594 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



send two representatives. Members of each 

 House are elected for the term of two years. 

 The supreme executive power is vested in a 

 governor elected for two years by tin 1 legal 

 voters. He must be an elector of the State and 

 be over 30 years of age. His duties include! 

 the command of the military forces, the ad- 1 

 journment of the Legislature when necessary, 

 the recommendation of legislation, the granting 

 of reprieves until the eiul of the next session of 

 the General Assembly, and the supervision of 

 .ecution of the laws. Every bill passed 

 by both Houses requires the assent of the gov- 

 ernor, who may within three days remit it tor 

 reconsideration to the House in which it origi- 

 nated; if then the bill be approved by a ma- 

 jority in each House it becomes law. Amend- 

 ments to the Constitution agreed to by a 

 majority in each House, approved by a two- 

 thirds majority in each House of tne Legis- 

 lature next elected, and approved by the people 

 at special meetings held for the purpose in each 

 town, become part of the Constitution. The 

 State officials are: the governor, secretary of 

 state, treasurer, and the comptroller of public 

 accounts. For local administration the State 

 is divided into eight counties, which are sub- 

 divided into cities, boroughs, and townships. 



Constitution of the United States 

 of America. In May, 1785, a committee of 

 Congress made a report recommending an 

 alteration in the Article of Confederation, but 

 no action was taken on it, and it was left to 

 the State Legislatures to proceed in the matter. 

 In January, 1786, the Legislature of Virginia 

 passed a resolution providing for the appointment 

 of five commissioners, who, or any three of them, 

 should meet such commissioners as might be 

 appointed in the other States of the Union, at 

 a time and place to be agreed upon, to take into 

 consideration the trade of the United States; 

 to consider how far a uniform system in their 

 commercial regulations may be necessary to 

 their common interest and their permanent 

 harmony; and to report to the several States 

 such an act, relative to this great object, as, 

 when ratified by them, will enable the United 

 States in Congress effectually to provide for 

 the same. The Virginia commissioners, after 

 ome correspondence, fixed the first Monday in 

 September as the time, and the city of Annapolis 

 as the place for the meeting, but only four other 

 States were represented, viz: Delaware, New 

 York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; the com- 

 missioners appointed by Massachusetts, New 

 Hampshire, North Carolina, and Rhode Island 

 failed to attend. Under the circumstances of 

 so partial a representation, the commissioners 

 present agreed upon a report (drawn by Mr. 

 Hamilton, of New York), expressing their unani- 

 mous conviction that it might essentially tend to 

 advance the interests of the Union if the States 

 by which they were respectively delegated would 

 concur, and use their endeavors to procure the 

 concurrence of the other States, in the appoint- 

 ment of commissioners to meet at Philadelphia 

 on the second Monday of May following, to take 

 into consideration the situation of the United 

 States; to devise such further provisions as 

 should appear to them necessary to render the 



Constitution of the Federal Government ade- 

 quate to the exigencies of the Union; and to 

 report such an act for that purpose to the 

 I'nited States in Congress assembled as. when 

 agreed to by them and afterwards confirmed 

 by the Legislatures of every State, would 

 effectually provide 1 for the same. Congress, 

 on the L'lst of February, 1787, adopted a 

 resolution in favor of a convention, and the 

 Legislatures of those States which had not 

 already done so (with the exception of Rhode 

 Island), promptly appointed delegates. On the 

 25th of May, seven States having convened, 

 George Washington, of Virginia, was unani- 

 mously elected President, and the consideration 

 of the proposed constitution was commenced. 

 On the 17th of September, 1787, the Constitu- 

 tion as engrossed and agreed upon was signed 

 by all the members present, except Mr. Gerry, 

 of Massachusetts, and Messrs. Mason and Ran- 

 dolph, of Virginia. The president of the con- 

 vention transmitted it to Congress, with a reso- 

 lution, stating how the proposed Federal Gov- 

 ernment should be put in operation, and an 

 explanatory letter. Congress, on the 28th of 

 September, 1787, directed the Constitution so 

 framed, with the resolutions and letter concern- 

 ing the same, to "be transmitted to the several 

 Legislatures in order to be submitted to a con- 

 vention of delegates chosen in each State by 

 the people thereof, in conformity to the resolves 

 of the convention." On the 4th of March, 1789, 

 the day which had been fixed for commencing 

 the operations of Government under the new 

 Constitution, it had been ratified by the _ con- 

 ventions chosen in each State to consider it, as 

 follows: Delaware, December 7, 1787; Pennsyl- 

 vania, December 12, 1787 ; New Jersey, Decem- 

 ber 18, 1787; Georgia, January 2, 1788; Connec- 

 ticut, January 9, 1788; Massachusetts, February 

 6, 1788; Maryland, April 28, 1788; South Caro- 

 lina, May 23, 1788; New Hampshire, June 21, 

 1788; Virginia, June 26, 1788; and New York, 

 July 26, 1788. The President informed Con- 

 gress, on the 28th of January, 1790, that North 

 Carolina had ratified the Constitution Novem- 

 ber 21, 1789; and he informed Congress on the 

 1st of June, 1790, that Rhode Island had rati- 

 fied the Constitution May 29, 1789. Vermont, 

 in convention, ratified the Constitution Janu- 

 ary 10, 1791, and was, by an act of Congress 

 approved February 18, 1791, "received and 

 admitted into this Union as a new and entire 

 member of the United States." 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 



PREAMBLE. We, the people of the United States, in 

 order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, 

 insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common 

 defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the 

 blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do 

 ordain and establish this CONSTITUTION for the United 

 States of America 



ARTICLE I. 



SECTION I. All legislative powers herein granted shall 

 be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall 

 consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. 



SECTION II. 1. 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. 



2. No person shall be a Representative who shall not 

 have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been 



