CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 17

rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emanci-
pation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be
held illegal and void.

SECTION 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appro-
priate legislation, the provisions of this article.

ARTICLE XV.*

SECTION 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall
not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on
account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude—

SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article
by appropriate legislation.

RATIFICATIONS OF THE CONSTITUTION.

The Constitution was adopted by a convention of the States, Septem-
ber 17, 1787, and was subsequently ratified by the several States, in the
following order, viz:

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 20, 1788.

North Carolina, November 21, 1789.

Rhode Island, May 29, 1790.

*The fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States was pro-
posed to the legislatures of the several States by the Fortieth Congress on the
27th of February, 1869, and was declared, in a proclamation of the Secretary of
State, dated March 30. 1870, to have been ratified by the legislatures of twenty-
nine of the thirty-seven States. The dates of these ratifications (arranged in
the order of their reception at the Department of State) were: From North
Carolina, March 5, 1869; West Virginia. March 3. 1869; Massachusetts, March
9-12. 1869; Wisconsin, March 9. 1869; Maine, March 12, 1868; Louisiana, March
5, 1869: Michigan, March 8. 1869; South Carolina, March 16, 1869; Pennsylvania,
March 26, 1869; Arkansas, March 30, 1869; Connecticut, May 19, 1869; Florida,
June 15. 1869; Illinois. March 5, 1869; Indiana. May 13-14, 1869; New York,
March 17-April 14. 1869 (and the legislature of the same State passed a resolu-
tion January 5, 1870. to withdraw its consent to it); New Hampshire, July 7,
1869; Nevada, March 1, 1869; Vermont, October 21, 1869; Virginia, Octpber 8,
1869; Missouri, January 10, 1870; Mississippi, January 15-17, 1870; Ohio, Janu-
ary 27, 1870; Iowa, February 3, 1870; Kansas, January 18-19, 1870; Minnesota,
February 19, 1870; Rhode Island. January 18, 1870; Nebraska, February 17,
1870; Texas. February 18. 1870. The State of Georgia also ratified the amend-
ment February 2, 1870.
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