Since it is an election year - part 6

Today we cover the final three articles of the Constitution; Article V - Amendments, 

Article VI - Covering debts created before ratification, and 

Article VII - The ratification process.

"Among the features peculiar to the political system of the United States, is the perfect equality of rights which it secures to every religious sect."
James Madison, letter to Jacob de la Motta, August 1820

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 it's 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. 
  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,

Tomorrow - The Bill of Rights

Since it is an election year - Part 5

Article 4 - The full faith and credit clause as well as certain rights guaranteed to the states, several of which have been superceded in the past century.

"A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicity."  Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address

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.]* 

*Changed by the Thirteenth Amendment.

  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. 

Since it is an election year - part 4

We now got to article 3 regarding the Supreme Court.

"Can the liberties of a nation be sure when we remove their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people, that these liberties are a gift from God?" - Thomas Jefferson

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.]* 

*Changed by the Eleventh Amendment. 
  
  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. 

Since it is an election year - Part 3.

We now start on Article 2 of the Constitution.  Presidential powers and duties.  This also includes information regarding impeachment.  Very interesting reading.

"The language of the Constitution cannot be interpreted safely except by reference to the common law and to British institutions as they were when the instrument was framed and adopted." --- William Howard Taft President of the United States and Chief Justice SCotUS.

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.]*

*Changed lay the Twelfth Amendment. 

  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.]*

*Changed by the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. 

  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 Offenses 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 Adjoumment, 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.