The civics are great for the grammatical articles and syntax, and all the more worthwhile as spellcheck error-free in American English as today.
I have done all updating from internal evidence — the civics as they have been written until the present.
Text curation is to bring the content to a time. It is not to correct or change the original. Here we have an example, please try to “spot the difference”.
We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Thoreau and the Constiution
In Henry David Thoreau’s time, supporters of slavery invoked the Constitution. The ■Civil Disobedience quotes ■Daniel Webster (1782 – 1852, not the dictionary one),
“Because it was a part of the original compact, — let it stand”.
Slavery never was part the agreement to make the Union. “The Constitution we now present” — was to George Washington’s eyes the seven original articles. The Bill of Rights, habeas corpus, provision against attainder, or requirement for the Grand Jury — none would have a clause excluding slaves from the legal privilege.
Nor would the habeas corpus require citizenship.
The Constitution continues to have a language shape as “to import”. Some Americans helped their family or friends, hence the Latin im-porto might tell, to bring in. The government had no business with ship owners or people traders in Africa.
Resources
National Archives, ■The Constitution,
The Library of Congress, ■John Carter print,
US Senate, ■Constitution of the United States.
Downloads, original document facsimiles:
■Constitution Parchment Page 1, Constitution Parchment Page 2, Constitution Parchment Page 3, Constitution Parchment Page 4 ,
■John Carter Print Page 1, John Carter Print Page 2.
BILL OF RIGHTS, AMENDMENT XI, AMENDMENT XII, AMENDMENT XIII, AMENDMENT XIV PAGE 1, AMENDMENT XIV PAGE2, AMENDMENT XV, AMENDMENT XVI, AMENDMENT XVII, AMENDMENT XVIII, AMENDMENT XIX, AMENDMENT XX PAGE 1, AMENDMENT XX PAGE 2, AMENDMENT XXI, AMENDMENT XXII, AMENDMENT XXIII, AMENDMENT XXIV, AMENDMENT XXV PAGE 1, AMENDMENT XXV PAGE 2, AMENDMENT XXVI, AMENDMENT XXVII PAGE 1, AMENDMENT XXVII PAGE 2, AMENDMENT XXVII PAGE 3.
Update grammar description
Jump to ■Carter Layout Page 1
Jump to ■Carter Layout Page 2
Spelling
The preamble word shape defence is associated with British English today; defense is standard American English. The update has all spellings as in American English today.
Electors or electors
Article I Section 2.
Big letter Electors mean select people, as those in the Electoral College. The update has electors for US citizens in general elections. At the time the Constitution was written, words often were capitalized just because they were nouns.
The grammatical article
The grammatical article was often phrasal. If there was “of”, people did put “the”.
“The death of the President”
The ■12th Amendment says,
… in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President.
■Carter yet has
… the case of removal, death, resignation;
■the parchment original shows the same.
■John Carter, the printer, was Benjamin Franklin’s apprentice.
The citizens or citizens
It was probably the definite article to encourage the 14th amendment:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.
We may look up Article IV Section 2:
The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States.
The definite article might suggest a kind or type of people. The 14th amendment would say, All — the updated Article IV Section 2 says,
Citizens of each State shall be entitled …
Between the people and the government
Article III Section 2.
… to controversies between between a State and citizens of another State, between citizens of different States, between citizens of the same State claiming lands under grants of different States, and between a State, or the citizens thereof, and foreign States, citizens or subjects.
The Judges and Judges
Article III.
… the Judges, both of the Supreme and Inferior courts shall hold their offices during good behavior;
Article VI.
… the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby.
The expectation never could be for select judges only to follow good behavior. Article VI adds,
… 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.
The phrase judicial officers embraces judges, where all judges would be generally judges — a/any judge in the singular — because to say all people, we could say people as well.
My update capitalizes the ■Tripartite (the Legislative, Executive, Judiciary, Articles 1-3):
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and 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; judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.
Article III.
Judges, both of the Supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior.
“Cession and acceptance”
Article I Section 8: Carter print would have the acceptance, yet we may compare Article IV Section 4:
The United States shall guarantee, to every State in this Union, a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and, on application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic violence.
Article V tells about legal prediction for potentially repeated action, unlike in cases of violence.
The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution; or, on the application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing amendments.
My update has cession and acceptance, as there are no predictions for the District repeatedly to become formed again.
A junction
Updated Article IV:
… no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by a junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned, as well as of the Congress.
Carter Layout Page 1
The images have markup for the Carter layout compared with the parchment.
■ to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility: insure as in the parchment; Carter ensure was printed in the time people also wrote enquire; ensurance is an obsolete form today; pragmatically, a print on a wall cannot real-time or immediately ensure: only active people could do that; the more extended time perspective in which the Constitution works much of the time, people can effectively argue about the rights in case, and this is a greatest insurance ever;
■ provide for the common defense: the spelling of today;
■ legislative powers herein granted: the parchment does not separate the phrase with commas, and they are not indispensable;
■ the qualifications requisite for electors: small letter, as different from the Electoral College;
■ New York, New Jersey, North Carolina and South Carolina: state names are no longer spelled with dashes;
■ they shall be divided, as equally as may be, into three classes: commas for clarity and emphasis, more like the syntax of today;
■ any office of honor, trust, or profit: today, honour is associated with British English more, and the parchment spelling is honor;
■ The times, places, and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State: punctuation as today;
(original Carter: The times, places and manner, of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be... | parchment: The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be…);
■ Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members, and a majority… : punctuation as today;
(original Carter: Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications, of its own members, and a majority… | parchment: Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members, and a majority…);
■ civil office under the authority of the United States which shall
have been created, or the emoluments whereof… : a defining clause as today;
(original Carter and parchment: any civil office under the authority of the United States, which shall have been created);
■ the emoluments whereof shall have been increased: the language has changed from shapes as encreased, both in Carter and the parchment;
■ If after such reconsideration two-thirds of that House shall agree: the spelling of today uses the dash for proportion;
■ but all duties, imposts, and excises shall be… : punctuation as today;
(original Carter: but all duties, imposts and excises, shall be… | parchment: but all duties, imposts and excises shall be);
■ To establish a uniform rule of naturalization: the language has changed in sounding from an history, an uniform;
■ To establish post offices and post roads: the language has changed from spelling as post-office, post-road;
■ To exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases whatsoever, over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular States and acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the Government of the United States: the matter is not that of predicting on repeated activity, as the Constitution does not provide for another place becoming the seat of the government; (original Carter and parchment: cession and the acceptance);
■ No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State.
No preference… : distinct paragraphs as in the parchment;
■ and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress: spelling has changed from the shape controul;
■ No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any duty of tonnage… : the parchment has a correction, the Congress, and the effect would be co-temporaneous anyway: business would not act in expectation that next Congress agrees to tonnage as there is now.
Article II.
■ The Executive power: highlight on the Tripartite, the Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary.
■ But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken… : the parchment has the comma, and it does agree with the punctuation as today;
■ the person having the greatest number of votes of the Electors
shall be the Vice President: the parchment has no comma, and it is not indispensable;
(original Carter: the person having the greatest number of votes of the Electors, shall be the Vice President);
■ and the day on which they shall give their votes, which day shall be the same throughout the United States: punctuation as today, a comma rather than the semicolon, Carter and parchment;.
■ neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years: a defining clause as in the standard of today, and in the parchment already.
Carter Layout Page 2
■ 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: Carter has the semicolon where the parchment comma would be more usual today; I keep the Carter comma after the verb form will, for emphasis;
■ the Executive departments: capitalized for the Tripartite;
■ pardons for offenses: spelling as in American English today;
■ provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur: the spelling standard of today;
■ public ministers: not specific enough with regard to the Tripartite, not capitalized;
■ all other officers of the United States whose appointments… : a defining clause as today;
■ But the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers as they think proper, in the President alone, in courts of law, or in heads of departments: courts and heads are named for their prerogatives; the use is more as for Congress in the first amendment; the President, naturally, is the one in office as elected for a term of years;
■ on impeachment for and conviction of, treason, bribery: the comma as in the parchment and punctuation today as well;
■ The Judicial power of the United States: Tripartite capitalization;
■ and in such inferior courts: the Tripartite does not operate on inferiority; it functions on prerogatives;
■ Judges, both of the Supreme and inferior courts: Carter and parchment definite article dropped, to avoid associations with type or selection as described above;
■ public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State: closer to punctuation as today, the parchment does not have the Carter comma;
■ Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States: Carter and parchment definite article dropped, to avoid associations with type or selection as described above;
■ A person charged in any State: the parchment does not have the Carter comma;
■ No person held to service: the parchment does not have the comma;
■ valid to all intents and purposes as part of this Constitution: punctuation as usual today;
(original Carter: which, in either case, shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution; || parchment: which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution);
■ Provided that: the parchment does not have the comma, and punctuation as usual today would agree as well;
(original Carter: Provided, that);
■ and judges in every State shall be bound thereby: individually as officers; capitalization might form some redundancy, as in context all judges are part the Tripartite, no one else can legally judge; the definite article is dropped as above, also for judges. We may compare,
■ The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and 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: the capitalization is for a type of country function;
■ year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven: year of our Lord is not the date format anymore.
Where the typesetting encourages, words are arranged according to space in line, without change in content, as in the two paragraphs of Article V above, or in Article I, for distinct paragraphs on State powers under Congress.
The State of Rhode Island dropped the “Providence Plantations” from the name, and I think departure from reminiscences of slavery is very cool.
Carter print of George Washington’s letter has spelling updated to advisable, indispensable, and honor; punctuation: situation, extent, habits, and particular interests, as is regular today.