Congress, or elector of president or 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.

SECT. 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 the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void.

SECT. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce by appropriate legislation the provisions of this article.

(ARTICLE XV.)

SECTION 1. 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.

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

CHAPTER I.

THE PREAMBLE.

THE Constitution is the fundamental law of the country. It may be written in one document, as in our case, or it may be made up of judicial decisions, legislative acts, concessions from the crown to the people, etc., as in the case of Great Britain. Our written constitution gives us great advantages over those countries where the constitution does not consist of one written document. Our government is necessarily more systematic and uniform in its operations than would be possible without the written constitution.

This constitution enumerates the principles embodied in the government, the political rights of the citizens, and analyzes the powers of the government, showing how they are organized, distributed, and administered.

Any act of congress and any act of a state legislature, which should be pronounced by the supreme court of the United States contrary to the constitution, I would be null and void. The constitution is "the supreme law of the land."

THE PREAMBLE. The constitution commences with the following declaration: "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."

This part of the constitution is termed the "Preamble." This term is sometimes applied to the enacting clause of a statute or law. In that case it declares the design or motive of the law, and is substantially the enacting clause; for instance, in Michigan, it may be: "The people of the state of Michigan enact," or, in the case of the congress: "Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the United States in congress assembled." In Rhode Island the form observed is: "It is enacted by the general assembly as follows."

This preamble is a part of the constitution itself, and not merely an enacting clause. It contains several important lessons for us to study.

In the first place, it should be observed that the source of power is here perfectly authoritative, being the people: "We, the people of the United States, do ordain and establish this constitution." The language is explicit and peremptory: "ordain and establish." It is definite in regard to the subject: "this constitution." It is broad, extensive, and distinct in its purposes and ends, "justice," "tranquillity," "defence," "welfare," "liberty."

To summarize, we have here:

(1) The authority, "We, the people of the United States."

(2) The ends for which the constitution was made. These ends are given in six particulars.

(3) The ordaining and establishing this constitution. (4) The nation by name, for which this constitution

is to become the supreme law: "The United States of America."

Some important inferences are to be drawn from the peculiar phraseology of this preamble. It was ordained by the people of the United States as a nation. The people having cast off their allegiance to Great Britain, and having become a separate nation, had the right to establish, and so did establish, this constitution by which they were to be governed. They assumed a national name: "The United States of America." The principles for which the constitution was established are stated with fulness and great clearness:

(1) To form a more perfect union.

(2) To establish justice.

(3) To insure domestic tranquillity.

(4) To provide for the common defence. (5) To promote the general welfare.

(6) To secure the blessings of liberty to themselves and their posterity.