"A nation can survive its fools,
and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason
from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable,
for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the
traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his
sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in
the very halls of government itself. For the traitor
appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to
his victims, and he wears their face and their
arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in
the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he
works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the
pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that
it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear."
Marcus Tullius Cicero (42 B.C.)
Article VI.
Article VII.
-
- Clause 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:
- Clause 2:
- 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.
- Clause 3:
- 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 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.
- Clause 4:
- 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.
- Clause 5:
- 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.
- Clause 6:
- 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.
- Clause 7:
- 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.
- Clause 8:
- 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."
-
- Clause 1:
- 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 Offences against the United States,
except in Cases of Impeachment.
- Clause 2:
- 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.
- Clause 3:
- 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.
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 Adjournment, 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.
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.
The Constitution 1
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