US Constitution (1983: Doomsday)

The US Constitution is the founding document that establshed the form and function of the government of the United States of America. It was drafted in 1987 and amended with its first ten amendments as a "Bill of Rights" when some of the thirteen states required such enumerated guarantees. In 1791 it was ratified and became the law of the land.

It would recieve 17 more amendments, most of which just clarified statements of the 1791 document. One amendment would nullify an earlier one and one would finally become law nearly two centuries after it was introduced! In 1991, two hundred years later, a group of citizens wishing to continue the legend that had become the United States of America, met in Torrington, Wyoming, to draft a revision.

The Revision of 1991 (PUSA)

 * Article 1, Section 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second 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. No state may restrict the right the right of Electors to vote based on race, sex, or station in life. All citizens of the states having reached an age of eighteen may vote in all federal elections. (This amendment replaces the 15th, 19th, 24th and 26th Amendments of the original document.)


 * Article 1, Section 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature electors thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote. Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may, at the pleasure of the Legislature of the State, make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature a special election called by the Executive be held, at which shall then fill such Vacancies shall be filled. (Amended to reflect the 17th Amendment).


 * Article 1, Section 4. The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of choosing Senators. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day 3rd day of January. (changed by the 20th Amendment, which follows as additional Sections of this Article)


 * Article 1, Section 5. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.


 * Artilce 1, Section 6. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.


 * Article 1, Section 7. The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.


 * Article 1, Section 8. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place. (27th Amendment): No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.


 * Original Sections 5 through 10 renumbered Section 9 to Section 14.


 * Article 2, Section 1. The Executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his term during the next 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, by popular vote in the congressional districts on secret ballots 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 determine by majority vote the appointment of each district's choice for both offices.


 * The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not lie an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall An independent accounting firm, from another state, shall count the votes of each district to determine a winner and shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for districts won by 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 choose 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 choose the President. But in choosing 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 choose from them by Ballot the Vice-President. (The electoral college is replaced by officially contracted counters, and the vice president is a separate office on the same ballot with the president as provided by the 12th Amendment).


 * The Congress may determine the Time of choosing 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.


 * (22nd Amendment): No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.


 * 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.


 * (25th Amendment):
 * Section 1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.


 * Section 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.


 * Section 3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.


 * Section 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
 * Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.


 * Article 4, 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


 * (Negated by the 14th Amendment).


 * The Original Bill of Rights, articlulated as Amendments 1 through 10, are included as Articles 8 though 17.


 * Article 9. (2nd Amendment)  A well regulated Militia, The defence of the populace against maleficence, both domestic and foreign, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
 * Article 18 = 11th Amendment
 * 12th Amendment - see Article 2, Section 1
 * 13th Amendment


 * Article 19 = 14th Amendment
 * 15th Amendment - see Artilce 1, Section 2
 * Article 20 = 16th Amendment
 * 17th Amendment - see Article 1, Sectiton 3
 * 18th Amendment


 * 19th Amendment - see Article 1, Section 2
 * Article 21 (20th Amendment), Section 2. See Article 1, Section 4
 * 21st Amendment


 * 22nd Amendment - Article 2, Section 1
 * Article 22 (23rd Amendment), Section 1. The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct: A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least populous State; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the States, but they shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors appointed by a State; and they shall meet in the District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment For purposes of governnance, the district shall be considered a city within the boundaries of its surrounding states were it not the district. If the district is within the boundaries of more than one state, then the city is to be so partitioned. The popular vote of the district shall be apportioned according to its partitions, if so divided.
 * 24th Amendment - see Article 1, Sectiom 2
 * 25th Amendment - see Article 2, Section 1
 * 26th Amendment - see Article 1, Section 2
 * 27th Amendment - see Article 1, Section 8