The Fathers of the Constitution [67]
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 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 the 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, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any States 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 Independance of the United States of America the Twelfth In Witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names, GO: WASHINGTON--Presidt. and Deputy from Virginia. New Hampshire. JOHN LANGDON, NICHOLAS GILMAN Massachusetts. NATHANIEL GORHAM, RUFUS KING Connecticut. WM. SAML. JOHNSON, ROGER SHERMAN New York. ALEXANDER HAMILTON New Jersey. WIL: LIVINGSTON, DAVID BREARLEY, WM. PATERSON, JONA: DAYTON Pennsylvania. B. FRANKLIN, THOMAS MIFFLIN, ROBT. MORRIS, GEO. CLYMER, THOS. FITZSIMONS, JARED INGERSOLL, JAMES WILSON, GOUV MORRIS Delaware. GEO: READ, GUNNING BEDFORD JUN, JOHN DICKINSON, RICHARD BASSETT, JACO: BROOM Maryland. JAMES MCHENRY, DAN OF ST THOS JENIFER, DANL. CARROLL Virginia. JOHN BLAIR-- JAMES MADISON JR. North Carolina. WM. BLOUNT, RICHD. DOBBS SPAIGHT, HU WILLIAMSON South Carolina. J. RUTLEDGE, CHARLES COTESWORTH PINCKNEY, CHARLES PINCKNEY, PIERCE BUTLER Georgia. WILLIAM FEW, ABR BALDWIN Attest WILLIAM JACKSON Secretary BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE There are many comprehensive histories which include the period covered by the present volume, of which a few--without disparaging the other--are deserving of mention for some particular reason. David Ramsay's "History of the American Revolution," 2 vols. (1789, and subsequently reprinted), gives but little space to this particular period, but it reveals the contemporary point of view. Richard Hildreth's "History of the United States," 6 vols. (1849-1852), is another early work that is still of value, although it is written with a Federalist bias. J. B. McMaster's "History of the People