The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1859-09-02
Eighth Senatorial District--A Gard.

W. NCif'h'SN' thbt ne Is DOt tItltltu,
under the Constitution, to scat in the
Senate of Tennessee at the next session
OF the Legislature. As the question is one
Of considerable interest, | am sure the
public will bear with me while endeavor
10 give my views upon the matters dis
cussed by him. ! cannot dcnominate his
argument anything else but tissue of
special pleading, mere begging of the
question, which does not at all meet the
merits of the controversy between us. |
stand upon the Constitution Of the State
Col. MINIS stands upon the Code. The
Constitution declares in effect that no
portion of Grundy county can vote in the
9Th Senatorial District until the next APP
portionment, in 1861. The Code declares
, that Sequatchie county shall form por-
ton Of said Senatorial District, and Col.
MINIS receives such declaration of the
Code as superior 10 the provisions of the
Constitution. When admitted as Senator,
! should the Senate decide against me, Col.
MINIS will insist that The oath which
has been administered 70 Senators ever
since the State was admitted into
the Union, 10 suppoi CONSTITUTIONS is
stale and old fashion should now
be changed so as 70 OF to support
the Constitution kc, but TO sup
port the Code! Headmits that the sec
ton of the Cole authorizing to
vote with this District is in conflict with
the Constitution, but insists that the
Legislature having placed Sequatchie in
this Congressional and Senatorial District
that therefore her people had right to
vote here. Such reasoning needs no re-
futation at my hands-the mere State
/ mcnt of it is its own answer. If such
views be entertained generally and acted
! upon by legislators, we have no use for
Il Constitution-we may cease to regard
it as the fundamental law of the land,
and may look upon it as an instrument
| that may be broken at will and with i'm
punity, whenever objects of expediency
are TO be attained by disregarding its re-
| quiremcnts. ! stand upon the Constitu-
ton, and upon that instrument | stake
my chances. and the chances of those
| WIN tlNt IpuOltN WIFI IDtlF SUI
| iragcs, in the contest now pending for a
representation in the Senate.
| maintain that the county ofSeuuatchie
was formed at the last session of the
| Leg stature, and made a new county,
How? From fractions of Hamilton and
Grundy-and a true construction of the
acts creating the county will fully bear
me out in this position. The first act to-
Xtupfls n ,unat ion Of no
passed on the oh day of December 1857.
and the second on the 4th day of March,
| 1888, all done at the same session of the
| Legislature, and according TO every rule
of construction where different acts are
passed at the same session upon the same
point, the whole must be taken together
and construed rs one act. The addition
OF territory from Grundy TO enlarge the
county at subsequent period OF the
Legislature does not alter the case. and
cannot certainly be done for the pur-
pose of evading the plain principles of
the Constitution so as TO give to persons
residing in Grundy the right to vote for
Senators and Representatives in lIaml-
ton. Mr.. MINIS speaks of Sequatchie as
having been legally created for all pur-
poses under the ACT 5f~Dccember, and
that the change of the county line in
March at the same> secession cured the
defect and gave the fraction from Grundy
the right to vote with Hamilton. Now
| if such he the fact, how does the matter
stand, and see to what q ridiculous po-
sition he-is forced. Hamilton county is
entitled to one Representative. Then
there is the floating district, composed of
| Rhea, Bledsoe, and Hamilton, entitled
to another Representative. Sequatchie is
formed from fractions of Grundy and
Hamilton, and according to the reason
ing of Mr.. Minis the people of Sc
quatchie as an Independent county, have
the right to vote for the Representative
from Hamilton, and also the Joint Rep
rescntative from Bledsoe Rhea, and Ham
| ilton. Indeed the facts are that the
county of Scquatchie, as an Independent
county, did vote between Stringer and
| Trcwhitt, candidates to represent Hamil-
! ton, as well rs between Gillespie and
Pope, candidates for Joint Representa-
tive from Rhea, Bledsoe, and Hamilton.
And maintain that the Grundy fraction
had just as much right to vote between
Trewhitt and Stringer as between MINIS
and myself. There is but one way by
which the Legislature could have author.
lied any portion of Grundy county to
vote with Hamilton for Senator and Rep.
resentative, and that is by refusing te
create the county of Sequatchie at all
and by changing the county line between
Hamilton and Grundy so as TO throw a
portion of the territory of the latter into
the former This might have been done
and in this way alone the fraction from
Grundy could vote with Hamilton Whyi
Because Hamilton has already been APP
portioned under the apportionment law
Of lS5l-2-and any territory thus added
to her might legally vote with her, al
though taken from different Senatorial
or Representative district. But can any
of the laws be tortured into construc
ton that this is a change of a county line
between Grundy and Hamilton? Was
the act passed in March, 1853, n change
of the county line between Grundy and
Hamilton? Not at all. On the contrary
it is expressly change between Grundy
and SeqGichic. What is Sequatchie?-
An entirely new co,rnty---with no eXis-
tence at all so far as superintendent is con
cerned, and can have no existence under
the constitutional mean no uoting eXis
tence as an Independent county until the
next apporlionment in 1861. How, there
fore, as Sequatchie herself cannot vote
that the change Of a county line adding Ter
ritory from separate and distinct county
can be so construed as not only 10 Civ,
the county of sequatchie right to vote
but also the fraction from Grundy which
never did belong to the Hamilton Sena
torial and Representative district, a righ
to vote in said Senatorial and Representa-
tive district before the apportionment ac
of lS6l-22 Sequatohie herself under thu
Constitution cannot vote independently
until the next apportionment, but change
the line between Grundy and SequatchiC
and you cure all defects, according to thu