Constitution Week - Unusual Particulars From the US Constitution

For Immediate Release | Sep 17, 2011
https://olcplc.com/public/media?1316279039



Starting Saturday, September 17th, Michigan is officially celebrating the US Constitution. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder made an official proclamation setting this week as “a time for citizens of all ages to reflect on the rights, justice and unity the United States Constitution represents for America.”

As stated in the more than two hundred year old document, the Constitutional Convention sought to create a set of rules “in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity...”

The US Constitution is the foundational governing document that created the structure of the federal government. It authorized the creation of Congress, the Executive in the office of the President, and the Supreme Court. There have also been twenty-seven amendments which provide many of the rights most Americans are familiar with including the right to free speech, freedom of religion, the need for a search warrant by police officers, and the ability to bear arms.

The US Constitution also contains a number of other unusual and unknown legal aspects:

• Individuals elected to Congress must be at least 25 years of age, at least 30 years old to serve in the Senate, and at least 35 to be President. Yet citizens only need be 18 years old to vote. Article 1, Section 2; Article I, Section 3; Article II, Section 1; Amendment XXVI
  
  
• The President may be removed from office by impeachment, death, resignation, or upon a special communication transmitted from the Vice President and a majority of the principal officers of the executive departments (the Cabinet) by a written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Amendment XXV.
  
  
• Congress has the power to grant individuals the right to become legalized pirates through a “Letter of Marque and Reprisal.” Article 1, Section 8.
  
  
• Congress is also been provided the ability to coin (create), loan, borrow, and spend money collected through taxes and excises. Article 1, Section 8.
  
  
• Titles of nobility are specifically banned within the US Government. Article I, Section 9.
  
  
• To be convicted of treason, there must be the testimony of at least two witnesses. Article III, Section 3.
  
  
• The government cannot require any a private person to house and feed a solider. Amendment III.

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Philip L. Ellison, MBA, JD, Esq is an attorney, business counselor, and civil litigator with Michigan-based Outside Legal Counsel PLC. Visit his online profile at www.olcplc.com

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