I couldn't find specifics regarding your question, Chief, and am not a lawyer, but the following Articles seem to allow wiggle room; Article IV, Section 1, and Section 3 paragraph 2. Article VI, paragraphs 1 and 2. Article VII, paragraph 3, recognizes 1787 as the twelth year of the independence of the United States of America, from which one could assume a certain continuity. Scholars among us will certainly be able to shed more light. Stan