The U.S. Constitution

Answers From the FAQ, Page 1 This page is one of the answer pages for the USConstitution.net’s Constitutional FAQ. There have been so many questions and answers over the years, that it was best to split them among several files. If you’re looking for the question list, you can find it in three...

USConstitution.net Message Boards Advertisement Since 1997, the USConstitution.net site has had forums which allow users to talk to the Webmaster and to each other. Most messages posted to the forums still exist on the site, allowing users to review past opinions and allowing searches to access...

Committees at the Constitutional Convention Advertisement Several notable committees met during the creation of the Constitution. These committees are referred to in the Convention Topic Page and the Convention Timeline . This page used James Madison’s notes from the convention as source material...

Notes on the Amendments Advertisement Each Amendment to the Constitution came about for a reason — to overrule a Supreme Court decision, to force a societal change, or to revise the details of the Constitution. This page will give an overview of how each Amendment came to be. The process for...

Some Proposed Amendments The Constitution is a living and evolving document. One of the ways that the Constitution is changed is through the amendment process . It can be an arduous process, requiring agreement by many different segments of society and the government, and it does not always work...

Ratification of Constitutional Amendments Article 5 of the Constitution provides for the amendment of the Constitution by various means (see The Amendments Page for details). However an amendment is proposed, it does not become part of the Constitution unless it is ratified by three-quarters of the...

Common Sense Thomas Paine was born in Thetford, England, on January 29, 1737. He was raised by a Quaker father and an Anglican mother. He apprenticed as a corset maker, a profession that he drifted in and out of for many years. In 1764, he studied for and was admitted as an excise officer, though...

The United States Constitution

The United States Constitution Today’s special event: March 16, 1751, is President James Madison ‘s birthday. The Constitution is presented in several ways on this site. This page presents the Constitution on one large HTML-enhanced page. Other pages present the Constitution as a series of...

Constitución de los Estados Unidos de América

Constitución de los Estados Unidos de América A common question that I get is where to find a copy of the Constitution in Spanish. There are several translations available on the Internet, but I usually ended up referring the questioner to one site, maintained by the U.S. Department of State . In...

Advertising on USConstitution.net The U.S. Constitution Online site has always been free, and always will be. The site is not run by a big school, business, or municipality. It is run by little ole me . The site costs me an enormous amount of time, and a fair amount of money. I’m not looking for...

Constitutional Amendments Amending the United States Constitution is no small task. This page will detail the amendment procedure as spelled out in the Constitution, and will also list some of the Amendments that have not been passed, as well as give a list of some amendments proposed in Congress...

The Failed Amendments Advertisement Throughout the history of the Constitution, 27 changes have been made through the Amendment process. Amendments are not easy to pass, and several amendments have been proposed over time, but which failed to pass the second hurdle – acceptance by the states....

Constitution of the People’s Republic of China Advertisement The following is the complete text of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, as adopted on December 4, 1982. The electronic text was acquired from the The Wiretap Electronic Text Archive and was marked up for Web display...

The Boston Port Act Advertisement In 1773, the British Parliament passed the Tea Act, which allowed the British East India Company to sell tea in America without any duty. The act was partially passed because the East India Company’s imports of tea into America had declined sharply during the...

Choose a format to view the Constitution

Choose a format to view the Constitution Please choose a format to view: Enhanced: All-in-one Enhanced: One page per section Plain: All-in-one PDF: All-in-one Images All-in-one, in Spanish The Constitution is also available for viewing on a Palm device or Kindle using the standard Mobile Document...

How to Cite This Site Jump to: Citing the Constitution It is very important when writing a paper for a school project (at any level, from elementary school to graduate school) to properly cite your sources. Where did you find your information? Citations are placed in the text as footnotes or...

Civil Unions News This page is an archive of articles presented on the Current News page of the USConstitution.net site concerning Vermont’s Civil Union Law. 03/06/02 Massachusetts court to take up gay marriage The top court in Massachusetts is taking up the issue of gay marriage in a case...

Members of Congress The following is a list of the Senators and Representatives of the 112th Congress, as of January 5, 2011. If you see any discrepancies, please let me know . In the “Party” column, the following abbreviations are used: D = Democratic R = Republican I = Independent – =...

The Administration of Justice Act

Advertisement Worried by the courts that convened in America and in Massachusetts in particular, and their bias toward the colonists over their British governors, on May 20, 1774, the Parliament passed the Administration of Justice Act. It provided that the governor of Massachusetts had the...

USConstitution.net Bibliography

USConstitution.net Bibliography This site owes its existence to the thoughts and words of a great many people. This page is a list of some of the books used as references for various facts and events detailed in the site. When a book is of particular use to a page, it is noted on that page. This...