Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1856-08-27
EXTRA SESSION OF CONGRESS

The Phifa Daily Sun says: The President
issued his Proclamation for an Extra Session
of Congress which was to convene on the
21st under circumstances which have new
er previously occurred in the history of our
government, on account of the disagreement
of the two Houses on the Army Appropriation
bill. The Constitution has vested exclusively
IN the House of Representatives, the origina-
tion of all bills for raising revenue, and follow
ing up the spirit of this, the House has always
originated appropriation bills. Our Congress
sonal history under the Confederation dcvel-
opes the fact that the failure of the States to
carry out the general system of revenue, as
recommended by Congress in 1888, was the
cause of proceedings which led to the adop-
tion of the Constitution, and therefore by that
instrument the popular branch was made the
custodian of the public purse. The Commit
tee of Ways and Means of the House of Rep
resentatives reported all the necessary appro-
priation bills, as usual, and in the one for the
army a clause was inserted that no money
should be used for the pay or support Of the
illegally elected Legislature Of Kansas, or the
enforcement of its laws. In this the Senate
refused to concur, and as the House insisted
upon the provision, Congress adjourned with
out passing the bill. The case, then, assumes
creator magnitude, as the first struggle for
the constitutional right of the people to con-
troll the use of the public money, and in this
view its Importance rises far above any collat-
| eral issues on the affairs of Kansas.
The Parliamentary records of Great Britain
| show many similar efforts of the aristocracy
to encroach upon the rights and liberties of
the people, by the extinction or curbing of the
peoples voice in the House of Commons. In
the same manner, ,as no law can be passed with
out the assent of both our Houses of Congress,
and as the lower branch has the origination Of
Revenue bills, the persistent refusal of the
| Senate to accede to n question Of mere expe-
diency, becomes factious, intollerant and des-
potic, and amounts to the usurpation of We
| to power by the aristocratic branch. ThePenn-
| sylcdnian of course lays all the blame Of the
failure of the Army Appropriation bill on the
House, and says it opens f'another chapter OF
revolutionary treason" In the opinion of our
contemporary any revolt against democratic as
cendancy is revolution, and any stand taken
against Southern encroachment on const titu-
|
that the House in its recent action has done
it's duty, and will be derilict if ever it recedes
from the position it has taken. HALLAM, in
his Middle Ages, when speaking of Magma
Charta, calls it the Keystone of Liberty-all
that has since been obtained is little more than
as confirmation or commentary, and If every
subsequent law were to be swept away there
vouId still remain the bold features that dis
tingush free from despotic government T.
An equal distribution OF civil rights 10 aii ciaS
ses of freemen forms the peculiar beauty OF
the charter, but its essential clauses are those
whichIprotect the personal liberty ana proper
ty of all freemen by giving security from ar
bitrarv Imprisonment and arbitrary spoliation
the two main rights OF civil society. Now ap
ply these principles to the action Of the House
, in its endeayors TO protect the people Of Kan