The articles of confederation provided as follows: "And the articles of this confederation shall be inviolably observed by every state, and the union shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of them, unless such alteration be agreed to in a congress of the United States, and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of every state."

They further provide "That the articles thereof shall be inviolably observed by the states they respectively represent, and that the union shall be perpetual."

Contrary then to these provisions of the articles of confederation which were emphatically the supreme law of the land, this constitution should go into effect between nine states as soon as ratified by that number.

CHAPTER XII.

THE AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION.

CONVENTIONS were called in the several states to discuss, and adopt or reject, this constitution. After a time it was adopted by all of the thirteen original states, yet in several conventions there was a strong desire for certain modifications to satisfy the evident will of the people.

Congress, at its first session under the constitution, proposed to the states twelve articles of amendments. Of these twelve articles, ten were ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states, and became part and parcel of the constitution from the fifteenth day of December, 1791. These amendments constitute the first ten of the amendments to the constitution. They, in general, relate to the rights of the people, and to limitations of government. (The teacher is advised.

to turn back to the constitution and read these amendments, discussing them in an informal way with the class.)

The eleventh amendment was proposed at the first session of the third congress, in 1794, and was declared adopted as a part of the constitution Jan. 8, 1798. It is as follows:

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."

The twelfth amendment relates to the manner of electing president and vice-president, and has already been considered. It was proposed at the first session of the eighth congress, in 1803, and was adopted by the requisite number of states the next year. At present there are three other amendments, the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth, all of which have grown out of the civil war.

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 2. "Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

This amendment was proposed by congress in 1865, and ratified by the constitutional number of states the same year.

ARTICLE XIV. SECTION 1. "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 2. "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 and 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 3. 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 4. "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 loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void."

SECTION 5. "The congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article."

This amendment was proposed by congress in 1866, and was declared to be a part of the constitution in July, 1868. It need not be further discussed here.

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 2. "The congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

The object of this article was to secure suffrage to the colored race, especially to the freedmen of the South. It specifies three points in respect to which the right of citizens of the United States to vote, shall not be denied or abridged, either by the national or state governments:

(1) On account of race.

(2) On account of color.

(3) On account of previous condition of servitude. It was at first proposed to add two other points, nativity and religion, but these were stricken out before the proposed amendment was sanctioned by congress. This amendment was proposed by congress in 1869, and was declared to be ratified in 1870.

In

PUTTING THE CONSTITUTION INTO OPERATION. July, 1788, a committee was appointed by the congress to report an act for putting the constitution into operation. This committee reported an act which was adopted on the 13th of September, as follows:

"RESOLVED, that the first Wednesday in January next be the day of appointing electors in the several states,