Ratification. ARTICLE VII. 1. 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. AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. ARTICLE I.* * March 4th, 1798. conscience, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, Rights of or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assem- the press, &c. ble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. ARTICLE II. to bear arms. A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free of the right state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. ARTICLE III. ing troops. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house, with- of quarterout the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. ARTICLE IV. general war The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, of searches, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall Reizures, and not be violated; and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause rants. supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. ARTICLE V. ments, pan No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous of indict. crime, unless on presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except hments, in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in &c. actual service, in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject, for the same offence, 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. ARTICLE VI. New, and the In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a of trial in speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district minal ca wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall nights of a 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 wit defendant nesses in his favour; and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence. Of trial in civil cases. Of bail and fines. Of rights reserved. 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. Powers not delegated. 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. * Dec. 2, 1793. Of the judi ARTICLE XI.* The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to cial power. 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. * Oct. 17, 1808. Manner of electing the president and vice presi. dent. 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 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. An Act to enable the People of the Alabama Territory to form a tants of Ala a constitu ment. ted into the Union. of the state. SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That The inhabithe inhabitants of the territory of Alabama be, and they are hereby bama autho authorized to form for themselves a constitution and state government, rized to form and to assume such name as they may deem proper; and that the tion and said territory, when formed into a state, shall be admitted into the state governUnion, upon the same footing with the original states, in all respects To be admit whatsoever. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said state shall con- Boundaries sist of all the territory included within the following boundaries, to wit: Beginning at the point where the thirty-first degree of north latitude intersects the Perdido river; thence, east, to the western boundary line of the state of Georgia; thence, along said line, to the southern boundary line of the state of Tennessee; thence, west, along said boundary line, to the Tennessee river; thence, up the same, to the mouth of Bear creek; thence, by a direct line, to the north-west corner of Washington county; thence, due south, to the Gulf of Mexico ; Including thence, eastwardly, including all islands within six leagues of the islands withshore, to the Perdido river; and thence, up the same, to the beginning. of the shore. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of The line of the surveyor of the lands of the United States south of the state of between MisTennessee, and the surveyor of the public lands in the Alabama ter- sissippi and ritory, to run and cut out the line of demarcation, between the state be formed, to of Mississippi and the state to be formed of the Alabama territory; cut by the and if it should appear to said surveyors, that so much of said surveyors of line designated in the preceding section, running due south, from the of Tennessee north-west corner of Washington county to the Gulf of Mexico, will and of Alaencroach on the counties of Wayne, Green, or Jackson, in said state it should ap D in six leagues demarcation the state to be run and lands south bama; and if pear, &c. representa a constitu. tion. of Mississippi, then the same shall be so altered as to run in a direct line from the north-west corner of Washington county to a point on the Gulf of Mexico, ten miles east of the mouth of the river Pascagola. Qualified vo- SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That all white male citizens ters to choose of the United States, who shall have arrived at the age of twenty-one tives to form years, and have resided in said territory three months previous to the day of election, and all persons having, in other respects, the legal qualifications to vote for representatives in the General Assembly of the said territory, be, and they are hereby authorized to choose representatives to form a constitution, who shall be appointed among the several counties as follows: Appoint ment of representatives. Madison. Monroe. Limestone. ry. Tuskaloosa. Baldwin. Mobile. Lauderdale. St. Clair. Autauga. Election to be holden on day and From the county of Madison, eight representatives: And the election for the representatives aforesaid shall be holden on the first Mon- the first Monday and Tuesday in May next, throughout the several counties in the said territory, and shall be conducted in the same manner, and under the same regulations, as prescribed by the laws of the said territory, regulating elections therein for the members of the house of representatives. Tuesday in May, 1819, &c. Members of the conven on the first July, 1819, authorized to SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the members of the contion to meet vention, thus duly elected, be, and they are hereby authorized to at Huntsville meet, at the town of Huntsville, on the first Monday in July next; Monday in which convention, when met, shall first determine, by a majority of and to deter. the whole number elected, whether it be, or be not, expedient, at that mine, &c. time, to form a constitution and state government for the people withConvention in the said territory: And if it be determined to be expedient, the form a con- convention shall be, and hereby are, authorized to form a constitution stitution, &c. and state government: Provided, that the same, when formed, shall government be republican, and not repugnant to the principles of the ordinance of to be repub, the thirteenth of July, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, repugnant to between the people and states of the territory north-west of the river nance of 13th Ohio, so far as the same has been extended to the said territory, July, 1787, so by the articles of agreement between the United States and the state of Georgia, or of the constitution of the United States. Proviso; the lican and not the ordi far, &c. Propositions, offered SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the following propositions to the con- be, and the same are hereby offered to the convention of the said |