Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1848-03-08

declared by their own most able lawy ers
and jurists only two years ago.
The democratic Senators and Represn-
tatives used their utmost exertion 10 purge
the bill Of its unconstitutional provsion.-
We read to them from the Ordinance Of
1887, under which our State Government
was formed. as follows: .'So soon as there
shall be five thousand free male Inhabitants,
! they shall receive authority, with time and
place, to elect Rrpre resentai,res from coun-
ties or tolcnships." Showing that the Or
dinance contemplated elections only by
counties or Townships. And that the con-
vention which formed our constitution, ac-
ting under, ,and by virtue Of this Ordinance.
4-coasidered. that theys could only choose be-
between these two methods. That they
must provide for elections either by town.
ships or byecounties. This very question
was then agitated, and the convention deci-
ded to elect by counties This will ex-
plain the full meaning of the constitution.
We read TO our political opponents the pro-
visions of the constitptien requiring the
Representatives ''to he apportioned among
the countless" We also read from the
constitution 'that the Representative shall
have resided within the limits the COUNTY
in which he shall be chosen one year next
preceding his election" Showing clearly
and emphaticaly that the constitution re.
qured only q residence in the county; and
that if the county might be divided, the
Representative might, under The cons,i,u-
ton, be chosen in one district and resdB
in another, so that he only ''liyed ,pilhm
The county.'
We also read from the constitution that
''the Representatives. shall be chosen annn-
ally BY THE CITIZENS OF EACH COUNTY,
REsPEcTlvly, on Tho second Tuesday Of
October" Thus showing that all the citi-
zens of the county had right to vote for
the Representatives Of that county whether
divided or not; and that if divided; under the
constitution, the citizens Of one part of the
county, might vote for Representatives
living in another district, provided that
other was part Of the same county.
| Io shew'that our construction of the
constitution was the true construction, and
the one put upon it by the trainers Of the
constitution themselves, we read from Sec
oftae schedule to the constitution, that
''until the first enumeration shall be made,
as directed in the second section Of the first
art, the county of Hamilton shall be en-
titled to four Senators and eight Represen-
tatives &C."
We also showed our opponsAts, that at
the first enumeration made only two years
after the adoption of the rconstialioa,
! legislature then gave it the same Seas. ruc-
tion. And that FOR almost half century
succeeding legislatures had thus understood
and regarded it. The legislature had nj
each, succeeding apportionment, required
the enumeration Of white male inhabitants
10 be returned only by counties. That such
even had been the return this very year,
and that no legislature had ever thought of
providing such an enumeration, as would
permit of dividing counties. That the elec.
lion laws required tha poll books of elec-
tions to be returned to the county clerks,
and If q county could be divided into two
districts, ,inasmuch as the county clerk could
only live in one, the returns Of elections in
one Of the districts must be made to an Off
Ger living in another district, and that even
the certificate of the Representatives elec-
tion, by virtue of which he would obtain
his seat in the Legislature, must be derived
from clerk residing in another district.
But to fortify ourselves still more, we
presented to the majority the opinions of
some of the first men Of their party, of a
Cowen, Mason, and q Phelps, men of the
highest legal requirements, and who in va
rious ways had been intimately con.
nected with the history Of our State and
the operations of our government. These
opinions were expressed in the Morgan
county contested election case, and were
sustained by the unanimous vote of every
whig member ofthe House Of Representa-
tives, in the spring Of 1856. The decis-
ion then made was That no member could
have seat in the General Assembly, un-
less voted for ty the citizens of the whole
county, and haring majority Of all The
Uotes cast IN that county.
Gen. Sampson Mason, of Springfield,
then and now leading whig and a distin-
guished lawyer, was member Of the Le-
islature, and from his report, us chairman
Of the committee on Privileges and Elec-
| tions in the case thus presented, we quote
| 1t will be found in the Ohio State Journal
Of January 5, 1916, and has a direct bear
ing on the consttutionality of dividing coun-'
ties for representative purposes:
r. ;,ounties are expressly made elective
| districts by the Sd section Of the lst article
/ of the constitution, which is in those worries.
I 'The representatives shall be chosen annu-
ally by The citizens Of each county respec.
lively, on the second Tuesday Of October
"Now, the right of the Legislature to
change the bounds Of counties, so as to in
crease or diminish the extent Of their ter
ritdry, is conceded, and yet fhis power is
precisely co-incident with tho power to
change tho boundaries Of election districts.
For the several counties are constituted
election districts by the constitution, any
changes that may be made in the bounda-
ry lines of counties, must necessarily work
a corresponding change in election districts
themselves. 1t would surely be difficult
task to maintain a distinction between
county, composing as it does, an election
district by itself; for the two things are, in
contemplation, in the constitution, one, and
identical; and yet it is on a disiinct'o"
,chich indicates no difference PerceptlOle to
the mind, that the objections to the votes of
Homer, Marion, and the seven sections. is
made to derive all its support. To suppose
that the territory Of a county may be more