Chapter One Federal Government - Minnesota State Legislature

Chapter
Seven
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Chapter Seven Legacy
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CONSTITUTION
OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Secretary of State’s Note: In 1787, the original states, except Rhode Island, collectively appointed 70 men to the
Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. In all 55 attended, and 39 signed the Constitution. The Constitution’s
framers worked to develop a document that would provide a stronger central government than the Articles of
Confederation but that would also preserve tenets of independence and individual rights espoused by other fundamental
documents like the Magna Carta and Declaration of Independence. The framers drew heavily upon Athenian
and English political philosophy to find the right balance.
The Constitution was adopted Sept. 17, 1787, by the unanimous consent of the states present in the convention
appointed pursuant to the resolution of the Congress of the confederation, of the February 21, 1787, and was ratified
by the conventions of the several states, as follows: By convention of Delaware, Dec. 7, 1787; Pennsylvania, Dec.
12, 1787; New Jersey, Dec. 18, 1787; Georgia, Jan. 2, 1788; Connecticut, Jan. 9, 1788; Massachusetts, Feb. 6, 1788;
Maryland, April 28, 1788; South Carolina, May 23, 1788; New Hampshire, June 21, 1788; Virginia, June 26, 1788;
New York, July 26, 1788; North Carolina, Nov. 21, 1789; Rhode Island, May 29, 1790.
The first ten of the amendments–also know collectively as the “Bill of Rights”– were proposed at the first session of
the First Congress of the United States, Sept. 25, 1789; and were finally ratified by the constitutional number of
states Dec. 15, 1791. The eleventh amendment was proposed at the first session of the Third Congress, March 5,
1794, and was declared in a message from the president of the United States to both houses of Congress, dated Jan.
8, 1798, to have been adopted by the constitutional number of states. The twelfth amendment was proposed at the
first session of the Eighth Congress, Dec. 12, 1803, and was adopted by the constitutional number of states in 1804,
according to a public notice thereof by the secretary of state, dated Sept. 25, 1804.
The thirteenth amendment took effect December 18, 1865.
The fourteenth amendment took effect July 28, 1868.
The fifteenth amendment took effect March 30, 1870.
The sixteenth amendment took effect February 25, 1913.
The seventeenth amendment took effect May 31, 1913.
The eighteenth amendment took effect January 29, 1920.
The nineteenth amendment took effect August 27, 1920.
The twentieth amendment took effect February 6, 1933.
The twenty-first amendment took effect December 5, 1933.
The twenty-second amendment took effect March 1, 1951.
The twenty-third amendment took effect April 3, 1961.
The twenty-fourth amendment took effect February 4, 1964.
The twenty-fifth amendment took effect February 23, 1967.
The twenty-sixth amendment took effect July 5, 1971.
The twenty-seventh amendment took effect May 18, 1992.
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic
tranquility, provide for the common defense, 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.
ARTICLE I
Section 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a congress of the United States, which shall consist
of a senate and a house of representatives.
Sec. 2. 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.