of another state, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state.

[The three following sections were proposed as amend ments at the first session of the eighth congress. They are printed in the Laws of the United States as article 12.]

ARTICLE XII.

1. The electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for president and vice-president, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves. They shall name in their ballots the person voted for as president, and in distinct ballots, the person voted for as vice-president; and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as president, and of all persons voted for as vice-president, and of the number of votes for each; which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the president of the senate. The president of the senate shall, in the presence of the senate and house of representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes for president, shall be the president, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers, not exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as president, the house of representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the president. But, in choosing the president, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the house of representatives shall not choose a president whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the vice-president

shall act as president, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the president.

2. The person having the greatest number of votes as vice-president shall be the vice-president, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the senate shall choose the vice-president. A quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice.

3. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of president, shall be eligible to that of vice-president of the United States.

ARTICLE XIII.

SECTION 1.

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.

The following is the certificate of the secretary of state of the United States, announcing the ratification of the foregoing article:

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State of the United States:

TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS MAY COME, GREETING: KNOW YE, That whereas, the congress of the United States, on the first of February last, passed a resolution which is in the words following, namely: "A Resolution submitting to the Legislatures of the several States a proposition to amend the Constitution of the United States.

Resolved, By the senate and house of representatives of the United States of America in congress assembled, (two-thirds of both houses concurring,) that the following article be proposed to the legislatures of the several states as an amendment to the constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of said legislatures, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as a part of the said constitution, namely:"

(See Article XIII, above.)

And whereas, it appears from official documents on file in this department, that the amendment to the constitution of the United States proposed as aforesaid, has been ratified by the legislatures of the states of Illinois, Rhode Island, Michigan, Maryland, New York, West Virginia, Maine, Kansas, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, Nevada, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Vermont, Tennessee, Arkansas, Connecticut, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Alabama, North Carolina and Georgia; in all twenty-seven states.

And whereas, the whole number of states in the United States is thirty-six; and whereas, the before specially-named states, whose legislatures have ratified the said proposed amendment, constitute three-fourths of the whole number of states in the United States:

Now, therefore, be it known, that I, WILLIAM H. SEWARD, secretary of state of the United States, by virtue and in pursuance of the second section of the act of congress, approved the twentieth of April, eighteen hundred and eighteen, entitled "An act to provide for the publication of the laws of the United States, and for other purposes," do hereby certify, that the amendment aforesaid has become valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the Constitution of the United States.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the department of state to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this eighteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and [L. 8.] sixty-five, and of the independence of the United States of America the ninetieth.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
Secretary of State.

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 legis lature 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 the 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.

The following are the certificates of the secretary of state of the United States, announcing the ratification of the foregoing article:

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State of the United States:

TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS MAY COME, GREETING: WHEREAS, the congress of the United States, on or about the sixteenth of June, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixtysix, passed a resolution, which is in the words and figures following, to wit:

"Joint Resolution proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

"Be it Resolved, by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of America in congress assembled (two-thirds of both houses concurring), That the following article be proposed to the legislatures of the several states as an amendment to the constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by threefourths of said legislatures, shall be valid as part of the constitution, namely:

19

(See Article XIV, above.)

And whereas, by the second section of the act of congress, approved the twentieth of April, one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, entitled "An act to provide for the publication of the laws of the United States, and for other purposes," it is made the duty of the secretary of state forthwith to cause any amendment to the constitution of the United States, which has been adopted according to the provisions of the said constitution, to be published in the newspapers authorized to promulgate the laws, with his certificate speciiying the states by which the same may have been adopted, and that the same has become valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the constitution of the United States;

And whereas, neither the act just quoted from, nor any other law, expressly or by conclusive implication, authorizes the secretary of state to determine and decide doubtful questions as to the authenticity of the organization of state legislatures, or as to the power of any state legislature to recall a previous act or resolution of ratification of any amendment proposed to the constitution;

And whereas, it appears from official documents on file in this department, that the amendment to the constitution of the United States, proposed as aforesaid, has been ratified by the legislatures of the states of Connecticut, New Hampshire, Tennessee, New Jersey, Oregon. Vermont, New York, Ohio, Illinois, West Virginia, Kansas, Maine, Nevada, Missouri, Indiana, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Wiscon sin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Massachusetts, Nebraska and Iowa;

And whereas, it further appears, from documents on file in this department, that the amendment to the constitution of the United