Constitution of United States of America

“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.”

Representation within the House is determined by a state’s population and is thus unfixed. Indentured servants are counted alongside free people while enslaved people are considered “three-fifths” of a full person, and Indigenous peoples not subject to taxation are uncounted. The 14th Amendment, passed after the Civil War, modified this clause by stating, “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.”

“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.”

Drawing on the English Parliamentary tradition, the Constitution specifies conditions under which officials, including the president, can be impeached and removed from office. The punishment accompanying an impeachment conviction may not go beyond removing the convicted from office and barring them from holding future office. This passage provides for a balance of power since Congress cannot act like a court of law. The judiciary will conduct trial and punishment of the individual if they have broken other laws.

“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.”

Article 1 gives state legislatures the ability to determine details of congressional elections. This clause has given rise to the controversial independent state legislatures theory that holds states may pass elections laws that contradict their state constitutions. Therefore, state supreme courts have no authority to rule on cases involving these elections. Such a theory precipitated the Supreme Court case Moore v. Harper in which North Carolina legislators challenged the state supreme court’s ruling that struck down gerrymandered election maps. A ruling on this case is due in the summer of 2023.

“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.”

Article 1 provides for disciplinary action, the most severe of which is expulsion, to be taken against members of Congress for “disorderly Behaviour” [sic] and violation of the house’s rules of conduct. However, two-thirds of the members in the chamber must be in favor of disciplinary action. Twenty members have been expelled from Congress to date. For example, Congress expelled Senator William Blount for treason 10 years after the Constitution became law, and multiple Confederates were expelled in 1861. Jim Traficant, a representative from Ohio, was subject to expulsion in 2002 for financial crimes.

“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.”

Article 1 contains this “origination clause” that says the House of Representatives drafts bills to raise revenue, but the text does not specify what is meant by a “bill to raise revenue.” Congress’s current interpretation of this clause holds that the House can implement tax code or import duty alterations and that the clause applies to funds collected by the federal government that are not payments for specific services (“The Origination Clause of the U.S. Constitution: Interpretation and Enforcement.” 15 Mar. 2011). The Supreme Court has clarified that “revenue” must serve general costs and that a revenue bill’s foremost purpose is to generate income.

“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.”

The final clause of Article 1, Section 8 confirms Congress as the federal legislative body of the republic. It establishes Congress’s freedom to make federal law. These laws will allow Congress to perform the preceding powers in this section, like the ability to declare war, as well as other federal prerogatives.

“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.”

This constitutional clause prevented Congress from limiting or banning the trading of enslaved people for 20 years. It is evidence of brewing tensions among the Framers over the issue of slavery and its fate. This clause shows that the Constitution’s authors viewed slavery primarily as a state rather than federal issue.

“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.”

This section rejects monarchy in the wake of the American Revolution by disallowing titles of nobility. It also strives to ensure loyalty to the Union on the part of officials by forbidding them to accept gifts, fees, or offices from foreign powers.

“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.”

The 12th Amendment modified the original process for electing the president and vice president, as specified in Article 2. Members of the electoral college originally voted for and ranked candidates for the presidency so that the man receiving the most votes became president while the second-ranked candidate became vice president. The Framers did not foresee the formation of the political parties that developed by the election of 1796 when John Adams, of the Federalist Party, won the presidency, while Thomas Jefferson, of the Democratic-Republican Party won the vice presidency. By the election of 1800, a full-blown crisis developed when the two parties put forth party tickets of candidates for president and vice president, instead of candidates running alone. This development caused a tie broken in the House of Representatives and necessitated the passage of the 12^th Amendment, which reads, in part, “[…] they [the electors] shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President […].”

“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.”

The Constitution establishes a system of checks and balances between the three branches of government. Executive officials, like the president, may be impeached by Congress and removed from office under specific conditions. This practice is inherited from the English Parliamentary tradition. Circumstances that may lead to impeachment and removal from office include treason, which the Constitution goes on to define, bribery, or the unspecified and debatable “high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” By making these specifications, the Framers sought to ensure that presidents would not be removed due to political disagreements between the executive and Congress.

“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.”

This “fugitive slave clause” does not use the term “slave,” indicative of the Framers conflicting views of slavery and its future. It prohibits enslaved people (as well as indentured servants) from gaining freedom by escaping from one state to another. This clause thusly shows that the Framers believed slavery to be a state-regulated matter rather than a federal one, something that eventually contributed to the Civil War. The 13th Amendment’s ratification in December, 1865 invalidates this clause since this amendment ended slavery, except in cases of criminal conviction.

“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.”

This constitutional clause establishes the United States as a federal republic and prohibits states from operating under an alternative. As such, the federal government is obligated to protect each state from both external and domestic threats.

“[…] 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.”

States are guaranteed two senators in Congress. Moreover, this clause prohibited the government from altering specific parts of the Constitution prior to 1808. For example, this clause bans the ratification of any amendment that would restrict or end the slave trade, thus protecting the concerns of delegates at the Constitutional Convention from states heavily dependent on slavery.