AMERICAN+CONSTITUTION

  // 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. (taken from the Preamble) //

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The Constitution of the United States is a document that outlines the basis of the federal (national) government of the USA. It was written in 1787 at the "Constitutional Convention," held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in what we now call Independence Hall. The 55 men at the convention are called the "Founding Fathers" of the USA, and are also known as the "Framers of the Constitution." Some of the more famous of the framers are George Washington (the first President of the USA), James Madison (the fourth President of the USA), Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton. The US Constitution was ratified (approved) by nine states on June 21, 1788 (Delaware was the first state to ratify it); it was later ratified by the remaining states. It replaced the earlier set of government rules, the //Articles of Confederation//, which were the law of the land from 1781 until 1788 (this document created a group of semi-independent states plus a weak national Congress, with neither an Executive nor a Judicial branch). The Constitution sets up the United States with a federal (national) government plus state governments. It also specifies that the USA will be a republic, with an elected President, a bicameral congress (consisting of two legislative branches, a House of Representatives and a Senate), and a system of courts headed by a Supreme Court. The Constitution is composed of a Preamble (an introduction), the main body (which consists of seven articles), and amendments (additions to the Constitution made after the Constitution was created).

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[|CLICK ON THIS LINK: The American Constitution] =  [|Test your knowledge: Celebrate the Constitution] [|Bill of Rights Quiz] =

The Amendments:
 * [|Amendment I] [Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly, Petition (1791)]
 * [|Amendment II] [Right to Bear Arms (1791)]
 * [|Amendment III] [Quartering of Troops (1791)]
 * [|Amendment IV] [Search and Seizure (1791)]
 * [|Amendment V] [Grand Jury, Double Jeopardy, Self-Incrimination, Due Process (1791)]
 * [|Amendment VI] [Criminal Prosecutions - Jury Trial, Right to Confront and to Counsel (1791)]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Amendment VII] [Common Law Suits - Jury Trial (1791)]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Amendment VIII] [Excess Bail or Fines, Cruel and Unusual Punishment (1791)]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Amendment IX] [Non-Enumerated Rights (1791)]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Amendment X] [Rights Reserved to States (1791)]


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Amendment XI] [Suits Against a State (1795)]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Amendment XII] [Election of President and Vice-President (1804)]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Amendment XIII] [Abolition of Slavery (1865)]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Amendment XIV] [Privileges and Immunities, Due Process, Equal Protection, Apportionment of Representatives, Civil War Disqualification and Debt (1868)]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Amendment XV] [Rights Not to Be Denied on Account of Race (1870)]


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Amendment XVI] [Income Tax (1913)]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Amendment XVII] [Election of Senators (1913)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Amendment XVIII] [Prohibition (1919)]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Amendment XIX] [Women's Right to Vote (1920)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Amendment XX] [Presidential Term and Succession (1933)]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Amendment XXI] [Repeal of Prohibition (1933)]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Amendment XXII] [Two Term Limit on President (1951)]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Amendment XXIII] [Presidential Vote in D.C. (1961)]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Amendment XXIV] [Poll Tax (1964)]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Amendment XXV] [Presidential Succession (1967)]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">[|Amendment XXVI] [Right to Vote at Age 18 (1971)]
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: justify;">[|Amendment XXVII] [Compensation of Members of Congress (1992)]