Constitution of the People of

the HoukeAi Nation

Preamble

On this Thirty-First day of May in the Year of the Lord, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Sixty Three, the people of the HoukeAi Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations, each acting in its own sovereign and independent character and right, desiring to form a permanent federal Republican form of Government; to establish justice, insure domestic freedom, independence, tranquility, and to permanently secure those sacred blessings of liberty on ourselves and our children and those who come after us; invoking the grace and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the HoukeAi Nation.

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The words first coming before those of the Great Constitution of the United States are clear. The Declaration of Independence says it is the right and duty of any people oppressed or unserved by a government to abolish it and form such new government as best serves their interest. In all of this is a great peculiarity: for the Government of the United States now wars with the newly founded Confederacy. The former warring against the latter solely to preserve “the Union.” How can this be? We see a government founded on this right and duty fighting against its own people to keep them from exercising the same right and duty for the same purposes.

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Freedom to form up and associate must always be balanced with the freedom to dissolve and disassociate. If there is no freedom to disassociate then there is no freedom at all.  Can “Union” extinguish freedom? We do not believe so and say this here.

Another peculiarity we consider is this: The two great Powers we take words from are at war. Yet their Constitutions are so nearly identical we are left to wonder how they find their way to a battlefield. If the war is indeed to preserve a Union of the states, we hold fast to the belief that any clan, band or tribe which freely associates with our Constitution is always equally free to leave and the will of such people must always be not only protected, but cherished in our hearts. For the natural right of freedom is born in the heart of man and given to him only by the Great Holy Spirit of God. No man may take, abolish or alter it.

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We nevertheless now take words from two warring nations living among us, the People of the United States and the People of the Confederate States. We merge greatly similar words each have written as their Constitutions. Those nations have themselves taken from the words of Great Men of the past and present in Europe and elsewhere in making these separate Constitutions. The HoukeAi see the wisdom of the ages in all these words, and the promise they offer any free People for securing a safe and prosperous future. Respectfully, we take freely from the beliefs of others and join with them in this common pursuit of freedom and liberty of mankind. In order to best illuminate the path we now walk from the past to our common future, we confidently believe these words will best secure the blessings of the Great Holy Spirit of the one Almighty God of all men, upon our People.

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Article 1. - The Legislative Branch

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Section 1 - The Legislature & Electors

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1. All legislative powers herein delegated shall be vested in a general Congress of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. No person not a fully enrolled citizen of any one or more of the Federated Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations, shall be allowed to vote for any officer, civil or political, Tribe, Band, Nation or national government. Only one vote may be cast in any election and citizens of more than one Clan, Band Tribe or Nation must register as an elector in only one of them.

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Section 2 - The House

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1. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several Tribes, Bands or Nations; and the electors in each instance shall be citizens, sixteen years of age or older, each of a Federated Clan, Band,  Tribe, or Nation, and have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of their respective Legislature. 

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2. No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained the age of twenty-five years, and be a citizen and elector of one of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations, and who shall  when elected, be a bona fide inhabitant in or on the lands of the respective political body in which he shall be chosen.

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3. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several Tribes, Clans, Bands or Nations, which may be included within this Federation, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of citizens, and excluding all persons who are not citizens, who have first given their oath to uphold and defend this Constitution. The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every two-thousand, but each Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation, regardless of enumeration of members shall have at least one Representative.

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4. When vacancies happen in the representation from any Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies, and in the interim appoint a citizen to fill the seat until such election shall be had. The method of interim section shall be left to each such Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation.

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5. The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment; except that any judicial or other Federal officer, resident and acting solely within the limits of any Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation, may be impeached by a vote of two-thirds of both branches of the Legislature thereof.

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Section 3 - The Senate

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1. The Senate of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations shall be composed of two Senators from each Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation, chosen for six years by the Legislature thereof, at the regular session next immediately preceding the commencement of the term of service; and each such Senator shall have but one vote.

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2. Immediately after they shall be assembled, in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes. The seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year; of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year; and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year; so that one-third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen by resignation, or otherwise, during the recess of the Legislature of any Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation, the Executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies.

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3. No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained the age of thirty years, have given her or his oath to uphold and defend this Constitution, and be a citizen of one or more of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations; and who shall  when elected, be a full-time bona fide inhabitant on or in the lands of the Tribe, Band or Nation for which he shall be chosen for at least three-years prior thereto.

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4. The Vice President of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations shall be president of the Senate, but shall have no vote unless they be equally divided.

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5. The Senate shall choose their other officers; and also a president pro tempore in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the office of President of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations.

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6. The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be sworn upon their oath. When the President of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside; and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present. In any impeachment trial the order of proceedings shall comport in all ways with the requirements of the due process of the law and this Constitution.

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7. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold any office of honor, trust, or profit under the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations; but the party convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment according to law. The right of impeachment exists only during such time as the person subject thereto shall be an actual office holder. Impeachments must never, and shall not be, pre-emptive nor retroactive.

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8. No person who seeks or obtains any elective office of this Nation and Federation shall ever take, solicit, bargain for, obtain or receive anything of value from any person or other entity whatsoever in exchange for any consideration, , able treatment, advantage or benefit through the actions of such elected or prospective public official. Such persons violating this provision must and shall be promptly impeached in the House and tried in the Senate. Upon conviction they shall be barred in perpetuity from holding any elected public office or appointment to any public office or other position. There shall be no appeal to any Court from a finding of guilt or innocence by the Senate; its decision is unassailable and immutable.

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Section 4 - Elections, Meetings

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1. The times, places, and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation by the Legislature thereof, subject to the provisions of this Constitution; but the Congress may, at any time, by law, make or alter such regulations, except as to the times and places of choosing Senators. For each general election of the Nation, such election shall be held in the first week of October of the election year. When elections are held, no person may be arrested, detained, harassed, hindered nor impeded in any way when traveling to a polling place. Violation of this provision by any public official shall constitute grounds for immediate removal from office by any Court of competent jurisdiction and imposition of a fine not to exceed 100 ounces of fine gold; a term of imprisonment at hard labor for a term not to exceed ten years, or both. Any person so charged shall be entitled to a jury trial as in all other criminal prosecutions.

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2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year; and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall, by law, appoint a different day.

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Section 5 - Membership, Rules, Journals, Adjournment

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1. Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each House may provide.

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2. Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish or censure its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds of the whole number, expel a member for good cause shown.

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3. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment temporarily require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either House, on any question, shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered on the journal. Any period of secrecy imposed hereby shall not exceed the period of twenty-four months, or if imposed in wartime the duration of any declared war.

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4. Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

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Section 6 - Compensation

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1. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the Treasury of the Federated Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations . They shall, in all cases, except treason, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place. No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the Federated Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no person holding any office under the Federated Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations  shall be a member of either House during his continuance in office. But Congress may, by law, grant to the principal officer in each of the Executive Departments a seat upon the floor of either House, with the privilege of discussing any measures appertaining to his department.

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Section 7 - Revenue Bills, Legislative Process, Presidential Veto

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1. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments, as on other bills.

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2. Every bill which shall have passed both Houses, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the President of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations; if he approves, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that House, it shall become a law. But in all such cases, the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each House respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress, by their adjournment, prevent its return; in which case it shall not be a law. The President may approve any appropriation and disapprove any other appropriation in the same bill. In such case he shall, in signing the bill, designate the appropriations disapproved; and shall return a copy of such appropriations, with his objections, to the House in which the bill shall have originated; and the same proceedings shall then be had as in case of other bills disapproved by the President.

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3. Every order, resolution, or vote, to which the concurrence of both Houses may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him; or, being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two-thirds of both Houses, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in case of a bill.

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Section 8 – Limited Powers of Congress

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The Congress shall have only these limited powers and none other -

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1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises for revenue, necessary to pay the debts, provide for the common defense, and carry on the Government of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations; but no bounties shall be granted from the Treasury; nor shall any duties or taxes on importations from foreign nations be laid to promote or foster any branch of industry; and all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations.

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2. To borrow money on the credit of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations, provided: such borrowed monies shall be repaid within a period of three-years.

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3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations, and with the denizen non-affiliated peoples or tribes; but neither this, nor any other clause contained in the Constitution, shall ever be construed to delegate the power to Congress to appropriate money for any internal improvement intended to facilitate commerce; except for the purpose of furnishing lights, beacons, and buoys, and other aids to navigation upon the coasts, and the improvement of harbors and the removing of obstructions in river navigation; in all which cases such duties shall be laid on the navigation facilitated thereby as may be necessary to pay the costs and expenses thereof.

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4. To establish uniform laws of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies, throughout the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations; but no law of Congress shall discharge any debt contracted before the passage of the same.

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5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures. Legal tender shall always and only be fine gold or fine silver coin. Congress may provide that the Department of the Treasury hold such specie for safekeeping and emit a bill or note therefor which shall be a serial numbered receipt that allows the bearer to claim for physical possession upon demand, such gold or silver for which it shall have been issued. No other receipt, bill or note shall ever be legal tender in payment of debt.

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6. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities or current coin of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations, or theft, embezzlement or stealing of such valuables from the same.

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7. To establish post offices and post routes; but the expenses of the Post Office Department, after the 1st day of September in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, shall be paid out of its own revenues.

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8. To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.

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9. To constitute when necessary and prudent, limited jurisdiction tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court.

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10. To define and punish only piracies and felonies committed solely on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations; or, crimes which intentionally deprive or deny any federal Citizen of the Federated Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations of their property, liberty, life and-or all other sacred rights given them by the Almighty God which also are thereafter secured and guaranteed to the People by this Constitution.

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11. To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water.

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12. To raise and support armies; but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years.

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13. To provide for and maintain a navy, a militia and a light horse cavalry.

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14. To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces.

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15. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions.

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16. To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations; reserving to the Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations, respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.

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17. To exercise exclusive legislation and jurisdiction, in all cases whatsoever, over such reservation lands, as may by current or future cession of one or more Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the Government of the Federated Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations; and to exercise like authority over all ancestral places, or lands now owned, claimed, or purchased by the consent of the Legislature of the Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings; and,

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18. To make only such narrowly stated and limited laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations, or in any department or officer thereof. No such law shall ever expand any power granted the government beyond such grants as are set forth above; any law made in violation of this restriction shall be void ab initio and have no effect. Only Congress shall have any power to make any law, rule or regulation affecting the People.

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Section 9 - Limits on Congress, Bill of Enumerated Rights

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1. The holding of slaves or other persons in bondage from any of the slaveholding Tribes, Bands or Nations or Territories of these united Tribes, Bands or Nations, is hereby forbidden; and Congress is required to pass such laws as shall effectually prevent the same. Any of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations holding any persons as slaves or bonded servants shall emancipate same on or before the effective date of this Constitution. Clans, Bands, Tribes or Nations which have moved onto ancient lands or places of the HoukeAi Nation who allow slavery or hold slaves shall immediately cease that abhorrent practice and emancipate such people they wrongfully hold, detain, enslave or otherwise deprive of their full liberty, regardless of the exact means of the deprivations.

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2. Any person held as a slave, found dwelling or held in any of the lands of Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations, but not themselves held by any member thereof, shall be forthwith emancipated from prior servitude and will, at their sole election, be made a full freedman member of the Clan, Tribe, Band, Nation or this federation as a citizen. Congress within the same period shall enact legislation to prohibit the introduction of slaves. No person emancipated shall be precluded from exercising and enjoying any and all rights enjoyed by other federal Citizens, whether they elect to enroll in any Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation or not.

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3. The right of a person to protection by way of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended at any time nor for any reason. No person shall interfere with nor impede any other person in the prosecution of such a writ or application for such a writ under pain of imprisonment for such term of years as Congress prescribe; by perpetual banishment, forfeiture of lands and property, or any combination thereof.

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4. No bill of attainder, nor ex post facto law shall ever be passed. If passed in violation hereof, it shall be void ab initio and declared as such by any Court of the land to which such a Petition shall be prosecuted.

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5. No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken and then only by a legislative enactment made law. No tax shall ever be imposed on any lands or structures imposed or erected on such lands, if owned by any Citizen of the Nation or Federation, or any Clan, Ban, Tribe or Nation thereof.

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6. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation, except by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses.

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7. No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation over those of another.

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8. No money shall be drawn from the federal Treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and the federal government as well as any regular Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation thereof shall each give a regular annual account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money and same shall be published from time to time, but at least annually. Upon due lawful demand, any Citizen may inspect and copy down from any record or paper held by any office of the several Clans, Bands, Tribes or Nations of the federation.

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9. Congress shall appropriate no money from the Treasury except by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses, taken by yeas and nays, unless it be asked and estimated for in a written budget proposal, by some one of the heads of departments and submitted to Congress by the President; or for the purpose of paying its own expenses and contingencies; or for the payment of claims against the Federated Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations, the justice of which shall have been judicially declared by a tribunal for the investigation of claims against the Government, which it is hereby made the duty of Congress to establish.

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10. All bills appropriating money shall specify in Federal current money the exact amount of each appropriation and the purposes for which it is made; and Congress shall grant no extra compensation to any public contractor, officer, agent, or servant, after such contract shall have been made or such service rendered. No public official nor any blood-relative of the first sanguinity shall ever personally benefit from any such contract, directly or indirectly.

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11. No title of nobility other than Chief or Elder shall be granted by the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations; and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation.

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12. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

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13. A well-regulated militia, and, a well-armed and free people, being necessary to the security of any free People, Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation, requires that the right of the people to keep and bear arms of any nature shall not be infringed, limited, taxed, recorded nor interfered with either directly or indirectly. All men from the age of fourteen years shall keep and maintain in good order, and at the ready, such arms as may be required if called upon to join in a militia muster, or call for duty by any of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations to defend same against war, invasion or calamity.

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14. No soldier or militiaman shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the free and voluntary consent of the owner; nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law, and then only upon timely, fair, just and equitable compensation therefor.

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15. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against any warrantless searches and seizures shall never be violated; and no warrants for search or seizure shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, carefully examined, tested and approved by a neutral and detached Judge of a court of record, and it must precisely and particularly state and describe the exact place to be searched and the exact persons or exact things to be seized. Nothing else may be taken thereby save by the crime of theft, which is equally forbidden. Thereafter any aggrieved person may compel the government to promptly provide a copy of all statements, affidavits, depositions or testimonies which were ever proffered or used to support issuance of such warrant or warrants. Any aggrieved person may bring a suit for injury or loss caused by improper search or seizure and no enactment making an officer other than a Judge immune from such suits shall ever be made. Judges are immune only for their actions taken during official Court proceedings and ancillary, intimately related judiciary functions.

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16. No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury consisting of at least twenty-four men, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of liberty, life or limb; nor be compelled, in any criminal case to be a witness against himself; nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property without exact due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

17. In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of twelve members of the Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation, and in the district wherein the crime shall have been alleged to be committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

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18. In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed ten ounces of fine gold or its equivalent in fine silver, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved; and no fact so tried by a jury shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the Federation, than according to the rules of common law.

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19. Bail shall never be denied. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel or unusual punishments inflicted. Imprisonment shall not be had except for crimes of great violence. There can be no presumption against bail and denial of such should occur only rarely, if at all, and then only in the most heinous of capital cases where the preliminary showing of likelihood of guilt is overwhelming and the likelihood of fleeing or infliction of more violence by the person held shall be established with compelling evidence. Any such decision shall be reexamined regularly while a defendant remains detained without bail.

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20. Every law, or resolution having the force of law, shall relate to but one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title. No law shall be valid under any circumstance whereby any object thereof shall be inconsistent with the title of the Bill. No Bill shall be introduced nor acted upon unless its subject matter shall be described clearly in its Title. No Title shall be excessively long nor conjugated to include or express legislation elements which in the confinements of the Bill shall be wholly related.

 

Section 10 - Powers prohibited to Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations

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1. No separate Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, or ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts; or grant any title of nobility.

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2. No Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation on imports, or exports, shall be for the use of the Treasury of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of Congress.

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3. No Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty on tonnage, except on seagoing vessels, for the improvement of its rivers and harbors navigated by the said vessels; but such duties shall not conflict with any treaties of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations with foreign nations; and any surplus revenue thus derived shall, after making such improvement, be paid into the common treasury. Nor shall any Tribe, Band or Nation keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another Tribe, Band or Nation, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay. But when any river divides or flows through two or more Tribes, Bands or Nations they may enter into compacts with each other to improve the navigation thereof.

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Article 2. - The Executive Branch

Section 1 - The President

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1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of the Federated Clans, Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations of the HoukeAi Nation and Federation. He and the Vice President shall hold their offices for the term of four years; but the President shall not be re-eligible after holding a second term of office. The President and Vice President shall be elected as follows:

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2. Each Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the Tribe, Band or Nation may be entitled in the Congress; but no Senator or Representative or person holding an office of trust or profit under the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations shall be appointed an elector.

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3. The HoukeAi Nationa and Federation electors shall meet in their respective Clans Tribes, Bands or Nations  and vote by ballot for President and Vice President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same Tribe, Band or Nation with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit, sealed, to the seat of the Government of. the Federated Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations, directed to the President of the Senate; the President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted; the person having the greatest number of votes for President shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers, not exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President the votes shall be taken by Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations ~ the representation from each Tribe, Band or Nation having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations, and a majority of all the Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President, whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the 4th day of March next following, then the Vice President shall act as President, as in case of the death, or other constitutional disability of the President.

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4. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice President shall be the Vice President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have a majority, then, from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice.

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5. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice President of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations.

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6. The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations.

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7. No person except a natural-born citizen of the Federated Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations, and a citizen thereof at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the limits of the Federated Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations, as they may exist at the time of his election.

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8. In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President; and the Congress may, by law, provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what officer shall then act as President; and such officer shall act accordingly until the disability be removed or a President shall be elected.

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9. The President shall be allotted a salary during his term of office and receive same for his services. His compensation shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected; and he shall not receive within that period any other emolument, payment except for reimbursement of expenses laid out, from the Federated Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations, or any of them.

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10. Before he enters on the execution of his office he shall take the following oath or affirmation: "I do solemnly swear before man and the Almighty God’s Great Holy Spirit that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations, and will if necessary lay down my life and fortune in order to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and the People of this Nation."

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Section 2 - Civilian Power over Military, Cabinet, Pardon Power, Appointments

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1. The President shall be Commander-in-Chief of the Light Horse Cavalry and Navy of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations, and of the Militia of the several Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations, when called into the actual service of the Federated Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the Executive Departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices; and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations, except in cases of impeachment.

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2. He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties; provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate shall appoint, ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the Federated Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations  whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law; but the Congress may, by law, vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.

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3. The principal officer in each of the Executive Departments, and all persons connected with the diplomatic service, may be removed from office at the pleasure of the President. All other civil officers of the Executive Departments may be removed at any time by the President, or other appointing power, when their services are unnecessary, or for dishonesty, incapacity. inefficiency, misconduct, or neglect of duty; and when so removed, the removal shall be reported to the Senate, together with the reasons therefor.

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4. The President shall have power to fill all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session; but no person rejected by the Senate shall be reappointed to the same office during their ensuing recess.

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Section 3 – Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation of the Federation, Convening Congress

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1. The President shall, from time to time, give to the Congress information of the state of the Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations of the Federation, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them; and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the Nation apart from the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations. They retain their authority to appoint such officers of their respective bodies in order to serve their official functions.

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Section 4 - Disqualification

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1. The President, Vice President, and any civil officers of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations, shall be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

Article 3. - The Judicial Branch

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Section 1 - Judicial powers

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1. The judicial power of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may, from time to time, ordain and establish. The judges, both of the Supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at regular times, receive for their services a compensation which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.

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Section 2 - Trial by Jury, Original Jurisdiction, Jury Trials

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1. The judicial power shall extend to all cases arising under this Constitution, the laws of the Federated Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to which the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations shall be a party; to controversies between two or more Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations; between a Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation and citizens of another Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation, where the Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation is plaintiff; between citizens claiming lands under grants of different Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations; and between a Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation or the citizens thereof, and foreign Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations, citizens, or subjects; but no Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation shall be sued by a citizen or subject of any foreign Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation.

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2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation shall be a party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction both as to law and fact, with such exceptions and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.

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3. The trial of all crimes, in any case where liberty or purse shall be at risk of impairment, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury, and such trial shall be held in the Tribe, Band or Nation where the said crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any Tribe, Band or Nation, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed.

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Section 3 - Treason

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1. Treason against the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.

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2. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason; but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted. No person convicted of any crime shall ever be deemed to be forfeit of any rights, except to hold public office, secured by this Constitution nor any other common law right deemed endowed by the Great Holy Spirit of Almighty God.

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Article 3. - The Judiciary and the Courts of the Nation

 

Section 1 - Judicial Powers 

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The judicial Power of the Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations,, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.

 

Section 2 - Powers of the Judiciary

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1. The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;—to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;—to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;—to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;—to Controversies between two or more Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations,;—between Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations, and Citizens of other Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations,—between Citizens of different Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations,—between Citizens of the same Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations claiming Lands under Grants of different Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations, and between any Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Nations, Citizens or Subjects.

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2. In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations, shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such reasonable Regulations as the Congress shall make.

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3. The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the immediate area of the District where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any one District, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.

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4. The Supreme Court shall be the ultimate and final arbiter of this Constitution and its mandates based thereupon shall be final and binding upon all.

 

Section 3 - Treason Defined

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1. Treason against the Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations,, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

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2. The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.

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Article 4. – The Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations

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Section 1 - Each Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation to Honor all others

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1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation; and the Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.

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Section 2 – Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation citizens, Extradition

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1. The citizens of each Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations; and shall have the right of transit and sojourn in any Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation of this Federation, with their chattel and other property; and the right of property and of chattel shall not be thereby impaired by any transit tax, levy or other charge.

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2. A person charged in any Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation with treason, felony, or other crime against the laws of such Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation having jurisdiction of the crime. If a fugitive can show that such extradition is founded in an allegation that is patently unfounded or not grounded in recognizable law and fact, that person may apply for and receive asylum in the place from which extradition is sought.

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3. No slave or other person held to service or labor in any Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation or Territory outside of the Federated Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations , under the laws thereof, escaping or lawfully carried into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be extradited back to confinement or slavery or such bonded service or labor; but shall be delivered given safe harbor and freely offered admission to citizenship in the HoukeAi Nation.

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Section 3 – New Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations

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1. Other Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations may be admitted into this Federation by petition. Upon receipt of such a petition the President may by his own order recognize any new Clan or Band. Clans, Tribes and Nations may be admitted upon  recommendation of the President to the House and Senate who shall, by simple majority vote, admit or not, the petitioning Tribe or Nation. No new Clan, Band, Tribe or Nation shall be admitted except upon the solemn assurance that each such petitioner and all of its adherents and members will swear their oath to uphold and defend this Constitution. If a Petition shall have been filed in the period predating the effective date of this Constitution, then that Petitioner may be admitted under the terms and conditions of the existing Constitution provided that the Petitioner and its people agree to later give their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution in effect at the time of their Petition and this Constitution once enacted.

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2. The Congress shall have only limited power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations concerning the property of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations, including the lands thereof. No lands may be disposed of except upon popular vote of the people of the entire Nation.

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3. The Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations may acquire new territory; and Congress shall have power to legislate and provide governments for the inhabitants of all territory belonging to the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations, lying without the limits of the several Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations; and may permit them, at such times, and in such manner as it may by law provide, to form Tribes, Bands or Nations to be admitted into the Federation. In all such territory the institution of any slavery, as it now exists, shall be shunned and treated as abhorrent in the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations, and any escaped or former slaves shall be recognized and protected by Congress and by the Territorial government; and the inhabitants of the several Federated Clans, Bands,  Tribes, and Nations  and Territories shall have the right to take-in and give aid to such escaped or former slaves held any foreign Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations or Territories outside of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations.

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4. The Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations shall guarantee to every Tribe, Band or Nation that now is, or hereafter may become a member of this Federation, a republican form of government; and shall protect each of them against invasion or acts of war made upon them; and on application of the Legislature or of the Executive (when the Legislature is not in session), against domestic insurrection, rebellion, subversion or violence.

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Article 5. - Amendment

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1. Upon the demand of any two-thirds of the Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations, legally assembled in their several conventions, the Congress shall summon a convention of all the Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations, to take into consideration such amendments to the Constitution as the said Clans,Tribes, Bands or Nations  shall concur in suggesting at the time when the said demand is made; and should any of the proposed amendments to the Constitution be agreed on by the said convention ~ voting by Clans,Tribes, Bands or Nations  ~ and the same be ratified by the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several Clans,Tribes, Bands or Nations , or by conventions in two-thirds thereof ~ as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the general convention ~ they shall thenceforward form a part of this Constitution. But no Clan,Tribe, Band or Nation shall, without its consent, ever be deprived of its equal representation in the Senate.

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Article 6. - The New Federation

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Section 1 - Transition from the Existing Government

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1. The Government established by this Constitution is the successor of the Provisional Government of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations of the HoukeAi Nation, and all the laws passed by the latter shall continue in force until the same shall be repealed or modified; and all the officers appointed by the same shall remain in office until their successors are appointed and qualified, or the offices abolished.

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Section 2 - Debts of the Existing Government

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2. All debts contracted and engagements entered into before the adoption of this Constitution shall be as valid against the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations under this Constitution, as under the existing Government.

Section 3 - Supremacy of the Constitution

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3. This Constitution, and the laws of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every Tribe, Band or Nation shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any Tribe, Band or Nation to the contrary notwithstanding.

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Section 4 - Oaths of Office

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4. The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation Legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations and of the several Tribes, Bands or Nations, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations; except that any man who does not acknowledge the existence and supremacy of the Great Holy Spirit, the giver of all rights of man, shall not be admitted to any elected office, position of trust or other public office or commission.

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Section 5 - Reservation of unenumerated rights

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5. The enumeration, in the Constitution, of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people of the several Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations. The rights of the people issue from the Great Holy Spirit of the One God and cannot ever be qualified, disparaged, limited, qualified, withheld, impaired, infringed upon or questioned by the hand or word of man.

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Section 6 – Clan, Tribe, Band or Nation powers

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6. All powers not expressly delegated to the federal HoukeAi Nation by the Federated Clans, Bands, Tribes, and Nations through this Constitution, are retained by the Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations. Any powers not openly and specifically reserved to the Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations, respectively, are wholly and expressly retained by the people thereof.

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Article 7. - Ratification

 

1. The ratification by the conventions of Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations shall be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations so ratifying the same.

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2. When all Clans, Tribes, Bands or Nations shall have ratified this Constitution, in the manner before specified, the Congress under the Provisional Constitution shall prescribe the time for holding the election of President and Vice President; and for the meeting of the Electoral College; and for counting the votes, and inaugurating the President. They shall, also, prescribe the time for holding the first election of members of Congress under this Constitution, and the time for assembling the same. Until the assembling of such Congress, the Congress under the Provisional Constitution shall continue to exercise the legislative powers granted them; not extending beyond the time limited by the Constitution of the Provisional Government.  

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[Ratified and Adopted May 31, 1868]