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Constitution of the United States: About
The Constitution of the United States comprises the primary law of the
U.S. Federal Government. It also describes the three chief branches of
the Federal Government and their jurisdictions. In addition, it lays out
the basic rights of citizens of the United States. The Constitution of
the United States is the oldest Federal constitution in existence and
was framed by a convention of delegates from twelve of the thirteen original
states in Philadelphia in May 1787, Rhode Island failing to send a delegate.
The Constitution is the landmark legal document of the United States.
In this database, GPO Access makes available editions and
supplements from 1992 forward of Constitution Analysis and Interpretation.
The Congressional Research Service in the Library of Congress prepares
this service. Publications are released on a need basis, and there is
no set amount of time between publications. Until a new edition is published,
cumulative supplements are printed as to update information. Each new
supplement contains new information in addition to the information contained
in the previous supplement.
A keyword search can be done in any single publication or any combination
of the three options. In addition, files can be downloaded directly from
any of the publications through the "download files" link.
All files are available in ASCII text, and most are also available in
Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files.
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