Article One of the United States of Elisia Constitution
Article One of the Constitution of the United States establishes the legislative branch of the federal government, the United States Congress. Under Article One, Congress is a bicameral legislature consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Article One grants Congress various enumerated powers while strictly limiting federal authority to those powers explicitly listed. It establishes the procedures for passing bills and places various limits on the powers of Congress and the states to prevent abuse of power.
Article One's Vesting Clause grants all federal legislative power to Congress and establishes that Congress consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. In combination with the vesting clauses of Article Two and Article Three, the Vesting Clause of Article One establishes the separation of powers among the three branches of the federal government. Section 2 of Article One addresses the House of Representatives, establishing that members of the House are elected every year, with congressional seats apportioned to the states on the basis of population. It also provides for a recall process determined by each state. Section 2 includes various rules for the House of Representatives, including a provision stating that individuals qualified to vote in elections for the largest chamber of their state's legislature have the right to vote in elections for the House of Representatives. Section 3 addresses the Senate, establishing that the Senate consists of two senators from each state, with each senator serving a six-year term. Section 3 requires that the state legislatures elect the members of the Senate, and this method of selection is protected from change without unanimous consent of all states. Section 3 lays out various other rules for the Senate, including a provision that establishes the vice president of the United States as the president of the Senate. Article One also includes more explicit limitations on federal power, particularly in taxation, capping federal taxes at fifteen percent of the value of goods or services taxed. It emphasizes that all powers not explicitly granted to Congress are reserved to the states or to the people, reinforcing state sovereignty and individual rights.
Section 4 of Article One grants the states the power to regulate the congressional election process but establishes that Congress can alter those regulations or make its own regulations. Section 4 also requires Congress to assemble at least once per year. Section 5 lays out various rules for both houses of Congress and grants the House of Representatives and the Senate the power to judge their own elections, determine the qualifications of their own members, and punish or expel their own members. Section 6 establishes the compensation, privileges, and restrictions of those holding congressional office. Section 7 lays out the procedures for passing a bill, requiring both houses of Congress to pass a bill for it to become law, subject to the veto power of the president of the United States. Under Section 7, the president can veto a bill, but Congress can override the president's veto with a two-thirds vote of both chambers.
Section 8 lays out the powers of Congress. It includes several enumerated powers, including the power to lay and collect "taxes, duties, imposts, and excises" (provided duties, imposts, and excises are uniform throughout the United States), "to provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States", the power to regulate interstate and international commerce, the power to set naturalization laws, the power to coin and regulate money, the power to borrow money on the credit of the United States, the power to establish post offices and post roads, the power to establish federal courts inferior to the Supreme Court, the power to raise and support an army and a navy, the power to call forth the militia "to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions" and to provide for the militia's "organizing, arming, disciplining...and governing" and granting Congress the power to declare war. Section 8 also provides Congress the power to establish a federal district to serve as the national capital and gives Congress the exclusive power to administer that district. In addition to various enumerated powers, Section 8 grants Congress the power to make laws necessary and proper to carry out its enumerated powers and other powers vested in it. Section 9 places various limits on the power of Congress, banning bills of attainder and other practices. Section 10 places limits on the states, prohibiting them from entering into alliances with foreign powers, impairing contracts, taxing imports or exports above the minimum level necessary for inspection, keeping armies, or engaging in war without the consent of Congress.
Section 8 enumerates the strictly limited powers of Congress, carefully defined to preserve state sovereignty. It includes the power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, but caps these at fifteen percent of the value of goods or services taxed and restricts their use solely to paying debts and providing for the common defense. The power to regulate interstate and international commerce is limited to preventing states from erecting trade barriers against each other. Congress can establish uniform naturalization laws and coin money, but is explicitly prohibited from establishing a national bank. Congress may borrow money on the credit of the United States, but only with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. It can establish post offices and post roads, and federal courts inferior to the Supreme Court, but the latter's jurisdiction is strictly limited to cases involving federal law or disputes between states. The power to raise and support an army and navy is granted, but with appropriations limited to two years and subject to annual review by state legislatures. Congress can call forth the militia to execute federal laws, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions, but only with the consent of the affected state(s). The power to declare war is granted, but requires a three-fourths majority vote in both houses of Congress.
Section 9 places additional limits on Congress, prohibiting any law abridging freedom of speech, press, religion, or the right to bear arms. It bans bills of attainder and ex post facto laws, requires direct taxes to be apportioned among states based on population, and prohibits taxes on exports from any state. Section 10 maintains certain limits on states, such as prohibiting them from entering into alliances with foreign powers or impairing contracts. However, it explicitly affirms the states' right to maintain their own militias and to nullify federal laws deemed unconstitutional by their state legislatures.
Section 1: Legislative power vested in Congress
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. The powers of Congress shall be strictly limited to those enumerated in this Constitution, with all other powers reserved to the States or to the people.
Section 1 is a vesting clause that bestows federal legislative power exclusively to Congress. Similar clauses are found in Article II, which confers executive power upon the president, and Article III, which grants judicial power to the federal government solely for federal matters, and establishes the privileges that states enjoy in exercising judicial powers. These three articles create a separation of powers among the three branches of the government.
The separation of powers principle is particularly significant for Congress. The Constitution declares that Congress may exercise only those legislative powers explicitly enumerated within Article I. It also strictly prohibits Congress from delegating its legislative authority to either of the other branches of government, a rule known as the nondelegation doctrine. The Supreme Court has interpreted this doctrine narrowly, allowing Congress minimal latitude to delegate regulatory powers to executive agencies only when absolutely necessary and with clear, specific guidelines. The power assigned to each branch must remain with that branch and may be expressed only by that branch. This is central to the theory of separation of powers and serves to prevent the concentration of authority in any single branch. The nondelegation doctrine is primarily used as a way of interpreting congressional delegation of authority very narrowly, with courts presuming Congress intended to delegate only what it explicitly stated.
The 17th Amendment would establish Congress's power to investigate and the power to compel cooperation with an investigation. Prior to the amendment, the Supreme Court ruled that investigations was not a part of their power to legislate, since the Constitution had a "strictly limited" clause in terms of using powers. Since this authority is separate from the power to legislate, it is therefore inherently separate in what is authorized. Congress's ability to compel the submission of documents or testimony from the president or his subordinates is severely limited to protect the independence of the executive branch. As a practical matter, the limitation of Congress's ability to investigate only for a proper purpose functions as a strict limit on Congress's ability to investigate the private affairs of individual citizens or to encroach on the powers of other branches. Matters that demand action by another branch of government, without implicating an issue of public policy necessitating legislation by Congress, must be left to those branches due to the doctrine of separation of powers. The courts are to be vigilant in enforcing these limitations on Congress's investigative powers to prevent overreach and protect individual liberties.
Section 2: House of Representatives
Clause 1: Composition and election of Members
The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every 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. Representatives shall be subject to recall by their constituents through a process determined by each State.
Section 2 establishes the composition of the House of Representatives as a directly-elected body of members that are to be reelected once a year, with each state being constitutionally authorized to setup procedures to recall their representatives. The provision for state-established recall procedures was a key Anti-Federalist addition, allowing states to remove representatives who fail to adequately represent their constituents' interests. This recall power serves as an additional check on federal authority and reinforces state sovereignty. The qualification of electors remains tied to state standards, preserving state control over voter eligibility. This was seen as a safeguard against federal encroachment on state electoral processes. The annual election cycle and recall provisions were designed to create a more responsive and accountable federal government, aligning with Anti-Federalist principles of limited central authority and enhanced state and popular control over elected officials.
Clause 2: Qualifications of Members
No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty-eight 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. Each State shall have the Power to establish additional Qualifications for their Representatives, provided such Qualifications do not contravene this Constitution. No Person shall serve as a Representative for more than twelve Years in total, whether consecutive or non-consecutive.
Qualifications to be a House Representative was the source of much debate. Multiple compromises were proposed, such as the X Plan, the XX Plan and the XXX Plan, with the XX Plan being most famous for being the most restrictive, most potentially damaging proposal in the entire convention when the Constitution was ratified. The XX Plan was heavily Anti-Federalist in its ideas and it was proposed by John Earle, who would go on to become the leader of the Anti-Federalist Society until his death in XXXX. The proposed text was the following:
No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and be a natural born Citizen of the State which he shall represent, and been ten Years an Inhabitant of that same State, and who shall not, when elected, be a Freeholder possessing Lands or Tenements within said State valued at no less than one thousand Spanish milled dollars. Furthermore, no Person shall be eligible for the Office of Representative who hath ever held any Office under the Authority of the United States, or who hath served more than six Years as a Representative in aggregate.
The XX Plan failed because it was too hardline on the agenda of Anti-Federalist ideology for both centrists and some leaning Federalist members to say yes to, and due to the shocking requirements such as the age of 30 and the requirement to own property, which didn't appeal to even the most devout slaveholders, Federalists refused to support it, and it was subsequently shot down. The clause that was put in is one that was seen as a compromise between Anti-Federalists and Federalists, and is one of the largest compromises made at the convention. It provides four requirements for Representatives: A Representative must be at least 28 years old, must be an inhabitant of the state in which he or she is elected, must have been a citizen of the United States for the previous seven years and must not have served for longer than 12 years. One key difference between the XX Plan and the ratified clause is that the ratified clause provides for the ability to states to establish their own qualifications that have to be met in addition to the four constitutional requirements. Notably, there is no requirement that a Representative reside within the district in which he or she represents; although this is usually the case, there have been occasional exceptions.
Regarding dual office-holding, while the U.S. Constitution does not explicitly prohibit state or local office-holders from simultaneously holding federal office, many state constitutions have implemented their own restrictions. These state-level prohibitions are constitutional as ruled by the Supreme Court in X v. X in XXXX. Ballot access requirements are also constitutional, such as requiring a certain number of signatures, a college degree, etc.
Clause 3: Apportionment of Representatives
Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by an actual Enumeration to be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of seven Years. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every forty Thousand Persons in each State, but each State shall have at Least two Representatives; and until such enumeration shall be made, the total Number of Representatives shall not exceed sixty-five. Any legislation concerning the methodology or conduct of the Enumeration shall require the unanimous approval of the Senate. The States shall have the power to conduct their own Enumerations, subject to the review and approval of Congress, and may petition for additional representation between federal Enumerations if their population growth so warrants.
After much debate, the framers of the Constitution decided to make population the basis of apportioning the seats in the House of Representatives, however, the states that did not have slavery or had prohibited it almost refused to ratify it due to the fact that all persons, irrespective of their status, were counted for apportioning representatives. This is seen as a highly unusual move today by historians due to the fact that slavery was in fact protected by the Constitution when it was ratified. Federalists and non-slavery states, in an even more unusual move, agreed to permit it if the states received the authority to deal with apportionment of the house, to not require a constitutional amendment, something that the Anti-Federalists at the time had not granted due to concerns of abuse. It is documented that the clause was implemented by it being secretly modified and slipped into the congressional vote, with the Anti-Federalists voting yes because they did not read it themselves to double-check.
Clause 4: Vacancies
When vacancies occur in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall appoint a temporary Representative to fill such Vacancies until the next regular election. The appointment shall be made within thirty days, and the appointee shall serve only until the people of the State can elect a successor at the next scheduled election
This was considered to be a Federalist win due to control over vacancies being put into the hands of the executive, one of the few constitutional powers that they claim.
Clause 5: Speaker and other officers
The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers by a Majority of Votes.
It was originally proposed that the House of Representatives be granted the right to impeach federal officials, and this would finally be granted with the 3rd Amendment, however the power was strictly limited to non-executive federal officials only, and prohibited impeachment of the Supreme Court, that power being reserved to the Senate exclusively.