e legislatures, and all executive and judicial
officers both of the United States and of the several States, 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 United States."

(4) "No person shall be a senator or representative in Congress, or
elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or
military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having
previously taken an oath as a member of Congress, or as an officer of
the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an
executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution
of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion
against the same, or given aid and comfort to the enemies thereof. But
Congress may, by a vote of two thirds of each House, remove such
disability."

The purpose of the clause was to exclude from office all those who had
sworn, as officers of the State or the nation, to support the
Constitution of the United States, and who afterward engaged in war
against the Union. An act of Congress enabling them to hold office was
called a removal of their disabilities. This clause of the
Constitution is practically void as regards all past offenses, as the
disabilities of nearly all to whom it applied have been removed by
Congress.

POWERS OF CONGRESS.--Congress has power:

(1) To _levy and collect taxes_, duties on imported goods, and revenues
from articles of manufacture, "to pay the debts and provide for the
common defense and general welfare of the United States."

(2) "To _borrow money_ on the credit of the United States."

The usual method of borrowing money is to issue government bonds, which
are promises to pay the sums specified in them at a given time, with
interest at a given rate. The bonds are sold, usually at their face
value, and the proceeds applied to public purposes. United States
bonds can not be taxed by a State.

(3) "To _regulate commerce_ with foreign nations, and among the several
States, and with the Indian tribes."

(4) "To establish a uniform rule of _naturalisation_, and uniform laws
on the subject of bankruptcies, throughout the United States."

(5) "To _coin money_; regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin;
and fix the standard of weights and measures."

(6) "To provide for the _punishment of counterfeiting_ t