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• As taxpayers bail out the auto companies in Canada, the head of the auto workers' union in Canada, Ken Lewenza, blames Canada's "right wing" (that's me) and "corporate agenda" (arguably also me) for the global financial collapse, in what I call (A) an outright lie, (B) yet another declaration of class warfare in Canada by the extreme left, and (C) overall abject stupidity. He also (D) sounds like a communist. Reference.

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Friday, January 18, 2008

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Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Three Part Series from the U.K.

A three-part series from the U.K.

Part one

Part two

Part three

Friday, October 06, 2006

“Reviving Canadian leadership in the world”: Prime Minister Harper

Text of speech upon receiving Woodrow Wilson Award, September 5 2006

 

Reviving Canadian leadership in the world

October 5, 2006
Ottawa, Ontario

Mr. Chairman,
Representatives of the Woodrow Wilson Centre
Colleagues from the Parliament of Canada
Distinguished Guests
Mesdames et Messieurs
Ladies and Gentlemen

Thank you, Gwyn Morgan – one of the most successful, talented and patriotic individuals ever to emerge from this or any other city in Canada.

Delight, adopted home town - among so many supporters, friends, family – beginning of a weekend all so much to be thankful for.

I’m especially honoured to receive the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service. The list of previous recipients includes the names of many people I have long admired and respected.

As someone who has only served Canada as Prime Minister for eight months, I am not sure I’ve yet merited this recognition. But I am proud of the team I work with – the men and women who created the new Conservative Party of Canada, and what they’ve been able to accomplish in a fairly short period of time.

In those eight months, I have observed one thing in particular. If you tell people what you are going to, and then do it – Canadians respect that.

Since the election, that’s exactly what we’ve done: explain what we believe is important for Canada – and then deliver on it.

We said this country’s entrepreneurial spirit has to be unleashed, and Canadians deserve to be rewarded for working hard.

That’s why we said we would better manage your tax dollars, control spending, cut taxes – and that, along with the biggest debt pay-down in Canadian history, is exactly what we are delivering.

We said that healthy, prosperous families are the cornerstone of a society of opportunity. We said that we would ensure government programs provide real, direct benefits to working families.

And by, for example, replacing daycare schemes that pay advocates and bureaucrats with a direct payment to parents and children, that is exactly what we are delivering.

We said we would strengthen the criminal justice system. By bringing to Parliament legislation to end house arrest, apply mandatory prison sentences to serious crimes, and better protect children from sexual predators – that is exactly what we are delivering.

We said that public confidence in the government had been badly shaken, and systemic changes were necessary to make Ottawa more accountable to Canadians. And that’s exactly what we are delivering.

We brought in the Federal Accountability Act – the largest set of government reform measures in the country’s history. We passed it through the House of Commons in three months.

Now it has been stuck in the Senate for almost four months already. Which is another illustration of why the next stage of our accountability agenda must include fundamental change to that badly out-dated institution, the Senate of Canada.

Still, the actions I’ve just mentioned are only a beginning.

So what I want to talk to you about tonight is something I hope to accomplish in the longer term – if Canadians grant us the opportunity.

That objective is to make Canada a leader on the international stage. We want to ensure that we can preserve our identity and our sovereignty, protect our key interests and defend those values we hold most dear on the international scene.

If there is any one thing that has struck me for the short time I have been in this job, it is how critically important foreign affairs has become in everything that we do.

The globe is becoming a village. And virtually every significant challenge we face – economic, environmental, demographic, security, health, energy, you name it – contains an important, if not critical, international dimension.

I said I admire many people who have been presented with the Woodrow Wilson Award. But the person I want to talk about in this regard is Woodrow Wilson himself.

Now I’m going to ignore for a moment that he was a Democrat and the father of the income tax.

Woodrow Wilson was also an extraordinarily accomplished individual – an academic and a state governor who rose to become President of the United States, the only Ph.D ever to do so.

Most famously, he is known for his “Fourteen Points” – “the program for the world’s peace”, as he called it, and his advocacy of the first world-wide multilateral organization, the League of Nations.

He urged the United States to be a leader on the international stage and the American people to help “make the world safe for democracy.” Today, it is easy to forget how radical a departure this represented from the historic U.S. foreign policy position of isolation.

Canada, by contrast, has never had the luxury or the illusion of isolationism.

While not among the ranks of world powers, we have long been a significant part of important and influential world bodies.

Our membership in the Commonwealth preserves the ties of the worldwide British Empire of which we were long a proud part.

Our position in the Francophonie reflects our cultural and historical ties to France, which remains a country of influence with global visibility.

We belong to the world’s most important military alliance, NATO, due to our disproportionate role in the struggles against both fascism and communism.

We took the lead in the creation of NAFTA, our massive continental trading block.

And perhaps all of these things explain the seat we hold at the table of the G8, one of the world’s most exclusive bodies.

All of these show that Canadians have always wanted a government that plays a role in the world.

But in a shrinking, changing, dangerous world, our government must play a role in the world.

And I believe that Canadians want a significant role – a clear, confident and influential role.

As proud citizens, they don’t want a Canada that just goes along; they want a Canada that leads.

They want a Canada that doesn’t just criticize, but one that can contribute.

They want a Canada that reflects their values and interests, and that punches above its weight.

Do we, as Canadians, have the desire and the ability to achieve all this?

Just take a look around this room; we’re among Canadians who lead corporations that do business in every corner of the planet. And this is only one corner of our great country.

So, during the time in which I am privileged to serve as Prime Minister, I intend to make this a country that leads.

And if our government succeeds in achieving this goal, then perhaps some day I will be deserving of this prestigious award.

To accomplish such a goal will require more than membership in the various multilateral bodies I have just talked about. Previous governments have had all those club memberships, but they haven’t always been leaders.

We must have more. We must also have guiding values and interests as a country on which we are prepared to act. And we must have the capabilities to act according to those priorities.

We must be committed and capable of protecting our vital interests, projecting our values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and preserving balance and fairness in the international forums to which we belong.

That is the direction in which our government is moving. Let me briefly take stock.

First, the NAFTA summit at Cancun gave us an opportunity to start talking frankly to and starting getting things done with our most important ally, customer and neighbour, the United States of America.

That paid off with an historic softwood lumber agreement and a better U.S. appreciation of Canada’s growing contribution to continental energy security.

It paid off with some very gracious and grateful words for Canada from Secretary of State Rice on the fifth anniversary of 9-11, and, just recently, a reprieve from Congress on their passport plan.

Then, the G-8 summit in Russia gave us an opportunity to tell the rest of the world about Canada’s phenomenal potential as a producer of energy and natural resources.

On the way there, I stopped in London to tell British investors about energy, especially about the oil sands, and to let them know what you all have known for a long time: that Canada is the world’s only growing producer of this strategic commodity with a secure, stable government.

Canada is, as I have said, an emerging energy superpower.

It is one reason why Canada will increasingly be a leader and why Alberta is a leader within it.

But here in Alberta, where that energy power can almost be felt, something else must be equally appreciated. That with power comes responsibility.

Given the environmental challenges that energy production presents, Alberta must also become a world leader in environmentally-responsible energy production.

On the way home from the UK, I stopped in Cyprus to make a symbolic contribution to the biggest overseas evacuation of Canadians in our history. Canada was ultimately able to evacuate as many of its citizens and as quickly as the great powers that have immensely more military reach.

That was a testament to the coordination and results of which the public service of Canada is truly capable – capabilities that were also on display when it broke up the alleged terrorist plot in Toronto earlier this year.

I also took a few days this summer to tour the North. The trip had a twofold purpose.

I wanted to encourage northerners to embrace the jobs and prosperity that will come with private sector energy resource development.

But, by visiting Alert and observing Operation Lancaster, I also wanted to underline our government’s commitment to rebuilding our military and to asserting Canadian sovereignty – to asserting sovereignty over all of our territory, including the islands and waterways of our Arctic.

Asserting sovereignty means a presence. And let me assure you, we intend to be there.

At the Francophonie, we were able to stress our support for the UN Convention on Cultural Diversity, a document that reflects the unique history and eclectic identity of this country.

We were also able, in once again addressing the situation in the Middle East, to show that our international positions are not based on tailoring our views to the crowd we are in front of, but on sticking to principle and working to forge consensus.

And let me just briefly mention how our Fisheries Minister, the Honourable Loyola Hearn, did just that recently at the meetings of the North Atlantic Fisheries Organization, where, by standing firm and making clear we are prepared to act, he managed to get real progress on our goal of ending international overfishing off the Grand Banks.

But one thing stands out above the rest. That was my visit to the United Nations.

In that forum, I addressed our role in the mission where our security interests, our values and our capabilities come squarely together.

Afghanistan.

Five years ago, that long-suffering country was ruled by the Taliban – brutal tyrants bent on rolling back any vestige of civilization.

Men lived in oppression; women in bondage; and children in ignorance.

Some might say that’s not Canada’s problem.

Well, it is. And September 11th, 2001, shattered any illusion that it isn’t – the day when the Taliban were revealed as accomplices in the horrific attacks against innocent civilians on this continent, including on citizens of this country.

Canada and our allies joined the United Nations mission to meet the Taliban challenge at its source and eliminate it once and for all.

The mission is being conducted on several fronts.

We are providing security to the Afghan people.

We are helping them in reconstruction and development.

We are working with them in building the foundations of a sustainable democracy.

And we are delivering on all fronts.

A democracy has been put in place. Presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections have been held - and women now hold a quarter of the seats in the Afghan legislature.

The economy is growing. GDP has doubled in the last five years.

Education is spreading. In 2001 only 700,000 children were in school, and all of them were boys.

Today 7 million kids are in school, and a third of them are girls.

Reconstruction is happening. With Canada’s help, over 13,000 communities have started or completed new schools, medical facilities, and water, sewer and electrical systems.

But we all know it hasn’t been easy. And it isn’t going to be. Canadian Forces have the lead in Kandahar province, the stronghold of the Taliban, the toughest in the entire country.

The Canadian men and women who serve there are the best we have to offer. They have gone willing, knowing that not all of them will return. And when I went to Afghanistan and visited our troops, I saw – as anyone can see firsthand, there on the ground – just how dedicated, professional, skilled and courageous they are.

We have seen just how proud Canadians are of our soldiers and their families.

And we have also seen how difficult it is to bear the sorrow of their losses.

But, ladies and gentlemen, that is the price of leadership.

It is also the price of moving our world forward. I recently met with the leaders of Latvia and Romania. In my lifetime, these nations were stuck in what we all believed were hopeless futures of oppression and stagnation.

But we never gave up our opposition to the Soviet empire, and they never gave up hope, and today those countries are growing democracies, serving alongside us in Afghanistan.

When I look ahead a decade or so from now, I still have great hopes for that country and its place in the world. But it’s not going to happen unless countries like Canada step up, make sacrifices and provide leadership.

That is not new for this country. That is how this country was built. We were not built by the services we use, but by the sacrifices we made. Or more accurately by the sacrifices, big and small, of our forbearers.

This summer Laureen and I visited Vimy Ridge in northwest France, the scene of some of the most terrible fighting in the First World War. It’s the last resting place for her great uncle, James Teskey, and literally thousands of young men like him.

Most died in a few short days, in a battle where Canadians, considered backwater colonials, led the successful final assault.

But the monument at Vimy Ridge is much more than a remembrance of a victory or a memorial to the carnage of war.

Instead, placed as it is in a modern, democratic, prosperous, peace-loving nation, it constitutes a reminder of the abiding values on which our country is based, of the aspirations we share for other peoples, and of the actions we are prepared to undertake to make this a better world.

Let me conclude by thanking the Woodrow Wilson Center once again for this award, and by pledging to pursue a course of action which would fully merit the honour.

I have been privileged to lead a constituency, to lead a political party and, now, to lead a government.

But we will only merit this honour if we lead the country – and if we lead it in understanding that all nations of the world will share a common future for better or for worse.

We will lead Canada toward that better world.

We will build the relationships and the capabilities which will allow us to preserve our sovereignty, to protect our interests, and to project our values – just as Woodrow Wilson wished for all of our nations.

Thank you again. Merci beaucoup. God bless Canada.

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Foreign Affairs Canada backs its favourite Palestinian terrorist

Foreign Affairs Canada backs its favourite Palestinian terrorist

For immediate release

Toronto, Canada, Sunday, 27 May, 2006 - In its first four months in office, Stephen Harper has made significant changes to Canada's foreign policy. Foreign Minister Peter MacKay led the world in denying further aid to the Palestinian Authority now dominated by Hamas, an illegal terrorist organization under Canadian law. He also added the Tamil Tigers to the list of illegal terrorist organizations. It appeared to many hopeful Canadians that Canada's foreign policy would no longer tolerate terrorism.

Yet on March 7, Peter MacKay issued a statement announcing that "Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has Canada's full support." Given the terrorist credentials and continuing actions of Mahmoud Abbas and his party, many Canadians worried that our foreign policy may be less about unequivocally denying support to terrorists, and more about Foreign Affairs Canada backing its favourite terrorist.

The Fatah party that now apparently enjoys Canada's full support acts according to its charter, available for all to see on its website. With the weight of our own Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Fatah (PLO) charter states that "the liberation of Palestine will destroy the Zionist and imperialist presence", "armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine", "the establishment of the state of Israel [is] entirely illegal", and "Jews [do not] constitute a single nation with an identity of its own." These are the principles consistent with the terrorist actions of the party to which Canada has curiously pledged its "full support".

In trying to understand how our foreign policy could support such an unbalanced and genocidal Middle East policy, perhaps we need to understand that Foreign Affairs Canada has within its ranks the Muslim Communities Working Group Operational Unit, formed under previous Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew, and tasked with setting policy and statements on all matter relating to the Muslim world. As there is no comparable Jewish group within Foreign Affairs Canada -- only Muslim interests are given such unique influence over our foreign policy -- perhaps we should not be surprised that Canada supports a party whose charter and actions are committed to the destruction of the Jewish presence in the Middle East.

Minister MacKay was clear in his March statement that "Any assistance to a new Palestinian government will require that government's commitment to the principle of non-violence, recognition of Israel and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations". Does this principle only apply only to Hamas, while Fatah is free to continue its incitement and terror?

Western support for the Palestinians has only encouraged terrorism. Since 2000, over 20,000 acts of terror against Israel have been attempted, with over 1000 Israelis murdered and many more maimed for life. The armed wing of Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade (AAMB), also designated by Canada as a terrorist organization, proudly takes credit for much of this slaughter. Canada's terrorist designation of Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade notes that since Abbas' election, Fatah's terrorist wing is "becoming more organized, resilient and coordinated... later in January 2003, the AAMB indicated that they had decided to pursue the Intifada and would continue suicide operations."

Following the April 17, 2006 terrorist bombing of a restaurant in Tel Aviv that killed 10, injured 90, and left Daniel Wultz, a Florida teenager lying in a coma from which he later died, Abu Nasser, a leader of Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, boasted to WorldNetDaily that this innocent young victim was the "best target combination we can dream of American and Zionist."

Mahmoud Abbas's words to the West cannot be believed. In accepting Canadian foreign aid, Abbas agreed to end incitement and disarm terrorists. Yet his party's Foreign Minister, Nasser al-Kidwa publicly declared in June 2005 that the PA will not disarm Hamas and other terrorist groups under its jurisdiction. Textbooks denying the existence of Israel and preaching the destruction of "the Zionist entity" have not been removed or revised. And Abbas himself, speaking to a group of high school students and educators in Gaza, glorified suicide bombing when he declared, "What has been achieved here [in Gaza] is due to the martyrs." Just this week, Abbas appeared on PA TV and declared that Palestinians jailed in Israel for their role in slaughtering innocent Israelis are "our brothers, our heroes" and tried to convince the world of their new-found peaceful intentions. After decades of death and suffering because the West believed PLO promises, Peter MacKay must tell Abbas that only actions will win Canada's support, not words.


It is time for Canada to acknowledge that the $350 million we have given to the Palestinians since 1993 has only resulted in whitewashing the failures of Palestinian society. Canada's foreign aid dollars have not weakened the Palestinian resolve to drive the Jews from Israel, diminished their rabid anti-Semitism, ended the toxic incitement of schoolchildren, moved them one step closer to building a civil society, made them less dependent on foreign aid, nor even caused them to amend their governing charter to remove the destruction of Israel as their guiding principle. When a medicine has so consistently worsened the condition of the patient, is it not time to try a different medicine?

The Stephen Harper government must continue to lead the world in an ethical foreign policy, as Brian Mulroney did with Apartheid South Africa. Canada must demand action, not just words, from Palestinian leadership. All aid to Palestinians must be suspended until (1) the Palestinians have removed all incitement against Jews and Israel from their state-controlled education system and media, (2) the Fatah-PLO Charter and Hamas Charters have been changed to recognize Israel, (3) militants have been disarmed, and (4) all acts of terrorism against Israel have ended for a period of at least two years, with the understanding that any resumption of terror will immediately end the flow of aid.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Foreign Minister Peter MacKay have shown that they can lead the Western world in a foreign policy that stands against terrorism. By facing the obvious fact that both Hamas and Fatah are terrorist entities, in word and in deed, the Harper government will serve notice that Canada is no longer a gullible cheerleader for those who choose incitement and terror to advance their genocidal ambitions, even if they do wear a suit and tie.

-30-

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Saturday, September 24, 2005

Constitution Acts 1967-1982

Go here:

http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/const/

Constitution Act, 1982

Constitution Act, 1982(1)

SCHEDULE B

CONSTITUTION ACT, 1982

PART I

CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS

Whereas Canada is founded upon the principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law:

Guarantee of Rights and Freedoms

1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

Fundamental Freedoms

2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:

(a) freedom of conscience and religion

(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other means of communication.

(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and

(d) freedom of association.

Democratic Rights

3. Every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an election of members of the House of Commons or of a legislative assembly and to be qualified for membership therein.

4. (1) No House of Commons and no legislative assembly shall continue for longer than five years from the date fixed for the return of the writs at a general election of its members.(2)

(2) In time of real or apprehended war, invasion or insurrection, a House of Commons may be continued by Parliament and a legislative assembly may be continued by the legislature beyond five years if such continuation is not opposed by the votes of more than one-third of the members of the House of Commons or the legislative assembly, as the case may be.(3)

5. There shall be a sitting of Parliament and of each legislature at least once every twelve months.(4)

Mobility Rights

6. (1) Every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain in, and leave Canada.

(2) Every citizen of Canada and every person who has the status of a permanent resident of Canada has the right

(a) to move to and take up residence in any province; and

(b) to pursue the gaining of livelihood in any province.

(3) The rights specified in subsection (2) are subject to

(a) any laws or practices of general application in force in a province other than those that discriminate among persons primarily on the basis of present or previous residence; and

(b) any laws providing for reasonable residency requirements as a qualification for the receipt of publicly provided social services.

(4) Subsections (2) and (3) do not preclude any law, program or activity that has as its object the amelioration in a province of conditions of individuals in that province who are socially or economically disadvantaged if the rate of employment in that province is below the rate of employment in Canada.

Legal Rights

7. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.

8. Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure.

9. Everyone has the right not to be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned.

10. Everyone has the right on arrest or detention

(a) to be infomed promptly of the reason therefor;

(b) to retain and instruct counsel without delay and to be infomed of that right; and

(c) to have the validity of the detention determined by way of habeas corpus and to be released if the detention is not lawful.

11. Any person charged with an offence has the right

(a) to be infomed without unreasonable delay of the specific offence;

(b) to be tried within a reasonable time;

(c) not to be compelled to be a witness in a proceedings against that person in respect of the offence;

(d) to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal;

(e) not to be denied reasonable bail without cause;

(f) except in the case of an offence under military law tried before a military tribunal, to the benefit of trial by jury where the maximum punishment for the offence is imprisonment for five years or a more severe punishment;

(g) not to be found guilty on account of any act or omission unless, at the time of the act or omission, it constituted an offence under Canadian or International law or was criminal according to the general principles of law recognized by the community of nations;

(h) if finally acquitted of the offence, not to be tried for it again and, if finally found guilty and punished for the offence, not to be tried or punished for it again; and

(i) if found guilty of the offence and if punishment for the offence has been varied between the time of commission and the time of sentencing, to the benefit of the lesser punishment.

12. Everyone has the right not to be subjected to any cruel or unusual treatment or punishment.

13. A witness who testifies in any proceedings has the right not to have any incriminating evidence so given used to incriminate that witness in any other proceedings, except in a prosecution for perjury or for the giving of contradictory evidence.

14. A party or witness in any proceedings who does not understand or speak the language in which the proceedings are conducted or who is deaf has the right to the assistance of an interpreter.

Equality Rights

15. (1) Every individual is equal before the and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age, or mental or physical disability.

(2) Subsection (1) does not preclude any law, program or activity that has as its object the amelioration of conditions of disadvantaged individuals or groups including those that are disadvantaged because of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age, or mental or physical disability.(5)

Official Languages of Canada

16. (1) English and French are the official languages of Canada and have equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the Parliament and government of Canada.

(2) English and French are the official languages of New Brunswick and have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to the use in all institutions of the legislature and government of New Brunswick.

(3) Nothing in this Charter limits the authority of Parliament or a legislature to advance the equality of status or use of English and French.

16.1 (1) The English linguistic community and the French linguistic community in New Brunswick have equality of status and equal rights and privileges, including the right to distinct educational institutions and such distinct cultural institutions as are necessary for the preservation and promotion of those communities.

(2) The role of the legislature and the government of New Brunswick to preserve and promote the status, rights and privileges referred to in subsection (1) is affirmed.(6)

17. (1) Everyone has the right to use English or French in any debates or other proceedings of Parliament.(7)

(2) Everyone has the right to use English or French in any debate and other proceeding of the legislature of New Brunswick.(8)

18. (1) The Statutes, records and journals of Parliament shall be printed and published in English and French and both language versions are equally authoritative.(9)

(2) The Statutes, records and journals of New Brunswick shall be printed and published in English and French and both language versions are equally authoritative.(10)

19. (1) Either English or French may be used by any person in, or in any pleading in or process issuing from any court established by Parliament.(11)

(2) Either English or French may be used by any person in, or in any pleading in or process issuing from any court of New Brunswick.(12)

20. (1) Any member of the public of Canada has the right to communicate with, and to receive available services from, any head or central office of an institution of the Parliament or government of Canada in English or French, and has the same right with respect to any other office of any such institution where

(a) there is significant demand for communications with and services from that office in such language; or

(b) due to the nature of the office, it is reasonable that communications with and services from that office be available in both English and French.

(2) Any member of the public in New Brunswick has the right to communicate with, and to receive available services from, any office of an institution of the legislature or government of New Brunswick in English or French.

21. Nothing in sections 16 to 20 abrogates or derogates from any right, privilege or obligation with respect to the English and French languages, or either of them, that exists or is continued by virtue of any other provision of the Constitution of Canada.(13)

22. Nothing in sections 16 to 20 abrogates or derogates from any legal or customary right or privilege acquired or enjoyed either before or after the coming into force of this Charter with respect to any language that is not English or French.

Minority Language Educational Rights

23. (1) Citizens of Canada

(a) whose first language learned and still understood is that of the English or French linguistic minority population of the province in which they reside, or

(b) who have received their primary school instruction in Canada in English or French and reside in a province where the language in which they received that instruction is the language of the English or French linguistic minority population of the province, have the right to have their children receive primary and secondary school instruction in that language in that province.(14)

(2) Citizens of Canada of whom any child has received or is receiving primary or secondary school instruction in English or French in Canada, have the right to have all their children receive primary and secondary school instruction in the same language.

(3) The right of citizens of Canada under subsections (1) and (2) to have their children receive primary and secondary school instruction in the language of the English or French linguistic minority population of a province

(a) applies wherever in the province the number of children of citizens who have such a right is sufficient to warrant the provision to them out of public funds of minority language instruction; and

(b) includes, where the number of children so warrants, the right to have them receive that instruction in minority language educational facilities provided out of public funds.

Enforcement

24. (1) Anyone whose rights or freedoms, as guaranteed by this Charter, have been infringed or denied may apply to a court of competent jurisdiction to obtain such remedy as the court considers appropriate and just in the circumstances.

(2) Where, in proceedings under subsection (1), a court concludes that evidence was obtained in a manner that infringed or denied any rights or freedoms guaranteed by this Charter, the evidence shall be excluded if it is established that, having regard to all the circumstances, the admission of it in the proceedings would bring the administration of justice into disrepute.

General

25. The guarantee in this Charter of certain rights and freedoms shall not be construed so as to abrogate or derogate from any aboriginal, treaty or other rights or freedoms that pertain to the aboriginal peoples of Canada including

(a) any rights or freedoms that have been recognized by the Royal Proclamation of October 7, 1763; and

(b) any rights or freedoms that may be acquired by the aboriginal peoples of Canada by way of land claims settlement.(15)

26. The guarantee in this Charter of certain rights and freedoms shall not be construed as denying the existence of any other rights and freedoms that exist in Canada.

27. This Charter shall be interpreted in a manner consistent with the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canadians.

28. Notwithstanding anything in this Charter, the rights and freedoms referred to in it are guaranteed equally to male and female persons.

29. Nothing in this Charter abrogates or derogates from any rights or privileges guaranteed by or under the Constitution of Canada in respect of denominational, separate or dissentient schools.(16)

30. A reference in this Charter to a province or to the legislative assembly or legislature of a province shall be deemed to include a reference to the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories, or to the appropriate legislative authority thereof, as the case may be.

31. Nothing in this Charter extends the legislative powers of any body or authority.

Application of Charter

32. (1) This Charter applies

(a) to the Parliament and government of Canada in respect of all matters within the authority of Parliament including all matters relating to the Yukon Territory and Northwest Territories; and

(b) to the legislatures and governments of each province in respect of all matters within the authority of the legislature of each province.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), section 15 shall not have effect until three years after this section comes into force.

33. (1) Parliament or the legislature of a province may expressly declare in an Act of Parliament or of the legislature, as the case may be, that the Act or a provision thereof shall operate notwithstanding a provision included in section 2 or section 7 to 15 of this Charter.

(2) An Act or a provision of an Act in respect of which a declaration made under this section is in effect shall have such operation as it would have but for the provision of this Charter referred to in the declaration.

(3) A declaration made under subsection (1) shall cease to have effect five years after it comes into force or on such earlier date as may be specified in the declaration.

(4) Parliament or the legislature of a province may re-enact a declaration made under subsection (1).

(5) Subsection (3) applies in respect of re-enactment made under subsection (4).

Citation

34. This Part may be cited as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

PART II

RIGHTS OF THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLES OF CANADA

35. (1) The existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed.

(2) In this Act, "aboriginal peoples of Canada" includes the Indian, Inuit, and Metis peoples of Canada.

(3) For greater certainty, in subsection (1) "treaty rights" includes rights that now exist by way of land claims agreements or may be so acquired.

(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the aboriginal and treaty rights referred to in subsection (1) are guaranteed equally to male and female persons.(17)

35.1 The government of Canada and the provincial governments are committed to the principal that, before any amendment is made to Class 24 of section 91 of the "Constitution Act, 1867", to section 25 of this Act or to this Part,

(a) a constitutional conference that includes in its agenda an item relating to the proposed amendment, composed of the Prime Minister of Canada and the first ministers of the provinces, will be convened by the Prime Minister of Canada; and

(b) the Prime Minister of Canada will invite representatives of the aboriginal peoples of Canada to participate in the discussions on that item.(18)

PART III

EQUALIZATION AND REGIONAL DISPARITIES

36. (1) Without altering the legislative authority of Parliament or of the provincial legislatures, or the rights of any of them with respect to the exercise of their legislative authority, Parliament and the legislatures, together with the government of Canada and the provincial governments, are committed to

(a) promoting equal opportunities for the well-being of Canadians;

(b) furthering the economic development to reduce disparity in opportunities; and

(c) providing essential public services of reasonable quality to all Canadians.

(2) Parliament and the government of Canada are committed to the principle of making equalization payments to ensure that provincial governments have sufficient revenues to provide reasonably comparable levels of public services at reasonably comparable levels of taxation.(19)

PART IV

CONSTITUTIONAL CONFERENCE

37. (20)

PART IV.1

CONSTITUTIONAL CONFERENCES

37.1 (1) In addition to the conference convened in March 1983, at least two constitutional conferences composed of the Prime Minister of Canada and the first ministers of the provinces shall be convened by the Prime Minister of Canada, the first within three years after April 17, 1982 and the second within five years after that date.

(2) Each conference convened under subsection (1) shall have included in its agenda matters that directly affect the aboriginal peoples of Canada, and the Prime Minister of Canada shall invite representatives of those peoples to participate in the discussions on those matters.

(3) The Prime Minister of Canada shall invite elected representatives of the governments of the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories to participating the discussions on any item on the agenda of a conference convened under subsection (1) that, in the opinion of the Prime Minister, directly affects the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories.

(4) Nothing in this section shall be construed as to derogate from subsection 35(1).(21)

PART V

PROCEDURE FOR AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION OF CANADA (22)

38. (1) An amendment to the Constitution of Canada may be made by proclamation issued by the Governor General under the Great Seal of Canada where so authorized by

(a) resolutions of the Senate and the House of Commons; and

(b) resolutions of the legislative assemblies of at least two-thirds of the provinces that have, in the aggregate, according to the then latest general census, at least fifty per cent of the population of the provinces.

(2) An amendment made under subsection (1) that derogates from the legislative powers, the proprietary rights or any other rights or privileges of the legislature or government of a province shall require a resolution supported by a majority of the members of each of the Senate, the House of Commons and the legislative assemblies required under subsection (1).

(3) An amendment referred to in subsection (2) shall not have effect in a province the legislative assembly of which has expressed its dissent thereto by resolution supported by a majority of its members prior to the issue of the proclamation to which the amendment relates unless that legislative assembly, subsequently, by resolution supported by a majority of its members, revokes its dissent and authorizes the amendment.

(4) A resolution of dissent made for the purposes of subsection (3) may be revoked at any time before or after the issue of the proclamation to which it relates.

39. (1) A proclamation shall not be issued under subsection 38(1) before the expiration of one year from the adoption of the resolution initiating the amendment procedure, unless the legislative assembly of each province has previously adopted a resolution of assent or dissent.

(2) A proclamation shall not be issued under subsection 38(1) after the expiration of three years from the adoption of the resolution initiating the amendment procedure thereunder.

40. Where an amendment is made under subsection 38(1) that transfers provincial legislative powers relating to education or other cultural matters from provincial legislatures to Parliament, Canada shall provide reasonable compensation to any province to which the amendment does not apply.

41. An amendment to the Constitution of Canada in relation to the following matters may be made by proclamation issued by the Governor General under the Great Seal of Canada only where authorized by resolutions of the Senate and House of Commons and of the legislative assemblies of each province:

(a) the office of the Queen, the Governor General and the Lieutenant Governor of a province;

(b) the right of a province to a number of members in the House of Commons not less than the number of Senators by which the province is entitled to be represented at the time this Part comes into force;

(c) subject to section 43, the use of the English or the French language;

(d) the composition of the Supreme Court of Canada; and

(e) an amendment to this Part.

42. (1) An amendment to the Constitution of Canada in relation to the following matters may be made only in accordance with subsection 38(1):

(a) the principle of proportionate representation of the provinces in the House of Commons prescribed by the Constitution of Canada;

(b) the powers of the Senate and the method of selecting Senators;

(c) the number of members by which a province is entitled to be represented in the Senate and the residence qualifications of Senators;

(d) subject to paragraph 41(d), the Supreme Court of Canada;

(e) the extension of existing provinces into the territories; and

(f) notwithstanding any other law or practice, the establishment of new provinces;

(2) Subsections 38(2) to 38(4) do not apply in respect of amendments in relation to matters referred to in subsection (1).

43. An amendment to the Constitution of Canada in relation to any provision that applies to one or more, but not all provinces, including

(a) any alteration to boundaries between provinces, and

(b) any amendment to any provisions that relate to the use of the English or the French language within a province

may be made by proclamation issued by the Governor General under the Great Seal of Canada only where so authorized by resolutions of the Senate and House of Commons and of the legislative assembly of each province to which the amendment applies.

44. Subject to sections 41 and 42, Parliament may exclusively make laws amending the Constitution of Canada in relation to executive government of Canada or the Senate and House of Commons.

45. Subject to section 41, the legislature of each province may exclusively make laws amending the constitution of the province.

46. (1) The procedures for amendment under sections 38, 41, 42, and 43 may be initiated either by the Senate or the House of Commons or by the legislative assembly of province.

(2) A resolution of assent for the purposes of this Part may be revoked at any time before the issue of a proclamation authorized by it.

47. (1) An amendment to the Constitution of Canada made by proclamation under section 38, 41, 42, or 43 may be made without a resolution of the Senate authorizing the issue of the proclamation if, within one hundred and eighty days after the adoption by the House of Commons of a resolution authorizing its issue, the Senate has not adopted such a resolution and if, at any time after the expiration of that period, the House of Commons again adopts the resolution.

(2) Any period when Parliament is prorogued or dissolved shall not be counted in computing the one hundred and eighty day period referred to in subsection (1).

48. The Queen's Privy Council for Canada shall advise the Governor General to issue a proclamation under this Part forthwith on the adoption of the resolution required for an amendment made by proclamation under this part.

49. A constitutional conference of the Prime Minister of Canada and the first ministers shall be convened by the Prime Minister of Canada within fifteen years after this Part comes into force to review the provisions of this Part.

PART VI

AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION ACT, 1867

50. (23)

51. (24)

PART VII

GENERAL

52. (1) The Constitution of Canada is the supreme law of Canada, and any law that is inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution is, to the extent of the inconsistency, of no force or effect.

(2) The Constitution of Canada includes

(a) the Canada Act, 1982, including this Act;

(b) the Acts and orders referred to in the Schedule; and

(c) any amendment to any Act or order referred to in paragraph (a) or (b).

(3) Amendments to the Constitution of Canada shall be made only in accordance with the authority contained in the Constitution of Canada.

53. (1) The enactments referred to in Column I of the schedule are hereby repealed or amended to be extent indicated in Column II thereof, and unless repealed, shall continue as law in Canada under the names set out in Column III thereof.

(2) Every enactment, except the Canada Act, 1982, that refers to an enactment referred to in the schedule by the name in Column I thereof is hereby amended by substituting for that name the corresponding name in Column III thereof, and any British North America Act not referred to in the schedule may be cited as the Constitution Act followed by the year and number, if any, of its enactment.

54. Part IV is repealed on the day that is one year after this Part comes into force, and this section may be repealed and this Act renumbered, consequentially upon the repeal of Part IV and this section, by proclamation issued by the Governor General under the Great Seal of Canada.(25)

54.1 (26)

55. A French version of the portions of the Constitution of Canada referred to in the schedule shall be prepared by the Minister of Justice of Canada as expeditiously as possible and, when any portion thereof sufficient to warrant action being taken has been prepared, it shall be put forward for enactment by proclamation issued by the Governor General under the Great Seal of Canada pursuant to the procedure then applicable to an amendment of the same provisions of the Constitution of Canada.

56. Where any portion of the Constitution of Canada has been or is enacted in English and French or where a French version of any portion of the Constitution is enacted pursuant to section 55, the English and French versions of that portion of the Constitution are equally authoritative.

57. The English and French versions of this Act are equally authoritative.

58. Subject to section 59, this Act shall come into force on a day to be fixed by proclamation issued by the Queen or the Governor General under the Great Seal of Canada.(27)

59. (1) Paragraph 23(1)(a) shall come into force in respect of Quebec on a day to be fixed by proclamation issued by the Queen or the Governor General under the Great Seal of Canada.

(2) A proclamation under subsection (1) shall be issued only where authorized by the legislative assembly or government of Quebec.(28)

(3) This section may be repealed on the day paragraph 23(1)(a ) comes into force in respect of Quebec and this Act amended and renumbered, consequentially up the repeal of this section, by proclamation issued by the Queen or the Governor General under the Great Seal of Canada.

60. This Act may be cited as the Constitution Act, 1982, and the Constitution Acts 1867 to 1975 (No. 2) and this Act may be cited together as the Constitution Acts, 1867 to 1982.

61. A reference to the "Constitution Acts, 1867 to 1982" shall be deemed be to include a reference to the "Constitution Amendment Proclamation, 1983".(29)

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Schedule

to the

Constitution Act, 1982

Modernization of the Constitution

Item.	Column I Act affected	Column II Amendment	Column III New Name
1.	British North America Act, 1867, 30-31 Vict., c. 3 (U.K.)	(1) Section 1 is repealed and the following substituted therefor: "1. This Act may be cited as the Constitution Act, 1867 ." (2) Section 20 is repealed. (3) Class 1 of section 91 is repealed. (4) Class 1 of section 92 is repealed.	Constitution Act, 1867.
2.	An Act to amend and continue the Act 32-33 Victoria chapter 3; and to establish and provide for the Government of the Province of Manitoba, 1870, 33 Vict., c. 3 (Can.)	(1) The long title is repealed and the following substituted therefor: "Manitoba Act, 1870." (2) Section 20 is repealed.	Manitoba Act, 1870.
3.	Order of Her Majesty in Council admitting Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory into the Union, dated the 23rd day of June, 1870		Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory Order
4.	Order of Her Majesty in Council admitting British Columbia into the Union, dated the 16th Day of May, 1871		British Columbia Terms of Union
5.	British North America Act, 1871, 34-35 Vict., c. 28 (U.K.)	Section 1 is repealed and the following substituted therefor: "1. This Act may be cited as the Constitution Act, 1871 ."	Constitution Act, 1871.
6.	Order of Her Majesty in Council admitting Prince Edward Island into the Union, dated the 26th Day of June, 1873		Prince Edward Island Terms of Union
7.	Parliament of Canada Act, 1875, 38-39 Vict., c. 38 (U.K.)		Parliament of Canada Act, 1875
8.	Order of Her Majesty in Council admitting all British possessions and Territories in North America and islands adjacent thereto into the Union, dated the 31st day of July, 1880.		Adjacent Territories Order
9.	British North America Act, 1886, 49-50 Vict., c. 35 U.K.)	Section 3 is repealed and the following substituted therefor: "3. This Act may be cited as the Constitution Act, 1886.	Constitution Act, 1886.
10.	Canada (Ontario Boundary) Act, 1889, 52-53 Vict., c. 28 (U.K.)		Canada (Ontario Boundary) Act, 1889
11.	Canadian Speaker (Appointment of Deputy) Act, 1895, 2nd Sess., 59 Vict., c. 3 (U.K.)	The Act is repealed.
12.	The Alberta Act, 1905, 4-5 Edw. VII c. 3 (Can.)		Alberta Act
13.	The Saskatchewan Act, 1905, 4-5 Edw. VII c. 42 (Can.)		Saskatchewan Act
14.	British North America Act, 1907, 7 Edw. VII c. 11 (U.K.)	Section 2 is repealed and the following substituted therefor: "2. This Act may be cited as the Constitution Act, 1907 ."	Constitution Act, 1907.
15.	British North America Act, 1915, 5-6 Geo. V, c. 45 (U.K.)	Section 3 is repealed and the following substituted therefor: "3. This Act may be cited as the Constitution Act, 1915 ."	Constitution Act, 1915.
16.	British North America Act, 1930, 20-21 Geo. V, c. 26 (U.K.)	Section 3 is repealed and the following substituted therefor: "3. This Act may be cited as the Constitution Act, 1930 ."	Constitution Act, 1930.
17.	Statute of Westminster, 1931, 22 Geo. V, c. 4 (U.K.)	In so far as they apply to Canada (a) section 4 is repealed; and (b) subsection 7(1) is repealed.	Statute of Westminster, 1931
18.	British North America Act, 1940, 3-4 Geo. VI, c. 36 (U.K.)	Section 2 is repealed and the following substituted therefor: "2. This Act may be cited as the Constitution Act, 1940 ."	Constitution Act, 1940.
19.	British North America Act, 1943, 6-7 Geo. VI, c. 30 (U.K.)	The Act is repealed.
20.	British North America Act, 1946, 9-10 Geo. VI, c. 63 (U.K.)	The Act is repealed.
21.	British North America Act, 1949, 12-13 Geo. VI, c. 22 (U.K.)	Section 3 is repealed and the following substituted therefor: "3. This Act may be cited as the Newfoundland Act (1949) ."	Newfoundland Act (1949).
22.	British North America Act (No. 2), 1949, 13 Geo. VI, c. 81 (U.K.)	The Act is repealed.
23.	British North America Act, 1951, 14-15 Geo. VI, c. 32 (U.K.)	The Act is repealed.
24.	British North America Act, 1951, 1 Eliz. II, c. 15 (Can.)	The Act is repealed.
25.	British North America Act, 1960, 9 Eliz. II, c. 2 (U.K.)	Section 2 is repealed and the following substituted therefor: "2. This Act may be cited as the Constitution Act, 1960 ."	Constitution Act, 1960.
26.	British North America Act, 1964, 12-13 Eliz. II, c. 73 (U.K.)	Section 2 is repealed and the following substituted therefor: "2. This Act may be cited as the Constitution Act, 1964 ."	Constitution Act, 1964.
27.	British North America Act, 1965, 14 Eliz. II, c. 4, Part I (Can.)	Section 3 is repealed and the following substituted therefor: "3. This Act may be cited as the Constitution Act, 1965 ."	Constitution Act, 1965.
28.	British North America Act, 1974, 23 Eliz. II, c. 13, Part I (Can.)	Section 3 is repealed and the following substituted therefor: "3. This Act may be cited as the Constitution Act, 1974 ."	Constitution Act, 1974.
29.	British North America Act (No. 1), 1975, 23-24 Eliz. II, c. 28, Part I (Can.)	Section 3 is repealed and the following substituted therefor: "3. This Act may be cited as the Constitution Act (No. 1), 1975."	Constitution Act (No. 1), 1975.
30.	British North America Act (No. 2), 1975, 23-24 Eliz. II, c. 53, Part I (Can.)	Section 3 is repealed and the following substituted therefor: "3. This Act may be cited as the Constitution Act (No. 2), 1975."	Constitution Act (No. 2), 1975.

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Footnotes for the Constitution Act, 1982

Taken from the September 1, 1993, Consolidation of the Constitution Acts, 1867 to 1982, revised to 1994.

(1) Enacted as Schedule B to the Canada Act, 1982, (U.K.) 1982 c. 11, which came into force on April 17, 1982. The Canada Act 1982, other than Schedules A or B thereto, reads as follows:

An Act to give effect to a request by the Senate and House of Commons of Canada

Whereas Canada has requested and consented to the enactment of an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to give effect to the provisions hereinafter set forth and the Senate and the House of Commons of Canada in Parliament assembled have submitted an address to Her Majesty requesting that Her Majesty may graciously be pleased to cause a Bill to be laid before the Parliament of the United Kingdom for that Purpose.

Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. The Constitution Act, 1982 set out in schedule B to this Act is hereby enacted for and shall have the force of law in Canada and shall come unto force as provided in that Act.

2. No Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed after the Constitution Act, 1982 comes into force shall extend to Canada as part of its law.

3. So far as it is not contained in Schedule B, the French version of this Act is set out in Schedule A to this Act and has the same authority in Canada as the English version thereof.

4. This Act may be cited as the Canada Act, 1982.

(2) See section 50 and the footnotes to sections 85 and 88 of the Constitution Act, 1867.

(3) Replaces part of Class 1 of section 91 of the Constitution Act 1867, which was repealed as set out in subitem 1(3) of the Schedule to this Act.

(4) See the notes to sections 20, 86 and 88 of the Constitution Act, 1867.

(5) Subsection 32(2) provides that section 15 shall not have effect until three years after section 32 comes into force.

Section 32 came into force on April 17, 1982; therefore section 15 had effect on April 17, 1985.

(6) Section 16.1 was added by the Constitution Amendment Proclamation, 1993 (New Brunswick). See SI/93-54.

(7) See section 133 of the Constitution Act, 1867, and the footnote thereto.

(8) Id.

(9) Id.

(10) Id.

(11) Id.

(12) Id.

(13) See, for example, section 133 of the Constitution Act, 1867, and the references to the Manitoba Act, 1870, in the footnote thereto.

(14) Paragraph 23(1)(a) is not in force in respect of Quebec. See section 59 infra.

(15) Paragraph 25(b) was repealed and re-enacted by the Constitution Amendment Proclamation, 1983. See SI/84-102.

Paragraph 25(b) as originally enacted read as follows:

"(b) any rights or freedoms that may be acquired by the aboriginal peoples of Canada by way of land claims settlement."

(16) See section 93 of the Constitution Act, 1867, and the footnote thereto.

(17) Subsections 35(3) and (4) were added by the Constitution Amendment Proclamation, 1983. See SI/84-102.

(18) Section 35.1 was added by the Constitution Amendment Proclamation 1983. See SI/84-102.

(19) See the footnotes to sections 114 and 118 of the Constitution Act, 1867.

(20) Section 54 provided for the repeal of Part IV one year after Part VII came into force. Part VII came into force on April 17, 1982 thereby repealing Part IV on April 17, 1983.

Part IV, as originally enacted, read as follows:

"37. (1) A constitutional conference composed of the Prime Minister of Canada and the first ministers of the provinces shall be convened by the Prime Minister of Canada within one year after this Part comes into force.

(2) The conference convened under subsection (1) shall have included in its agenda an item respecting constitutional matters that directly affect the aboriginal peoples of Canada, including the identification and definition of the rights of those peoples to be included in the Constitution of Canada, and the Prime Minister of Canada shall invite representatives of those peoples to participate in the discussions on that item.

(3) The Prime Minister of Canada shall invite elected representatives of the governments of the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories to participate in discussions on any item on the agenda of the conference convened under subsection (1) that, in the opinion of the Prime Minister, directly affects the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories."

(21) Part IV.I was added by the Constitution Amendment Proclamation, 1983. See Sl/84-102.

(22) Prior to the enactment of Part V certain provisions of the Constitution of Canada and the provincial constitutions could be amended pursuant to the Constitution Act. 1867. See the footnotes to section 91, Class I and section 92, Class I thereof, supra. Other amendments to the Constitution could only be made by enactment of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

(23) The amendment is set out in the Consolidation of the Constitution Act, 1867, as section 92A thereof.

(24) The amendment is set out in the Consolidation of the Constitution Act, 1867, as the Sixth Schedule thereof.

(25) Part VII came into force on April 17, 1982. See SI/82-97.

(26) Section 54.1 which was added by the Constitution Amendment Proclamation, 1983 (see SI/84-102), provided for the repeal of repeal of Part IV.1 and section 54.1 on April 18, 1987.

Section 54.1, as originally enacted, read as follows:

"54.1 Part IV.1 and this section are repealed on April 18, 1987."

(27) The Act, with the exception of paragraph 23(1)(a) in respect of Quebec, came into force on April 17, 1982 by proclamation issued by the Queen. See SI/82-97.

(28) No proclamation has been issued under section 59.

(29) Section 61 was added by the Constitution Amendment Proclamation, 1983. See SI/84-102.

See also section 3 of the Constitution Act, 1985 (Representation), S.C. 1986, c.8, Part I and the Constitution Amendment, 1987 (Newfoundland Act) SI/88-11.

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Friday, September 23, 2005

The Constitution - Amendments 11-27

The Constitution - Amendments 11-27: A Transcription Constitutional Amendments 1-10 make up what is known as The Bill of Rights.  Amendments 11-27 are listed below. 

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AMENDMENT XI Passed by Congress March 4, 1794. Ratified February 7, 1795.  Note: Article III, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by amendment 11.  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. 

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AMENDMENT XII Passed by Congress December 9, 1803. Ratified June 15, 1804.  Note: A portion of Article II, section 1 of the Constitution was superseded by the 12th amendment.  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 case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President.—]* 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. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.  *Superseded by section 3 of the 20th amendment. 

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AMENDMENT XIII Passed by Congress January 31, 1865. Ratified December 6, 1865.  Note: A portion of Article IV, section 2, of the Constitution was superseded by the 13th amendment.  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. 

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AMENDMENT XIV Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July 9, 1868.  Note: Article I, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by section 2 of the 14th amendment.  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 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 the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.  *Changed by section 1 of the 26th amendment. 

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AMENDMENT XV Passed by Congress February 26, 1869. Ratified February 3, 1870.  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— Section 2.  The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. 

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AMENDMENT XVI Passed by Congress July 2, 1909. Ratified February 3, 1913.  Note: Article I, section 9, of the Constitution was modified by amendment 16.  The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration. 

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AMENDMENT XVII Passed by Congress May 13, 1912. Ratified April 8, 1913.  Note: Article I, section 3, of the Constitution was modified by the 17th amendment.  The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.  When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.  This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution. 

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AMENDMENT XVIII Passed by Congress December 18, 1917. Ratified January 16, 1919. Repealed by amendment 21.  Section 1.  After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.  Section 2.  The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.  Section 3.  This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

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AMENDMENT XIX Passed by Congress June 4, 1919. Ratified August 18, 1920.  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 sex.  Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. 

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AMENDMENT XX Passed by Congress March 2, 1932. Ratified January 23, 1933.  Note: Article I, section 4, of the Constitution was modified by section 2 of this amendment. In addition, a portion of the 12th amendment was superseded by section 3.  Section 1.  The terms of the President and the Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.  Section 2.  The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.  Section 3.  If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.  Section 4.  The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.  Section 5.  Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October following the ratification of this article.  Section 6.  This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission. 

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AMENDMENT XXI Passed by Congress February 20, 1933. Ratified December 5, 1933.  Section 1.  The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.  Section 2.  The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or Possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.  Section 3.  This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

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AMENDMENT XXII Passed by Congress March 21, 1947. Ratified February 27, 1951.  Section 1.  No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.  Section 2.  This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress. 

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AMENDMENT XXIII Passed by Congress June 16, 1960. Ratified March 29, 1961.  Section 1.  The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as Congress may direct:  A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least populous State; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the States, but they shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors appointed by a State; and they shall meet in the District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment.  Section 2.  The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. 

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AMENDMENT XXIV Passed by Congress August 27, 1962. Ratified January 23, 1964.  Section 1.  The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay poll tax or other tax.  Section 2.  The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

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AMENDMENT XXV Passed by Congress July 6, 1965. Ratified February 10, 1967.  Note: Article II, section 1, of the Constitution was affected by the 25th amendment.  Section 1.  In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.  Section 2.  Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.  Section 3.  Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.  Section 4.  Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.  Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

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AMENDMENT XXVI Passed by Congress March 23, 1971. Ratified July 1, 1971.  Note: Amendment 14, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by section 1 of the 26th amendment.  Section 1.  The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.  Section 2.  The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

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AMENDMENT XXVII Originally proposed Sept. 25, 1789. Ratified May 7, 1992.  No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of representatives shall have intervened.

The Constitution - The Bill of Rights

The Constitution - The Bill of Rights: A Transcription

Note: The following text is a transcription of the first ten amendments to the Constitution in their original form. These amendments were ratified December 15, 1791, and form what is known as the “Bill of Rights.”


The Preamble to The Bill of Rights

Congress of the United States
begun and held at the City of New-York, on
Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine.

THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.

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 Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all, or any of which Articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution; viz.

ARTICLES in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution.



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Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.


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Amendment II

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.


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Amendment III

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.


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Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.


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Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.


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Amendment VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.


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Amendment VII

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.


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Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.


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Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.


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Amendment X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.


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Source

The Constitution of the United States

The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription

Note: The following text is a transcription of the Constitution in its original form.



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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.


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Article. I.

Section. 1.

All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Section. 2.

The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.

The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.

Section. 3.

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies.

No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.

Section. 4.

The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.

Section. 5.

Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.

Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal.

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

Section. 6.

The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.

Section. 7.

All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States: If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it.If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.

Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.

Section. 8.

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

• To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
  
  
• To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
  
  
• To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
  
  
• To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
  
  
• To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
  
  
• To establish Post Offices and post Roads;
  
  
• To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
  
  
• To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
  
  
• To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;
  
  
• To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
  
  
• To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
  
  
• To provide and maintain a Navy;
  
  
• To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
  
  
• To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
  
  
• To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
  
  
• To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;—And
  
  
• To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Section. 9.

The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another; nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

Section. 10.

No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it’s inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.


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Article. II.

Section. 1.

The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List 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 shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing 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. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President.

The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.

The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:—“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Section. 2.

The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.

Section. 3.

He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.

Section. 4.

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.


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Article. III.

Section. 1.

The judicial Power of the United States shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.

Section. 2.

The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;—to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;—to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;—to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;—to Controversies between two or more States;—between a State and Citizens of another State;—between Citizens of different States;—between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.

The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.

Section. 3.

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.


————————————————————————————————————————

Article. IV.

Section. 1.

Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.

Section. 2.

The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.

A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.

No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.

Section. 3.

New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.

The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution 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.

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.

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 State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

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.

The Word, “the,” being interlined between the seventh and eighth Lines of the first Page, the Word “Thirty” being partly written on an Erazure in the fifteenth Line of the first Page, The Words “is tried” being interlined between the thirty second and thirty third Lines of the first Page and the Word “the” being interlined between the forty third and forty fourth Lines of the second Page. 

Attest William Jackson Secretary

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 Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names,

G °. Washington
Presidt and deputy from Virginia

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

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

Link to Image

Source

The Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription

————————————————————————————————————————

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.—Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. 
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. 
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: 
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. 
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. 
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

————————————————————————————————————————

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

Column 1
Georgia:

  Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton

Column 2
North Carolina:

  William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn

South Carolina:

  Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton

Column 3
Massachusetts:

John Hancock

Maryland:

Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:

George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

Column 4
Pennsylvania:

  Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross

Delaware:

  Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean

Column 5
New York:

  William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris

New Jersey:

  Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark

Column 6
New Hampshire:

  Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple

Massachusetts:

  Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:

  Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery

Connecticut:

  Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott

New Hampshire:

  Matthew Thornton

Link to Image

Source


Link to Federalist Papers

Ten Commandments

Taken from Wikipedia.

The Ten Commandments

1. Roman Catholic and
Orthodox Christianity

The official Catholic and Orthodox Christian understanding of the Ten commandments is as follows:

(Deuteronomy, RSV)

The first three commandments govern the relationship between God and humans.

1. "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments." - The text of what Catholics recognize as the first commandment precedes and follows the "no graven images" warning with a prohibition against worshipping false gods. Some Protestants have claimed that the Catholic version of the ten commandments intentionally conceals the biblical prohibition of idolatry. But the Bible includes numerous references to carved images of angels, trees, and animals (Exodus 25:18-21; Numbers 21:8-9; 1 Kings 6:23-28l 1 Kings 6:29ff; Ezekiel 41:17-25) that were associated with worship of God. Catholics and Protestants alike erect nativity scenes or use felt cut-outs to aid their Sunday-school instruction. (While not all Catholics have a particularly strong devotion to icons or other religious artifacts, Catholic teaching distinguishes between veneration (dulia) -- which is paying honor to God through contemplation of objects such as paintings and statues, and adoration (latria) -- which is properly given to God alone.)
2. "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain." -- The moral lesson here involves more than simply a prohibition of swearing; it also prohibits the misappropriation of religious language in order to commit a crime, to participate in occult practices, or blaspheming against places or people that are holy to God.
3. "Observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your manservant, or your maidservant, or your ox, or your ass, or any of your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your manservant and your maidservant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out thence with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day." - Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christians do not refrain from work on Saturday, the Sabbath, because of their interpretation of Mark 2:23-28. In that verse, Jesus defends his disciples for plucking corn on the Sabbath, saying, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath." Furthermore, Jesus Himself broke the Sabbath by commiting acts of charity on that day. The Catholic Church recognizes Sunday as a fitting day to worship since it commemorates the day that God raised Christ from the Dead; however, it has never conflated Sunday and the Sabbath as later Protestant thinkers did. (For more information on this topic, please see the Catholic Encyclopedia's entry on the Sabbath at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13287b.htm or Samuele Bacchiocchi's From Sabbath to Sunday which is available online here.).

   
   The next group of commandments govern public relationships between people.
   
   

4. "Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you; that your days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with you, in the land which the LORD your God gives you." - This commandment emphasizes the family as part of God's design, as well as an extended metaphor that God uses for his relationship with his creation.
5. "You shall not kill." - Since respect for life includes an obligation to respect one's own life and the lives of people under one's protection, it is legitimate to use force -- even fatal force -- against the threats of an agressor who cannot be stopped any other way. While Catholic teaching recognizes the right of states to execute criminals when necessary to preserve the safety of citizens, the Church argues that other methods of protecting society (incarceration, rehabilitation) are increasingly available in the modern world; thus, there are now few if any cases that really necessitate capital punishment.
6. "Neither shall you commit adultery." - For Catholics, marriage is a sacrament; unlike most Catholic sacraments, which are performed by a priest, in marriage, the husband and wife convey sanctifying graces upon each other. For the Orthodox, marriage is conferred by the priest, but is still seen as a sacred bond. Adultery is the breaking of this holy bond, and is thus a sacrilege.
7. "Neither shall you steal."
8. "Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor."

   
   These last two commandments govern private thoughts.
   
   

9. "Neither shall you covet your neighbor's wife"
10. "and you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's."

Moreover, within the Catholic tradition, the Commandments are also seen as general "subject headings" for moral theology, in addition to being specific commandments in themselves. Thus, the commandment to honor father and mother is seen as a heading for a general rule to respect legitimate authority, including the authority of the state. The commandment not to commit adultery is traditionally taken to be a heading for a general rule to be sexually pure, the specific content of the purity depending, of course, on whether one is married or not. In this way, the Ten Commandments can be seen as dividing up all of morality.

---

2. Protestant Christianity

There are many different denominations of Protestantism, and it is impossible to generalise in a way that covers them all. However, this diversity arose historically from fewer sources, the various teachings of which can be summarized, in general terms.

Lutherans, Reformed and Anglicans, and Anabaptists all taught, and their descendents still predominantly teach that, the ten commandments have both an explicitly negative content, and an implied positive content. Besides those things that ought not be done, there are things which ought not be left undone. So that, besides not transgressing the prohibitions, a faithful abiding by the commands of God includes keeping the obligations of love. The ethic contained in the Ten Commandments and indeed in all of Scripture is, "Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and mind, and soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself", and, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

Lutherans, especially, influentially theorized that there is an antithesis between these two sides of the word of God, the positive and the negative. Love and gratitude is a guide to those under the Gospel, and the prohibitions are for unbelievers and profane people. This antithesis between Gospel and Law runs through every ethical command, according to Lutheran understanding.

The Anabaptists have held that the commandments of God are the content of the covenant established through Christ: faith is faithfulness, and thus, belief is essentially the same thing as obedience.

Reformed and Anglicans have taught the abiding validity of the commandments, and call it a summation of the "moral law", binding on all people. However, they emphasize the union of the believer with Christ - so that the will and power to perform the commandments does not arise from the commandment itself, but from the gift of the Holy Spirit. Apart from this grace, the commandment is only productive of condemnation, according to this family of doctrine.

Modern Evangelicalism, under the influence of dispensationalism, commonly denies that the commandments have any abiding validity as a requirement binding upon Christians; however, they contain principles which are beneficial to the believer. Dispensationalism is particularly emphatic about the dangers of legalism, and thus, in a distinctive way de-emphasises the teaching of the law. Somewhat analogously, Pentecostalism and the Charismatic movement typically emphasizes the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the freedom of the Christian from outward commandments, sometimes in antithesis to the letter of the Law. Quakers and pietism have historically set themselves against the Law as a form of commandment binding on Christians, and have emphasized the inner guidance and liberty of the believer, so that the law is fulfilled not merely by avoiding what the Law prohibits, but by carrying out what the Spirit of God urges upon their conscience.

For those Christians who believe that the Ten Commandments continue to be binding for Christians, their negative and positive content can be summarized as follows:

Typical Protestant view

Exodus 20:

Preface: vs 1-2
Implies the obligation to keep all of the commandments of God, in gratitude because of the abundance of his mercy
Forbids ingratitude to God and denial that he is our God.

1. vs 3.
   Enjoins that God must be known and acknowledged to be the only true God, and our God; and, to worship him and to make him known as he has been made known to us
   Forbids not worshiping and glorifying the true God as God, and as our God; and forbids giving worship and glory to any other, which is due to him alone
2. vs 4-6
   Requires receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire, all such religious worship and ordinances as God has appointed; and zeal in resisting those who would corrupt worship; because of God's ownership of us, and interest in our salvation.
   Prohibits the worshiping of God by images, or by confusion of any creature with God, or any other way not appointed in his Word.
3. vs 7
   Enjoins a holy and a reverent use of God’s names, titles, attributes, ordinances, Word, and works.
   Forbids all abuse of anything by which God makes himself known. Some Protestants, especially in the tradition of pacifism, read this Commandment as forbidding any and all oaths, including judicial oaths and oaths of allegiance to a government, noting that human weakness cannot foretell whether such oaths will in fact be vain.
4. vs 8-11
   Requires setting apart to God such set times as are appointed in his Word. Many Protestants are increasingly concerned that the values of the marketplace do not dominate entirely, and deprive people of leisure and energy needed for worship, for the creation of civilised culture. The setting of time apart from and free from the demands of commerce is one of the foundations of a decent human society. See Sabbath.
   Forbids the omission, or careless performance, of the religious duties, using the day for idleness, or for doing that which is in itself sinful; and prohibits requiring of others any such omission, or transgression, on the designated day.
5. vs 12
   The only commandment with explicitly positive content, rather than a prohibition; it connects all of the temporal blessings of God, with reverence for and obedience to authority, and especially for father and mother.
   Forbids doing anything against, or failing to give, the honor and duty which belongs to anyone, whether because they possess authority or because they are subject to authority.
6. vs 13
   Requires all lawful endeavors to preserve our own life, and the life of others.
   Forbids taking away of our own life, or the life of our neighbor, unjustly; and, anything that tends toward depriving life.
7. vs 14
   Enjoins protection of our own and our neighbor’s chastity, in heart, speech, and behavior.
   Forbids all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions.
8. vs 15
   Requires a defense of all lawful things that further the wealth and outward estate of ourselves and others
   Prohibits whatever deprives our neighbor, or ourselves, of lawfully gained wealth or outward estate.
9. vs 16
   Requires the maintaining and promoting of truth between people, and of our neighbor’s good name and our own, especially in witness-bearing.
   Forbids whatsoever is prejudicial to truth, or injurious to our own, or our neighbor’s, good name.
10. vs 17
    Enjoins contentment with our own condition, and a charitable attitude toward our neighbor and all that is his, being thankful for his sake that he has whatever is beneficial to him, as we are for those things that benefit us.
    Forbids discontent or envy, prohibits any grief over the betterment of our neighbor's estate, and all inordinate desires to obtain for ourselves, or scheming to wrest for our benefit, anything that is his.

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