Article One of the United States Constitution establishes the legislative branch of government, Congress, which includes the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Article establishes the manner of election and qualifications of members of each House. In addition, it outlines legislative procedure and indicates the powers of the legislative branch. Finally, it establishes limits on federal and state legislative power. Article One is the longest of the seven Articles forming the original United States Constitution. Amendments to Article One, unlike amendments to other articles, are restricted by the Constitution. No amendment made prior to 1808 could affect the first and fourth clauses of Section Nine. The former clause concerns prevented Congress from prohibiting the slave trade until 1808; the latter required direct taxes to be apportioned among the states according to their populations. Furthermore, the Constitution precludes Congress from depriving a state of equal representation in the Senate without its consent.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_One_of_the_United_States_Constitution

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

711: Umayyad troops led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad landed at Gibraltar, beginning the Moorish invasion of Iberia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibraltar)

1789: George Washington took office as the first President of the United States. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington)

1948: The Organization of American States was established in Bogotá, Colombia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_of_American_States)

1975: Liberation Day in Vietnam: North Vietnamese troops captured Saigon, ending the Vietnam War. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reunification_Day)

1993: CERN announced that the World Wide Web would be free to everyone. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CERN)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment. When I have clarified and exhausted a subject, then I turn away from it, in order to go into darkness again." -- Carl Friedrich Gauss (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss)