ARTICLE 6 Supreme Law
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. (1)
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 – Ratification
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,
G°. Washington Presidt. and deputy from Virginia
Delaware
- Geo: Read
- Gunning Bedford jun
- John Dickinson
- Richard Bassett
- Jaco: Broom
Maryland
- James McHenry
- Dan of St Thos. Jenifer
- Danl. Carroll
Virginia
- John Blair
- James Madison Jr.
North Carolina
- Wm. Blount
- Richd. Dobbs Spaight
- Hu Williamson
South Carolina
- J. Rutledge
- Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
- Charles Pinckney
- Pierce Butler
Georgia
- William Few
- Abr Baldwin
New Hampshire
- John Langdon
- Nicholas Gilman
Massachusetts
- Nathaniel Gorham
- rufus King
Connecticut
- Wm. Saml. Johnson
- Roger Sherman
New York
- Alexander Hamilton
New Jersey
- Wil: Livingston
- David Brearley
- Wm. Paterson
- Jona: Dayton
Pennsylvania
- B Franklin
- Thomas Mifflin
- Robt. Morris
- Geo. Clymer
- Thos. FitzSimons
- Jared Ingersoll
- James Wilson
- Gouv Morris
Attest William Jackson, Secretary
(1) Elbridge Gerry objected that the August 21 proposal only gave the new Congress the “power” rather than the obligation to pay back the debt. He feared that this wording would allow Congress to neglect the rightful return on bonds due to the creditor “class of citizens.”
While Edmund Randolph agreed that the United States was still liable for its obligations, he maintained that the “new Govt” was one of enumerated powers and thus would have only the power given to it by the Constitution.* Without an explicit grant of constitutional power, the federal government would be in the strange position of not having the authority to pay off the debts still owed by the country.
Following a motion by Gouverneur Morris on August 25, the Convention changed the clause from a grant of power to Congress to an obligation of the United States. The change was then accepted by the Convention, which split the power to “pay the Debts,” leaving it in Article I, Section 8, from the obligation to uphold “debts” and “Engagements,” moving the latter to Article VI.
*This will be further discussed regarding amendment 10.
Why was the number of states needed to ratify the Constitution different from the number of states needed to revise the Articles of Confederation?
During the Articles of Confederation period all thirteen states were required to make amendments. All states were considered independent and sovereign at this time. Many of these states distrusted central government so in order to create this coalition the amendment process was made in order to make it extremely difficult to change the agreement of power sharing after it was ratified. Congress was only able create foreign policy and could only step in state disputes only if there was a serious issues between states, not within them.
The Articles of Confederation had some serious issues around taxing and revenue generation. Most attempts to amend failed to get all 13 states to agree. They realized the need to allow the Constitution to be amended without requiring every state to agree, since zero amendments passed in six years.
They did believe in majority rule and that the federal government should not have full power (still a lot of distrust of central government) so they changed the requirement from all states to two-thirds of the states in the union.
The Bill of Rights drafted in 1789 and ratified in 1791 is a great example of the success of the newly ratified Constitution. These first ten amendments were a direct result of the power to amend our Constitution and was used to further limit the central authority of the federal government.
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