Cl. 3.-Oath of Office.

shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

This is the last and closing clause of the Constitution, and inserted when the whole frame of government, with the powers hereinbefore specified, had been adopted by the convention; and it was in that form, and with these powers, that the Constitution was submitted to the people of the several States for their consideration and decision.

Ableman v. Booth, 21 How. 524.

The oath which might be exacted-that of fidelity to the Constitution is prescribed, and no other can be required. Yet the legislature may superadd to the oath directed by the Constitution such other oath of office as its wisdom may suggest.

McCulloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheat, 416.

Congress may not prescribe a test oath as a qualification for holding office, such an act being in effect an ex post facto law, and this is equally true of the State governments.

Ex parte Garland, 4 Wall. 377.

Cummings v. Missouri, 4 Wall, 323.

12703°-S. Doc. 157, 68-1-39

ARTICLE VII

RATIFICATION

ARTICLE VII.-RATIFICATION.

The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States ratifying the Same.

Date of Ratification by the Several States

On March 4, 1789, the day which had been fixed for commencing the operations of government under the new Constitution, it had been ratified by the conventions chosen in each State to consider it, as follows:

Delaware, December 7, 1787.

Pennsylvania, December 12, 1787.
New Jersey, December 18, 1787.
Georgia, January 2, 1788.
Connecticut, January 9, 1788.
Massachusetts, February 6, 1788.
Maryland, April 28, 1788.
South Carolina, May 23, 1788.
New Hampshire, June 21, 1788.
Virginia, June 26, 1788.

New York, July 26, 1788.

North Carolina: The President informed Congress on the 28th of January, 1790, that North Carolina had ratified the Constitution November 21, 1789.

Rhode Island: The President informed Congress on the 1st of June, 1790, that Rhode Island had ratified the Constitution May 29, 1790.

Vermont, in convention, ratified the Constitution January 10, 1789, and was, by an act of Congress approved February 19, 1791, "received and admitted into this Union as a new and entire member of the United States."

Effective Date

The Constitution went into effect March 4, 1789.

Owings v. Speed, 5 Wheat. 423.