the two-thirds threshold in the 1960s and 1980s, respectively. After being officially proposed, either by Congress or a national convention of the states, a constitutional amendment must then be ratified by three-fourths of the states. Congress is authorized to choose whether a proposed amendment is sent to the state legislatures or to state ratifying conventions for ratification. Amendments ratified by the states under either procedure are indistinguishable and have equal validity as part of the Constitution. Of the 33 amendments submitted to the states for ratification, the state convention method has been

neg: United States Constitution September 13, 1788, to put the new Constitution into operation with the eleven states that had then ratified it. The federal government began operations under the new form of government on March 4, 1789. However, the initial meeting of each chamber of Congress had to be adjourned due to lack of a quorum. George Washington was inaugurated as the nation's first president weeks later, on April 30. The final two states, North Carolina and Rhode Island, both subsequently ratified the ConstitutionNovember 21, 1789, and May 29, 1790, respectively. Several ideas in the Constitution were new. These were associated with the