With some amendments, the U.S. Constitution created the fundamental law of the government of the United States from 1787 to the present. It established two houses of legislature, a powerful executive, a Supreme Court, and a process for ratification and amendment.

The Constitution opens with a preamble declaring that the document has been written in the name of the "people of the United States" and that the purpose of the document is "to form a more perfect union."

Article 1 outlines the government's legislative branch. Section 1 describes the bicameral makeup of the legislature and the powers with which Congress is vested.

Section 2 concerns the House of Representatives, stipulating that members are to be elected every two years and that representation is based on population, which is to be set by a census every 10 years. To determine representation, the government will add to the number of free individuals three-fifths of the total number of "all other persons" (slaves; see three-fifths clause). (The Thirteenth Amendment [1865] freed slaves in the United States, and the Fourteenth Amendment defined citizenship to include African Americans.) Members of the House of Representatives must be at least 25 years old and citizens for seven years. The House chooses its own Speaker and has sole responsibility for impeachment.

Section 3 deals with the Senate. Each state has two senators serving six-year terms on a rotating basis so that no more than one-third of the Senate comes up for election every two years. State legislators choose the senators (this provision was changed by the Seventeenth Amendment [1913]). Senators must be at least 30 years old, citizens for nine years, and residents of the states that elected them. The vice president is to be president of the Senate, but the Senate elects all other officers of that body. The Senate has the power try impeachments; conviction will lead to removal from office.

Sections 4-6 elaborate on procedures concerning both houses, allowing the states to set conditions for the election of the legislative branch and requiring annual meetings. Both houses of the legislative branch have control over their own proceedings, and members are paid for their service. They are also immune from most arrests and prevented from holding other civil offices.

Section 7 gives the House of Representatives exclusive power to originate revenue measures, but the Senate can offer amendments. This section also allows the legislative branch to override presidential vetoes with a two-thirds majority.

Sections 8 and 9 outline Congress's broad powers to legislate on a host of issues, including declaring war and raising taxes. To ensure that it can extend these powers, the Constitution declares that Congress can "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution" the legislation. Section 9 begins by prohibiting Congress from outlawing the international slave trade, though this is stated without using the word slave.

Article 2 is about the executive, who is to be called "President of the United States." An electoral college comprising individuals selected by the states--with each state having a total number of electors equal to the number of senators plus the number of members of the House of Representatives from the state--selects the president every four years. The person with the greatest number of votes in the electoral college becomes president, and (in a clause later changed) the person with the second-greatest number of votes becomes vice president, who is to assume the presidency in the event of death or if for some reason the president cannot fulfill his duties as chief executive. If no one receives a majority, then the election goes to the House of Representatives, which votes for the president by state delegations. Only those who are natural-born citizens, or citizens at the time of the adoption of the Constitution; at least 35 years old; and residents of the United States for 14 years can become president. (The Twelfth Amendment [1804] altered electoral procedure to have separate elections for the president and vice president, and the Twenty-second Amendment [passed 1947; ratified 1951] set a two-term limit on the president.) The president has broad powers and is commander in chief of the armed forces. He can make treaties with the advice and consent of the Senate and appoint officers of the government as determined by future legislation. The president can veto laws passed by Congress--subject to a two-thirds majority override--and can be removed from office by impeachment only for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."

Article 3 establishes a Supreme Court and empowers Congress to create other inferior federal courts. Judges, as stipulated in Article 3, Section 2, are appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate and hold office "during good behavior"; they are thus exempt from specific terms or executive removal. Federal judges can only be forced from office through the impeachment process. The Constitution did not, and still does not, give the Supreme Court the power to decide on the constitutionality of laws, although at the time it was written, some people believed that such a power was implied in the Constitution, and the Supreme Court assumed that duty in 1803. The Constitution gives the Supreme Court jurisdiction over cases that derive from the Constitution, federal laws, and treaties made by the United States. The Court also has jurisdiction over maritime law and cases involving states and individuals from different states. Article 3 defines treason as levying war against the United States or supporting the nation's enemies.

Article 4 outlines additional powers of the federal government as they relate to the states. These measures stipulate that the laws in one state must be respected by the other states. This provision includes a fugitive-slave clause--using the phrase "person held to service or labor" instead of the word slave--ensuring the return of escaped slaves from one state to another. Article 4 also empowers the federal government to admit new states, guarantees a republican form of government in each state, and pledges states to protect each other in the event of invasion.

Article 5 sets up the means whereby the Constitution can be amended. This provision makes it difficult to change the Constitution but falls short of the unanimousstate requirement for amendment under the Articles of Confederation. Amendments need to be proposed by two-thirds of both houses of legislature and then ratified by either three-fourths of the state legislatures or, if Congress so deems, three-fourths of specially called state conventions. A new federal convention to consider amendments need the approval of two-thirds of the state legislatures.

Article 6 is relatively short but includes three important provisions. First, it pledges the new government to honor all contracts and debts of the previous government and thus asserts a commitment to deal with the national debt (see debt, national). Second, it proclaims that all laws and treaties of the national government are the supreme law of the land, asserting the supremacy of the national government over the state governments. Finally, Article 6 binds all government officers to an oath of office in support of the Constitution but refuses to include a religious test as a qualification for office. This provision helped to establish the separation of church and state even before the Bill of Rights.

Article 7 sets up the procedure by which state conventions ratify the Constitution and, sidestepping the amendment requirement in the Articles of Confederation, established the new government once nine states had ratified.

Although subsequently amended 27 times, the basic outlines of the U.S. Constitution remain the same as it appeared in 1787.

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