Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the

several States, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one

or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress;

provided that no amendments which may be made prior to the year one

thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first

and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that

no State, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage

in the Senate.

ARTICLE VI

I. All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the