THE CONSTITUTION OR FRAME OF GOVERNMENT, FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, As reported by the CONVENTION of DELEGATES, from the UNITED STATES, begun and held at PHILADELPHIA, on the first Monday of May, 1787, and continued by Adjournments to the seventeenth Day of September following.— Which they resolved, should be laid before the United States in Congress Assembled; and afterwards be submitted to a Convention of Delegates, chosen in each State, by the People thereof, under the recommendation of its Legislature, for their Assent and Ratification.
TOGETHER with the resolutions of the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for calling said Convention, agreeable to the recommendation of CONGRESS.
Published by Order of Government.
PRINTED at BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, BY ADAMS and NOURSE. Printers to the Honourable the GENERAL COURT. M, DCC, LXXXVII.
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE United States of America.
Frame of Government.
WE, the People of the UNITED STATES, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of AMERICA.
Legislative Power.
ARTICLE I.
The HOUSE of REPRESENTATIVES.
SECTION I.
ALL Legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
SECTION II.
THE House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several States, and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature.
No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.
REPRESENTATIVES and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians [Page 5] not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each State shall have at least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New-Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New-Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North-Carolina five, South-Carolina five, and Georgia three.
WHEN vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the Executive authority thereof, shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.
THE House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment.
SENATE.
SECTION III.
THE Senate of the United States, shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote.
[Page 6]IMMEDIATELY after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes. The seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen by resignation, or otherwise, during the recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof, may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies.
NO person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State, for which he shall be chosen.
THE Vice-President of the United States, shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.
THE Senate shall chuse their other officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall exercise the office of President of the United States.
THE Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. [Page 7] When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the Members present.
JUDGMENT in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honour, trust, or profit under the United States; but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law.
SECTION IV.
THE times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of chusing Senators.
The GENERAL CONGRESS.
THE Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.
SECTION V.
EACH House shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own Members, and a majority of each shall constitute [Page 8] a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent Members, in such manner, and under such penalties, as each House may provide.
EACH House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly behaviour, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a Member.
EACH House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the Members of either House, on any question shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.
NEITHER House, during the session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that, in which the two Houses shall be sitting.
SECTION VI.
THE Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases, except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place.
[Page 9]NO Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time; and no person holding any office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House, during his continuance in office.
The Powers of CONGRESS.
SECTION VII.
ALL bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other bills.
Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration, two-thirds of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be considered, and if approved by two-thirds of that House, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, [Page 10] and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each House respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law.
EVERY order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.
SECTION VIII.
THE Congress shall have power—To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;— To borrow money on the credit of the United States;—To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;—To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United [Page 11] States;—To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;—To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;— To establish post-offices and post roads;—To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;—To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;—To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations;—To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;— To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;—To provide and maintain a navy;—To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;—To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;—To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia, according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;—To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such district (not [Page 12] exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the Legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the erection of sorts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings; and to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.
Restrictions upon Congress.
SECTION IX.
THE migration or importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.
THE privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it.
No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed.
No capitation, or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.
[Page 13]No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State. No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one State over those of another: nor shall vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another.
No monies shall be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time.
No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States:—And no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.
Restrictions upon respective States.
SECTION X.
NO State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility. No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be [Page 14] absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any State on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and controul of the Congress. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.
Executive Power.
ARTICLE III.
PRESIDENT.
SECTION I.
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, and, together with the Vice-President chosen for the same term, be elected as follows.
EACH State shall appoint, in such a manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be elector.
[Page 15]THE electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a list of all the persons voted for and of the number of votes for each; which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed: and if there be more than one who have such majority, and have an equal number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by ballot one of them for President; and if no person have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the said House shall in like manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each State having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of the President, the person having the greatest number of votes of the electors, shall be the Vice-President. But if there shall remain two or more who have [Page 16] equal votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by ballot the Vice-President.
THE Congress may determine the time of chusing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout the United States.
NO person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.
IN case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President, and the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation or inability, both of the President and Vice-President, declaring what officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.
THE President shall, at stated times, receive for his services, a compensation, which shall neither be encreased 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.
[Page 17]BEFORE he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
SECTION II.
THE President shall be Commander in Chief of the army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several States, when called into the actual service 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 offences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.
HE shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadours, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law. But the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they [Page 18] think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of law, or in the heads of departments.
THE President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session.
SECTION III.
HE shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take care that the laws be [...]ithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States.
SECTION IV.
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.
ARTICLE III.
Judiciary Power.
SECTION I.
THE judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the Supreme and Inferior Court, 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 II.
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 publick 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 [Page 20] 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 Congress shall make.
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 Congress may by law have directed.
SECTION III.
TREASON against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhearing 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 Congress 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.
ARTICLE IV.
SECTION II.
FULL faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the [Page 21] manner in which such acts, records and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.
SECTION II.
THE citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States.
A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State, shall, on demand of the Executive authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime.
No person held to service or labour in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labour, but shall be delivered up, on claim of the party to whom such service or labour may be due.
General Regulations.
SECTION III.
NEW States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new States shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned, as well as of the Congress.
THE Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting [Page 22] the territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed, as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular State.
SECTION IV.
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.
Amendments Provided.
ARTICLE V.
THE Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses 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, or by Conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided, that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, shall in any manner [Page 23] affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no State, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.
General Regulations.
ARTICLE VI.
ALL debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution as under the Confederation.
THIS Constitution, and the laws of the United State which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any thing in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.
THE Senators and Representatives before-mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all Executive and Judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States,
ARTICLE VII.
THE ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the establishment [Page 24] of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the same.
In CONVENTION, Monday Sept. 17, 1787. PRESENT, The States of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Mr. Hamilton from New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina and Georgia:
THAT the preceding Constitution be laid before the United States in Congress assembled, and that it is the opinion of this Convention, [Page 26] that it should afterwards be submitted to a Convention of Delegates, chosen in each State by the People thereof, under the recommendation of its Legislature, for their assent and ratification; and that each Convention assenting to, and ratifying the same, should give notice thereof to the United States in Congress assembled.
Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Convention, that as soon as the Conventions of nine States shall have ratified this Constitution, the United States in Congress assembled should fix a day on which Electors should be appointed by the States which shall have ratified the same, and a day on which the Electors should assemble to vote for the President, and the time and place for commencing proceedings under this Constitution. That after such publication the Electors should be appointed, and the Senators and Representatives elected: That the Electors should meet on the day fixed for the election of the President, and should transmit their votes certified, signed, sealed and directed, as the Constitution requires, to the Secretary of the United States in Congress assembled, that the Senators and Representatives should convene at the time and place assigned; that the Senators should appoint a President of the Senate, for the sole purpose of receiving, opening and counting the votes for President; and, that after he shall be chosen, the Congress, together with the President, should without delay, proceed to execute this Constitution.
WE have now the honour to submit to the consideration of the United States in Congress assembled, that constitution which has appeared to us the most adviseable. The friends of our Country have long seen and desired, that the power of making war, peace and treaties, that of levying money and regulating commerce, and the correspondent Executive and Judicial authorities, should be fully and effectually vested in the general government of the Union; but the impropriety of delegating such extensive trusts to one body of men is evident—Hence results the necessity of a different organization.
IT is obviously impracticable in the federal government of these States, to secure all rights of independent sovereignty to each, and yet provide for the interest and safety of all—Individuals entering into society, must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest. The magnitude of the sacrifice must depend as well on situation and circumstance, as on the object to be obtained. It is at all times difficult to draw with precision the line between those rights which must be surrendered, and those which may be reserved; and on the present occasion this difficulty was encreased by a difference among the several States as to their situation, extent, habits, and particular interests.
[Page 28]IN all our deliberations on this subject, we kept steadily in our view, that which appears to us the greatest interest of every true American, the consolidation of our Union, in which is involved our prosperity, felicity, safety, perhaps our national existence. This important consideration, seriously and deeply impressed on our minds, led each State in the Convention to be less rigid on points of inferiour magnitude than might have been otherwise expected; and thus the Constitution which we now present, is the result of a spirit of amity, and of that mutual deference and concession which the peculiarity of our political situation rendered indispensible.
THAT it will meet the full and entire approbation of every State is not, perhaps, to be expected; but each will doubtless consider, that had her interests been alone consulted, the consequences might have been particularly disagreeable or injurious to others; that it is liable to as few axceptions as could reasonably have been expected, we hope and believe; that it may promote the lasting welfare of that country so dear to us all, and secure her freedom and happiness, is our most ardent wish.
UNITED STATES in CONGRESS assembled FRIDAY, September 28, 1787.
Present,
New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina and
Georgia, and from
Maryland, Mr. Ross.
CONGRESS having received the Report of the
Convention lately assembled in
Philadelphia:
RESOLVED unanimously, That the said Report, with the Resolutions and Letters accompanying the same, be transmitted to the several Legislatures, in order to be submitted to a Convention of Delegates chosen in each State by the People thereof, in conformity to the Resolves of the Convention made and provided in that case.
COMMONWEALTH of Massachusetts. IN SENATE. October 20, 1787.
WHEREAS the Convention lately assembled at Philadelphia, have reported to Congress a Constitution for the United States of America, in which Convention were represented, the States of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina and Georgia, which Constitution was unanimously approved of by the said States in Convention assembled; and [Page 30] whereas that Convention resolved that the said Constitution should be laid before the United States in Congress assembled, and that it was their opinion, that it should be submitted to a Convention of Delegates chosen in each State by the people thereof under the recommendation of its Legslature, for their assent and ratification; and that each Convention assenting to and ratifying the same should give notice thereof to the United States in Congress assembled.
And whereas the United States in Congress assembled, by their resolution of the twenty-eighth of September last, unanimously resolved, that the Constitution so reported be transmitted to the several Legislatures in order to be submitted to a Convention of Delegates, chosen in each State by the people thereof, in conformity to the Resolves of the said Convention in that case made and provided; and whereas the said Constitution has been transmitted to the Legislature of this Commonwealth accordingly.
It is therefore Resolved, That it be, and it is hereby recommended to the People of this Commonwealth, that a Convention of Delegates be chosen agreeably to, and for the purposes mentioned in the Resolution of Congress aforesaid, to meet at the State-House in Boston, on the second Wednesday of January next, and that the Constitution so reported be submitted to the said Convention, for their assent and ratification; and that the said Convention assenting to and ratifying the same, give notice thereof to the United States in Congress assembled, in conformity to the resolves of the said Convention in that case made and provided.
And it is further Resolved, That the Selectmen of the several towns and districts within this [Page 31] Commonwealth, be, and they are hereby directed, to convene as soon as may be, the inhabitants of their several towns and districts, qualified by law to vote in the election of Representatives, for the purpose of chusing Delegates to represent them in said Convention.
And to preserve an equality to the people in their representation in the said Convention, that the several towns and districts, elect respectively by ballot, not exceeding the same number of Delegates, as by law they are entitled to send Representatives to the General Court.
And it is further Resolved, That the Secretary immediately procure to be printed a sufficient number of copies of these resolutions, as also of the said Constitution, with the resolutions of the Convention, and their letter to the President of Congress, accompanying the same; and also of the resolution of the United States in Congress assembled, thereupon; and that he transmit three copies of the same, as soon as may be, by expresses, to the Sheriffs of the several counties within this Commonwealth, with positive directions to be by them, or their Deputies, without delay, personally delivered to the Selectmen of each town and district within their respective counties.
And it is further Resolved, That the Selectmen or the major part of the Selectmen of each town or district, shall certify the election of such person or persons, as may be appointed by their respective towns or districts, as a Delegate or Delegates to the Convention aforesaid.
And it is further Resolved, That the several Delegates of the said Convention, be allowed for their travel and attendance, out of the public [Page 32] treasury, the same pay as will be allowed to the Representatives therefor this present session, and that the same be defrayed at the public expence.
And it is further Resolved, That his Excellency the Governour be, and he hereby is requested, with advice of Council, to issue his warrant upon the Treasurer, directing him to discharge the pay-roll of the said Convention, out of any monies which will then be in the treasury, not appropriated.
And it is further Resolved, That if there shall not be sufficient monies then in the treasury for that purpose, the Treasurer is hereby authorized and directed, to borrow sufficient monies therefor, on such funds of the government as are not appropriated.