Date of effect 1226 6. Time limit on ratificn 1226 21. Repeal of Eighteenth Amendment 1227 Section 1. Repeal of prohibition 1231 2. Transportation into States prohibited 1231 3. Time limit on ratification 1231 22. Presidential Tenure 1235 Section 1. Restriction on Number of terms 1237 2. Time limit on ratification 1237 Acts of Congress held unconstitutional in whole or in part by the Supreme Court of the United States 1239 Table of Cases 1257 Index 1337 THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA HISTORICAL NOTE ON FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION In June 1774, the Virginia and Massachusetts assemblies independently proposed an intercolonial meeting of delegates from the several colonies to restore union and harmony between Great Britain and her American Colonies. Pursuant to these calls there met in Philadelphia in September of that year the first Continental Congress, composed of delegates from 12 colonies. On October 14, 1774, the assembly adopted what has come to be known as the Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress. In that instrument, addressed to His Majesty and to the people of Great Britain, there was embodied a statement of rights and principles, many of which were later to be incorporated in the Declaration of Independence and the Federal Constitution.[a] This Congress adjourned in October with a recommendation that another Congress be held in Philadelphia the following May. Before its successor met, the battle of Lexington had been fought. In Massachusetts the colonists had organized their own government in defiance of the royal governor and the Crown. Hence, by general necessity and by common consent, the second Continental Congress assumed control of the "Twelve United Colonies", soon to become the "Thirteen United Colonies" by the cooperation of Georgia. It became a _de facto_ government: it called upon the other colonies to assist in the defense of Massachusetts; it issued bills of credit; it took steps to organize a military force, and appointed George Washington commander in chief of the Army.