article IV - Addresses cooperation of states
Article IV (bold, underline & italics added)
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.
Map of the 50 states in the Union
article V - Addresses amendment process
Article V (bold, underline & italics added)
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 - addresses law of the land, oaths of office
Article VI (bold, underline, italics added)
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.
U.S. Constitution - Supreme Law of the Land
Article VII - addresses ratification of constitution
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.
Photo - Signing the Constitution - September 17, 1787 - Ratified June 17, 1788
George Washington presided over the signing of the U.S. Constitution. The American flag hangs on the wall on the right, with thirteen stars to represent the thirteen united states. Artist: H.C. Christy (source: loc.gov).
See biographies of the signers for details of the brave men pictured who risked their lives for a dream of what could be under self-rule.
U.S. Constitution 101
Does the Constitution Give Citizens Their Rights and Liberties?
No.
The Constitution guarantees them.
The people had all their rights and liberties before they made the Constitution.
The Constitution was formed, among other purposes, to make the people's liberties secure
- secure not only as against foreign attack but against oppression by their own government.
The People set specific limits upon their national government and upon the States, and reserved to themselves all powers that they did not grant.
The Ninth Amendment declares:
"The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."
(source: U.S. Constitution Sesquicentennial Commission, established by a Joint Resolution of the Congress of the United States, approved August 23, 1935).
What is meant by the term "Constitution"?
A Constitution embodies the fundamental principles of a government.
Our constitution, adopted by the sovereign power [the People], is amendable by that power only.
To the constitution all laws, executive actions, and judicial decisions must conform, as it is the creator of the powers exercised by the departments of government.
When Did The Constitution Take Effect?
The Constitution became binding upon nine States by the ratification of the ninth State, New Hampshire.
June 21, 1788 (Art. VII)
• After New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify, the Confederation Congress established March 4, 1789, as the date to begin operating under the Constitution.
(source: U.S. Constitution Sesquicentennial Commission, August 23, 1935).
In what order did the States ratify the Constitution?
The Constitution would take effect once it had been ratified by nine of the thirteen state legislatures — unanimity was not required
Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, and New York.
After George Washington had been inaugurated on April 30, 1789, Rhode Island (5/29/90) and North Carolina (11/29/89) ratified.
Federalist v Anti-Federalist
An Anti-Federalist was against the ratification of the U.S. Constitution as written because they feared a Federal government with greater powers would encroach on an individual's and State's Liberties and Freedoms and become tyrannical.
A Federalist was a person who was for the new U.S. Constitution, and a stronger Federal government body.
Federalists James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay wrote articles, or letters which were published in local newspapers in defense of the proposed Constitution.
These writing were called the Federalist Papers.
Eighty-five (85) articles outlined not only reasons for the necessity of a Federal Constitution, but also explained their thinking, planning and intentions of the rights and prohibitions found in the language of the U.S. Constitution.
Federalist Papers - Article No. 10, warns of the dangers of factions
No. 51, which explains the structure of the government structure of checks and balances, to protect the rights of the people.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/our-government/the-constitution/