Notes and a List of Changes, Revised U.S. Constitution

A list of alterations from the original contained in my revised Constitution. For the most part, the inclusion of the text of amendments will not be mentioned here unless those amendments were subsequently altered or deleted themselves.

Article I, Section 1. Here, I included the text of Amendment X. I intended it to show that the idea of enumerated powers applies directly to the Congress; that is, to say that all legislative power is granted to the Congress without qualifying that statement with an enumeration of actual powers is to give the Congress near-unlimited power to work its will on the People and the States at large. As such, in order to maintain power for the States and the People, the tenth amendment text is specifically included here.

Section 2. I changed the wording here from "Indians not taxed" to "citizens of dependent nations not taxed." All other instances of Indians were also changed to citizens of dependent nations.

Section 3. I returned the power of appointing Senators to the State legislatures. However, unlike the original Constitution before Amendment XVII, I allowed for the State legislature to choose the method of appointment. That is, the State legislature could provide for a popular election, if it so desired, but it would not be constrained to doing so. The Senate is meant to be a delegation from the States whose purpose is to work the will of the State from which its members are appointed, not the People thereof. The People are represented in the House of Representatives.

Section 7. I removed the Senate's power to propose amendments to appropriations bills. Because the Senate does not represent the People, it should have no power in determining how their tax dollars ought to be spent. The Senate may approve or disapprove of the budget, but they may not change it.

I significantly altered the President's power of veto. The President was never meant to be a legislator, though he is in this way a part of the legislative process. To overturn the will of the Representatives of the People and of the States merely on ideological grounds is too great of a power for one person to hold. Therefore, the President, if he believes the bill to be unconstitutional, may refer that bill to the Supreme Court for a judgment. If the Court rules for its constitutionality, it becomes law; if not, it is defeated.

Section 8. I removed the Congress's power to borrow money except in cases of emergency declared by the House and approved by the Senate and President. This requires the budget to be balanced in all other cases.

I added artists and their works to Congress's power to protect intellectual property.

I clarified the language of Amendment I to avoid misunderstanding concerning the establishment clause.

I clarified the language of Amendment II to ensure the individual right to bear arms. A collective right to bear arms in the militia is meaningless. All males having attained to the age of eighteen years and all members of the Army and Air National Guards are members of the militia. However, the President has complete control over the National Guard as each member must swear to obey his orders. National Guardsmen train with regular Army and federal Reserve troops and serve under the same officers. The National Guard is no protection against the Federal government should such a need arise. This is the entire purpose of the right to bear arms.

Article II, Section 1. I clarified the power of the President to comprise the power to execute the laws of the United States.

I altered the mechanism of the appointment of electors for President and Vice President to a district-by-district method, as determined by State law, coupled with an at large appointment. This is to say that each Congressional district will choose one elector from among themselves, and the State will choose two from the People of the State at large. This is meant to ensure that the electors for President and Vice President will be more representative of the People at large. It may also reduce the cost for Presidential campaigns, as the People will be specifically choosing electors rather than voting for them en bloc based on their pledge to vote for a particular Presidential candidate. As such, the People will choose an elector who most closely represents their own views on the qualities they desire in a Presidential candidate, and the candidates themselves need only campaign among their party for the nomination and among electors once nominated.

I also altered the process of contingent elections of the President in the House should there be no majority in the electoral college. Previously, the delegation from each State regardless of the number of Representatives therein received one vote, effectively giving each State one vote. In the revision, the House will vote as usual, with each member receiving one vote.

Section 2. This section is completely composed of text from Amendment XV which clarifies Presidential disability and succession. As such, all subsequent sections in Article II are numbered one greater than their original numbers.

Section 3. I added the Air Force to the list of military bodies for which the President shall be commander-in-chief.

Article III, Section 2. I raised the minimum dollar amount for trial by jury in civil cases from twenty dollars to one thousand.

Article V. I changed the process of ratification of amendments to allow for the People of each State to ratify the amendments by referendum. It seemed unreasonable to me that thirteen houses of legislature in as many States could block popular amendments or inflict unpopular amendments contrary to the will of the People at large. By the same token, State conventions would be made up of a small number of persons, and only thirteen of the conventions would be required to affect the amendment process.

Article VII. I changed this provision to allow for approval of three quarters of States to put the Constitution into effect among all of the States, rather than only those who have yet approved it, just as the current amendment process allows.

Amendments I & II. I clarified these amendments as aforementioned.

Amendment X. I clarified this amendment as aforementioned.

Amendment XI. I deleted this amendment, thus allowing States to be sued by individuals in federal court.

Amendment XIV. I deleted the provision for children born on U.S. soil to be U.S. citizens. This provision was included to ensure citizenship for freed slaves, and it is no longer necessary.

Amendments XV, XIX, & XXVI. I combined most of the text of these amendments into one clause in Article I, Section 4.

Amendment XVI. I deleted this amendment, thus removing the Congress's power to tax income.

Amendment XVII. I deleted this amendment, as aforementioned, to return the power of appointment of Senators to the State legislatures.

Amendments XVIII & XXI. I deleted these amendments, which concerned the prohibition of alcohol and its subsequent repeal.

Articles IV - VII, Revised U.S. Constitution

This is my effort to revise the Constitution for the modern day. The text of the amendments is included in the main body of the text.

Article IV

Section 1. 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 manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.

Section 2. 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.

Section 3. 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 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 4. 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.

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 through referendum by the People of three fourths of the several States; provided that no State, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.

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 first.

This Constitution, and the laws of the United States 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, anything 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 three quarters of States shall be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the several States.

Article III, Revised U.S. Constitution

This is my effort to revise the Constitution for the modern day. The text of the amendments is included in the main body of the text.

Article III

Section 1. 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 courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at Stated times, receive for their services, a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.

Section 2. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority; To all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls; To all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; To controversies to which the United States shall be a party; To controversies between two or more States; between citizens of different States; between citizens of the same State claiming lands under grants of different States; and between a State, or the citizens thereof, and foreign States, citizens or subjects.

In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a State shall be party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all 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 Congress may by law have directed.

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district where in the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed one thousand dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Section 3. Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.

The 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.

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Article II, Revised U.S. Constitution

This is my effort to revise the Constitution for the modern day. The text of the amendments is included in the main body of the text.

Article II

Section 1. The power to execute the laws of the United States 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:

The People in each Congressional district within the several States, as determined by apportionment of the population in the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken, will choose from among themselves, in such manner as the Legislature of the State may direct, one elector. Each State shall appoint, in such a manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, two electors. No Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.

The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes, which day shall be the same throughout the United States.

The electors shall meet in their respective States and consider among themselves the Candidates for President and Vice President. Once considered, the electors shall vote by ballot for President and Vice President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same State as themselves. They shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots, the person voted for as Vice President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists 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 District of Columbia shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct a number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least populous State. They shall be in addition to those appointed by the States, but they shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors appointed by a State; and they shall meet in the District and perform such duties as provided by the Constitution.

The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and the House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes for President shall be President, if such a number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person having such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. A quorum for this purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Representatives, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them before noon on the twentieth day of January next following, then the Vice President shall be President. No person except a natural born citizen 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. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.

The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice President shall be Vice President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice President. A quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. No person constitutionally ineligble to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice President of the United States.

The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.

The President shall, at Stated times, receive for his services, a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that period any other emolument from the United States, or any of the several States.

Section 2. In the case of removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President. Otherwise, the president shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

Section 3. The President shall be commander in chief of the Army, Navy, and Air Force 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 the power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.

He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur. He shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, 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. The Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they 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 4. 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 cases 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 ambasssadors and other public ministers. He shall take care that laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States.

Section 5. 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.

Preamble and Article I, Revised U.S. Constitution

This is my effort to revise the Constitution for the modern day. The text of the amendments is included in the main body of the text.

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 House of Representatives. The legislative powers not delegated to the Congress of the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited to the legislatures of the several States, are reserved to the legislatures of the several States respectively, or to the People of the States.

Section 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.

Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the number of persons in each State, excluding citizens of dependent nations not taxed. The actual enumeration of Representatives shall be made within every term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. Each State shall have at least one Representative.

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 choose their speaker and other officers and shall have the sole power of impeachment.

Section 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators appointed from each State, in such a manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, for six years. Each Senator shall have one vote.

Divided as equally as may be, one third of Senators will 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 choose 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. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside. 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 honor, 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 4. 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 choosing Senators.

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3rd day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.

Section 5. Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute 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 behavior, 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 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 6. 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. No law varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives shall take effect until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.

The Senators and Representatives 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.

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 increased 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.

Section 7. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives, and the Senate may propose no amendments.

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 refer it with his objections the Supreme Court of the United States. If after such consideration of the Court, the bill is ruled to conform to this Constitution, it shall become a law. If any bill shall not be referred to the Court 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.

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 considered by the Supreme Court of the United States, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.

Section 8. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense 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 only during such States of national emergency as declared by a majority of members of the House of Representatives and approved by the majority of Senators and the President of the United States;

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, and with dependent nations;

To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United 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 secure for limited times to authors, inventors, and artists the exclusive right to their respective writings, discoveries, and works;

To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;

To ensure that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction;

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;

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 the District of Columbia, 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 forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, 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 the Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.

Section 9. The privilege of the writ of habeus 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 law shall be passed which establishes an official religion of the United States or prohibits the free exercise of religion.

No law shall be passed which abridges the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

No law shall be passed which infringes upon the individual freedom of the People to keep and bear arms.

No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

No law shall be passed which infringes upon the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, and no Warrants shall be issued but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

No law shall be passed which infringes on the right of citizens of the United States to vote on account of race, color, ethnicity, or gender, nor shall the right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote be denied or abridged.

No law shall be passed which infringes upon the right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.

No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid unless in proportion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.

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 money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and a regular Statement and account of 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.

Section 10. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything 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 absolutely necessary for executing it's 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 control 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.

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.