Chapter XXXII: Section IV: The United States shall guarantee to every State in this (1)

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 parts 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 Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner 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.

ARTICLE VI.

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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 of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the same. Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the States present, the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the twelfth. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names.

George Washington,
_President, and Deputy from Virginia._

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.

Article I.—Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging 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.

Article II.—A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

Article III.—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.

Article IV.—The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Article V.—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 offence to be put twice in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be 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.

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

Article VII.—In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty 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.

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

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

Article X.—The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Article XI.—The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another State, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state.

Article XII.—1. The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with 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 the 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 for President shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed: and if no person have 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. But, in choosing 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. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President, whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President.

2. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President shall be the 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.

3. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

Article XIII.—_Section_ I.—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.

_Section_ II.—Congress shall have power to enforce this Article by appropriate legislation.

Article XIV.—_Section_ I.—All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States, and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

_Section_ II.—Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President or Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

_Section_ III.—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.

_Section_ IV.—The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void.

_Section_ V.—The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this Article.

Article XV.—_Section_ I.—The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

_Section_ II.—The Congress shall have power to enforce this Article by appropriate legislation.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of Nature and Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves, by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world:

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature—a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the repository of the public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time after such dissolution to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise, the State remaining, in the mean time, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the laws of naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices and the amount of payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to the civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them by a mock trial from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies:

For taking away, our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering, fundamentally, the forms of our government:

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here by declaring us out of his protection, and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections among us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

INDEX.

_The figures refer to the numbers of the paragraphs._

Acceptance by the maker of a motion, of an amendment, 92, 93.

Addition of propositions, how effected, 88.

Adjournment, without day, equivalent to a dissolution, 139.
effect of, on business under consideration, 140.
_motion for_, takes precedence of all other motions, 137.
when it may be amended, 137.
form of, 138, 200.

Amendment, purposes of motions for, 60, 78.
order of proceeding in, 95, 191.
acceptance of by mover of proposition, 92, 93.
of amendments by striking out and inserting, 107, 108.
of amendment, to be put before the original amendment, 110.
of an amendment to an amendment, not allowed, 96.
object of such motion, how attained, 96, 97.
cannot be made to what has been agreed to on a question, 98, 99,
100, 101.
inconsistency of, with one already adopted, 102.
may show the absurdity of the original object of the proposition,
132.
may change the object, 128, 129, 133.
or may defeat the object, 130, 131.
by addition, 88.
by separation, 89.
by transposition, 90.
by striking out, 94, 103 to 112.
by inserting or adding, 94, 113 to 121.
by striking out and inserting, 94, 122 to 127.
_motion for_, by striking out and inserting, 103, 104, 111, 122.
may be divided, 122.
may be amended, 126.
manner of stating question on, 112, 121, 127.
precedence of question on, 123.
to strike out, decided in the negative, equivalent to the
affirmative of agreeing, 98, 100, 252.
if passed may not be renewed, 103 to 106, 113 to 116, 119, 124,
125.
stands in the same degree with the previous question, and indefinite
postponement, 184.
superseded by a motion to postpone to a day or to commit, 185.
may be amended, 96, 107, 117, 126, 184.
effect of vote on, 94 to 127, 187.
to be put before the original motion, 110, 120.

Apology, 42.

Assembly, Deliberative, purposes of, how effected, 1.
how organized, 2, 3.
judgment of, how expressed, 13.

Assembling, time of, to be fixed beforehand, 23.
place of, in possession of assembly, 9.

Authentication of acts, etc., of a deliberative assembly, 27, 32.

Blanks, filling of, 84.
with times or numbers, rule for, 85, 86, 87.
See _Precedence_.

Chairman, preliminary election of, 3.
See _Presiding Officer_.

Clerk, 5.
See _Recording Officer_.

Committees, objects and advantages of, 258, 260, 261.
who to compose, 258, 270.
usually those favorable to the proposed measure, 271.
mode of appointment of, 263, 267, 268, 269.
when by the presiding officer, under a standing rule, 266.
how notified of their appointment, 32, 272.
when and where to sit, 274, 275, 277.
_select_, 259.
how appointed, 264 to 269.
_standing_, 259.
what to be referred to, 74.
instructions to, 65, 76, 77, 262.
list of, etc., given by the clerk to the member first appointed,
272.
person first appointed on, acts as chairman by courtesy, 273.
proceed like other assemblies, 276, 279.
may proceed by sub-committees, 306.
mode of proceeding on a paper which has been referred to them, 279,
281, 283.
mode of proceeding on a paper originating in the committee, 279,
280, 282.
manner of closing session of, 285.
report of, how made, 282, 283, 284, 286, 287, 292.
form of report of, 286, 292.
mode of proceeding on report of, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296.
acceptance of report of, 295.
form of stating questions on report of, 295, 296.
See _Report_.

Committee of the Whole, of whom composed, 259.
how constituted, 297.
what a quorum of, 299.
who presides over, 297, 298.
who is clerk of, 301.
proceeding of, similar to those of the assembly itself, 302, 309.
mode of proceeding if one session does not complete the business,
304.
who may speak in, and how often, 305.
cannot refer any matter to another committee, 306.
cannot punish for breaches of order, 308.
disorderly words in, how noticed, 308.
differences between and other committees, 302 to 308.
presiding officer of assembly to remain in the room, during the
session of, 300.
See _Reports_, _Disorderly Words_.

Commitment, definition and purposes of, 73.
when a proper course, 60.
what may be committed, 75, 76, 77.
effect of a vote on a motion for, 183.
_motion for_, may be amended, 181.
supersedes a motion to amend, 185.
is of the same degree with motions for the previous question and
postponement, 182.
See _Committees_.

Communications to the assembly, how made, 44, 46, 48, 49.

Consent of the assembly, in what cases, and how far, to be presumed by
the presiding officer, 35, 237, 293.

Contested Elections, 7.
See _Returns_.

Credentials of members, 7.

Debate, proper character of, 201.
should be confined to the question, 209.
usual mode of putting an end to, 220, 221.
of shortening, 222.
See _Speaking_.

Decorum, Breaches of, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 223, 224.
how to be noticed, 40.
remedy for, 224, 225, 226.
how a member is to proceed to exculpate himself from a charge of,
40.
See _Disorderly Words_, _Order_.

Disorderly Words, cause of proceedings, when spoken, 227 to 231.
to be written down by the clerk, as spoken, 228, 229.
members not to be censured for, unless complained of at the time,
232.
spoken in a committee during its session, 278.
in committee of the whole to be written down, and reported to the
assembly, 308.

Disorderly Conduct, 9, 37 to 40, 313.

Division of a question, 79 to 83, 122, 123.
effect of, 80.
motion for, how made, 80.
right to demand, 81, 82.
when it may take place, 83.
See _Question_.

Elections and Returns, 6, 7, 8.

Expulsion, 42.

Floor, how to obtain, 46.
who has a right to, 47, 203, 204, 205.
member in possession of, to be interrupted only by a call to order,
200.
when usually allowed to the mover of a motion, 204.
when one relinquishes, for one purpose, he does so for all purposes,
205, 219.

Forms of proceeding, 10, 59, 315.
See _Order_, _Rules_.

Incidental Questions, 150 to 165.
questions of order, 151 to 154.
reading papers, 155 to 160.
withdrawal of a motion, 161, 162.
suspension of a rule, 163, 164.
amendment of amendments, 165.
See _Question_.

Introduction of business, how accomplished, 43.
See _Rules_.

Journal of a deliberate assembly, what and how kept, 32, 33.

Judgment of an aggregate body, how evidenced, 14.

Lie on the Table, purpose of motion for, 60, 71, 72.
_Motion for_, cannot be amended, 170.
when to be resorted to, 171.
effect of vote on, 71, 72, 172, 173.
takes precedence of all other subsidiary motions, 171.

List of members, 6.

Main Question, 63, 64, 135, 213.

Majority, decision by, on questions and elections, 24.

Members, rights and duties of, 36.
punishments of, 42.
not to be present at debates on matters concerning themselves, 41,
225, 230.
proceedings on quarrels between, caution relating to, 314.

Membership, rights of, how decided, 8.

Modification of a motion by the mover, 92.

Motion, definition of, 45, 59, 233.
to be in writing, 54.
to be seconded, 53 to 55.
how seconded, 55.
when in order, 247.
subsidiary, need not be in writing, 54.
but must be seconded, 55.
to suppress a proposition, 62.
to be stated or read for the information of any member, 57.
can be withdrawn only by leave, 56, 92.
when before the assembly, none other can be received, except
privileged motions, 58.
is not before the assembly, until stated by its presiding officer,
198.
not in order unless the maker be called to by the presiding officer,
200.
by one seated, or not addressing the chair, not to be received, 200.
principal and subsidiary, cannot be made together, 199.

Naming a member, what, 40, 225.

Numbers prefixed to paragraphs of a proposition, not a part of it, 91.

Officers of an assembly, titles of, 5.
who are, usually, 26.
how appointed, and removable, 26.
a majority, necessary to elect, 26.
when not members of the assembly, 5.
_pro tempore_, when to be chosen, 29.
See _Presiding Officer_, _Recording Officer_.

Order of a deliberative assembly, what, 13.
_of business_, 188 to 200.
how established, 190.
_questions of_, what, 152.
how decided, 154, 248.
form of, on appeal, 154.
no debate upon, allowed during divisions, 248.
_rules of_, to be enforced without delay, 151.
_call to_, effect of, 214.
who may make, 151.
interrupts the business under consideration, 153.
See _Disorderly Conduct_, _Disorderly Words_.

Orders of the Day, definition of, 142.
motion for, a privileged question for the day, 143, 144, 145, 146.
motion for, generally supersedes other propositions, 143, 144.
being taken up, the business interrupted thereby is suspended, 147.
fall, if not taken up on the day fixed, 149.
unless by special rule, 149.

Organization, necessity for, 1.
usual mode of, 3.
on report of a committee, 4.

Papers and Documents, in whose custody, 33.

Parliamentary Law, common, what, 6, 10.
See _Rules_.

Parliamentary Rules, whence derived, 11.
in each State, how formed, 11.
See _Rules_.

Petitions, requisites to, 49.
to be offered by members, 49, 50.
mode of offering, 51.
to be read by the clerk, if received, 52.
regular and usual action on presenting, 51, 52.
contents of, to be known by member presenting, 50.
to be in respectful language, 50.

Postponement, effect of vote on motion for, 180.
_motion for_, may be amended, 176.
how amended, 177, 178.
supersedes a motion to amend, 185.
is not superseded by a motion to commit or to amend, 179.
is of the same degree with a motion for the previous question,
179.
_indefinite_, purpose of motion for, 60, 67.
effect of vote on motion for, 67.
_to a day certain_, purpose of motion for, 68, 69.
an improper use of, 70.

Power of assembly to eject strangers, 9.

Preamble, or title, usually considered after the paper is gone through
with, 192.

Precedence _of motions_, 171, 174, 179, 182, 186, 197, 220.
_of questions_, 123, 134, 135, 153.
as to reference to a committee, 74.
on motions to fill blanks, 85, 86, 87.
questions of privilege take precedence of all motions but for
adjournment, 141.

President, 5.
See _Presiding Officer_.

Presiding Officer, duties of, 27, 30, 40, 225, 313, 314.
to be first heard on questions of order, 207.
how far member of an assembly, 5.
not usually to take part in debate, 5, 202.
but in committees of the whole, 307.
or on point of order, 154.
to give a casting vote, 5, 243.
effect of not giving casting vote, 243.
may not interrupt one speaking, but to call to order, 207.
may not decide upon inconsistency of a proposed amendment with one
already adopted, 102.

Previous Question, _motion for_, purpose of, 60.
form of, 64, 170.
original use of, 63, 64, 65.
present use of, 65, 66, 220.
use of in England, 66.
cannot be amended, 170.
effect of vote on, 64, 66, 175.
effect of negative decision of, 65.
cannot be made in committee of the whole, 303.
stands in same degree with other subsidiary motions, except to lie
on the table, 174.

Privileged Questions, 136 to 149.
adjournment, 137 to 140.
questions of privilege, 141.
orders of the day, 142 to 149.
take precedence of all motions but for adjournments, 141.
when settled, business thereby interrupted to be resumed, 141.

Proceedings, how set in motion, 43.

Punishment of members, 41, 42.
a question of, pending, the member to withdraw, 230.

Quarrel between members, 38, 314.
See _Disorderly Words_.

Question, definition of, 233.
forms of, in use, 15, 60, 61.
when to be put, 235.
mode of putting, 236.
on a series of propositions, 193.
on amendments reported by a committee, 194.
mode of taking, 238, 240, 241, 242, 245.
when and how decision of may be questioned, 238, 239.
all the members in the room when a question is put are bound to vote
upon it, 244.
members not in the room, cannot vote on, 244.
when taken by yeas and nays, 245.
mode of taking, in Massachusetts, 246.
when and how to be divided, 79.
how taken when divided, 80.
motion to divide, may be amended, 80.
what may be divided, 83.
who may divide, 81, 122.
usually regulated by rule, 82.
incidental, defined and enumerated, 150 to 165.
subsidiary, or secondary, defined and enumerated, 166 to 170.
privileged, defined and enumerated, 136.
See _Incidental Questions_, _Privileged Questions_, _Subsidiary
Questions_.

Quorum, necessity for, 17, 19.
what constitutes, 16.
effect of want of, on pending question, 249.
necessary on a division of the assembly, 249.
want of, how ascertained, 19.
consequences of want of, 19, 249.

Reading of Papers by the clerk, 155.
by members not allowed, without leave obtained by motion and vote,
157, 158.
when to be omitted, 159.
when necessary, if called for, 155.
question on, to be first decided, 160.

Reception, question of, on petition, 51.
on report, 286, 293.

Recommitment, what, 73, 290, 291.

Reconsideration, general principle relating to, 250 to 253.
_motion for_, allowed in this country, 254, 255.
effect of, 256.
usually regulated by rule, 257.

Recording Officer, duties of, 31, 32, 33, 35.
how his absence is to be supplied, 34.
how elected, 3, 4.
precedence of, if more than one, 5.
papers and documents to be in his charge, 33.

Recurrence of Business, when interrupted by want of quorum, 249.
by motion for the previous question, 66.
for indefinite postponement, 67.
to lie on the table, 71, 72.
for adjournment, 140.
for the orders of the day, 147, 148.
by a question of privilege, 141.
by a question of order, 153, 230.
by a call of a member to order, 200, 214.

Reports of Committees, how made and received, 286 to 289.
how treated and disposed of, 292 to 296.
of a paper with amendments, 288.
action upon, 194, 195, 292 to 296.
when a new draft of a paper, 196.
acceptance of, 295, 296.
of committees of the whole, 310.
when to be received, 311.

Reprimand, 42.
See _Punishment_.

Resolution, what, 13, 233.

Returns, 6.
time for investigating, 7.
mode of investigating, 7.
who to be on the investigating committee, 8.
who to be heard on a question on, 8.

Roll, calling of, 32, 35, 245.

Rules of debate and proceeding, subject of, 14, 15.
general purpose of, 315.
what are necessarily adopted by assembly, 10, 20.
the same in this country and in England, 11.
usage does not give them the character of general laws, 12.
to be enforced without delay or debate, 22, 151, 152.
who may notice an infringement of, 22.
_special_, each assembly may adopt, 10, 20.
supersede ordinary parliamentary rules, 10.
usually provide for their own amendment, 21.
may be suspended on motion, 21, 163, 164.
motion to suspend, supersedes the original question, 163.
suspended only by general consent, 21, 164.
usually provide for their own suspension, 164.
may determine the number necessary to express the will of the
assembly, 25.
See _Reading of Papers_, _Speaking_.

Secondary Questions, 166.
See _Subsidiary Questions_.

Seconding of motions, 55, 309.

Secretary, 5.
See _Recording Officer_.

Separation of propositions, how effected, 89.

Speaking, rules as to manner of, 203 to 208.
as to matter in, 209 to 214.
as to times of, 215 to 219.
member, to stand uncovered, 203, 208.
not to make personal remarks, 211.
not to mention names of members, 206.
not to reflect on the assembly, or on its prior determinations,
210.
confined to the subject, 209, 213.
not to be interrupted, 219.
to speak but once on the same question, 215, 216,
except by leave, 217.
or to explain himself in matter of fact, 218.
See _Debate_, _Presiding Officer_.

Speech, reading of, by member, 157.

Subsidiary Questions, 166 to 187.
nature and effect of, 166.
enumeration of, 167.
cannot be applied to one another, 168.
exceptions to this rule, 169.
lie on the table, 171, 172, 173.
amendment, 184 to 187.
previous question, 174, 175.
postponement, 176 to 180.
commitment, 181, 182, 183.

Suspension of a rule, 21, 163, 164.
See _Rules_.

Transposition of proposition, how effected, 90.

Vice-President, duties of, 5, 28.
See _Officers_.

Vote, what, 13, 233.

Voting, right and duty of, 41, 244.
prohibition from, 42.
See _Members_.

Will of assembly, majority necessary to express, 24.
special rule may determine what proportion may express, 25.

Withdrawal of motion can be only by leave, 161.
effect of vote upon motion for leave for, 162.

Yeas and Nays, how taken, 32, 245.
in Massachusetts, 246.
what number of members may require, 25.
form of putting question, 245.

WASHINGTON’S FAREWELL ADDRESS.

_Friends and Fellow-Citizens_:

The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States, being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom the choice is to be made.

I beg you at the same time to do me the justice to be assured, that this resolution has not been taken, without a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country; and that in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest; no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness; but am supported by a full conviction, that the step is compatible with both.

The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the office to which your suffrages have twice called me, have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty, and to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the last election, had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you; but mature reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea. I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriety; and am persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that in the present circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove of my determination to retire.

The impressions with which I first undertook the arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust I will only say that I have, with good intentions, contributed toward the organization and administration of the government the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious, in the outset, of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself; and every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more, that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I have the consolation to believe, that while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it.

In looking forward to the moment which is to terminate the career of my political life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved country, for the many honors it has conferred upon me; still more for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me; and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable attachment, by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to our country from these services, let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an instructive example in our annals, that under circumstances in which the passions agitated in every direction, were liable to mislead—amidst appearances sometimes dubious—vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging—in situations in which not unfrequently want of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism—the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts and a guarantee of the plans by which they were effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing wishes, that Heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence—that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual—that the free constitution which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained—that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue—that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these States, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete, by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing, as will acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and the adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it.

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for your welfare, which can not end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger natural to that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent view, some sentiments, which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all-important to the permanency of your felicity as a people. These will be offered to you with the more freedom, as you can only see in them the disinterested warning of a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel. Nor can I forget as an encouragement to it your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion.

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment.

The unity of government, which constitutes you one people, is also now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence; the support of your tranquillity at home; your peace abroad; of your safety, of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee, that from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union, to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustom yourself to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.

For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens by birth or choice of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of AMERICAN, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint councils and joint efforts—of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.

But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more immediately to your interest. Here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the union of the whole.

The _north_, in an unrestrained intercourse with the _south_, protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds in the productions of the latter, great additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise, and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The _south_, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the agency of the _north_, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its own channels the seamen of the _north_, it finds its particular navigation invigorated—and while it contributes, in different ways, to nourish and increase the general mass of the national navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritime strength, to which itself is equally adapted. The _east_, in like intercourse with the _west_, already finds, and in the progressive improvement of interior communications, by land and water, will more and more find a valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad, or manufactures at home. The _west_ derives from the _east_ supplies requisite to its growth and comfort—and, what is of perhaps still greater consequence, it must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its own productions, to the weight, influence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the union, directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one nation. Any other tenure by which the _west_ can hold this essential advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength, or from an apostate and unnatural connection with any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious.

While then every part of our country thus feels an immediate and particular interest in union, all the parts combined can not fail to find in the united mass of means and efforts, greater strength, greater resources, proportionately greater security from external danger, a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations; and, what is of inestimable value, they must derive from union an exemption from those broils and wars between themselves, which so frequently afflict neighboring countries not tied together by the same government which their own rivalships alone would be sufficient to produce; but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and imbitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those over-grown military establishments, which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. In this sense it is that your union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other.

These considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the union as a primary object of patriotic desire. Is there a doubt whether a common government can embrace so large a sphere? Let experience solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a case were criminal. We are authorized to hope that a proper organization of the whole, with the auxiliary agency of governments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the experiment. It is well worth a fair and full experiment. With such powerful and obvious motives to union affecting all parts of our country, while experience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those who, in any quarter, may endeavor to weaken its bands.

In contemplating the causes which may disturb our union, it occurs as matter of serious concern, that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical discriminations—_Northern_ and _Southern_—_Atlantic_ and _Western_; whence designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is real difference of local interests and views. One of the expedients of party to acquire influence, within particular districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You can not shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heart-burnings which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. The inhabitants of our western country have lately had a useful lesson on this head. They have seen, in the negotiation by the executive, and in the unanimous ratification by the senate, of the treaty with Spain, and in the universal satisfaction at that event throughout the United States, a decisive proof how unfounded were the suspicion propagated among them of a policy in the general government, and in the Atlantic States unfriendly to their interests in regard to the Mississippi. They have been witnesses to the formation of two treaties—that with Great Britain and that with Spain—which secure to them everything they could desire in respect to our foreign relations toward confirming their prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these advantages on the union by which they were procured? Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if such there are, who would sever them from their brethren and connect them with aliens?

To the efficacy and permanency of your union, a government for the whole is indispensable. No alliances, however strict, between the parts can be an adequate substitute; they must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which all alliances in all times have experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved upon your first essay, by the adoption of a constitution of government better calculated than your former, for an intimate union, and for the efficacious management of your common concerns. This government—the offspring of your own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendments—has a just claim to your confidence and your support. Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. But the constitution which at any time exists, until changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish a government, presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government.

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberations and actions of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force, to put in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans, digested by common councils, and modified by mutual interests.

However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men, will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterward the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.

Towards the preservation of your government, and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. One method of assault may be to effect in the forms of the constitution alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what can not be directly overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments as of other human institutions—that experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country—that facility in changes upon the credit of a mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual change from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember especially that for the efficient management of your common interests, in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty, is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, little else than a name, where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property.

I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state, with particular references to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally.

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled or controlled or repressed; but in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.