Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1864-02-04
The Eligibility of Governor Morton.
. the Klitor of the Indianapolis Journal !:


doubt his eligibility 1t is, therefore,
due to the voters of Indiana to have this
matter fully investigated before they pro-
ceed to the nomination of candidates.
To this end, | submit to your readers my
arguments in the case, hoping that they
may draw out full and candid discus
sion of this question
Our Constitution says, in Article V,
Sec. and 2, that the Governor and Lieu
tenant Governor shall hold their respect
i've Offices for four years; but in the case
of the Governor it says in addition,
that he shall not be eligible for more
than four years an period Of eight
years To get at the meaning of these
words we must take them, as all other
parts of the Constitution, in their plain
est and most direct sense and if we do
that, they can mean nothing else but
this: "no man shall be ttoice elected Coz
erraor IN q period Of eight gears
The Constitution does not say he shall
not act as Governor for more than four
years, but it says that he shall not be el-
igible for more than four years in pc
riod of eight
1t says, in other words, that he shall
not be twice elected Governor within
eight years. That is the plain signi6ca-
tion of those words; and no allusion is
made to the time during which he may
have acted as Governor when called into
that position in consequence of some ac-
cidental event Such contingency is
entirely ignored in Article v
1t is therefore evident that, without
violating this Article of the Constitution,
Lieutenant Governor, having acted as
Governor, could be elected Governor i'm
mediately thereafter. And, vice versa,
a Governor, who at the end of his term
should be elected Lieutenant Governor,
might, in case of the new Governors re
signation, transact again the duties of
Governor.
For example: if the lamented Gov
ernor Willard had served out his term as
Governor, and had then been elected
Lieut. Governor, in the place of o. P.
Morton, he would, on the resignation of
Governor Lane, have become acting
Governor, and would now, if still living,
hold the position of Governor Morton.
And again, Gov. Morton, after having
been elected Lieut. Governor, and hav.
ing served for nearly four years as act
ing Governor, can be elected Governor
and serve the full term as such.
Neither of these cases would violate
any provision of the Constitution, for
neither Willard nor Morton would have
been elected Governor for more than four
years in period of eight years. Their
acting as Governor during a part of
the remaining four years, in conseque n :e
of accidental events, is not made bar
to their election in any part Of the Con-
stitution.
1t is also very evident that this con-
struction of Art. ", Sec l, was looked
for by the trainers of the Constitution.
They intended, from some motive or
other, that certain Offices should not be
held for two terms in succession by the
same person, and they prohibit re-elec-
ton; but they ignore the case in which
the same person has, without election,
filed the Office during part of another
mans term, and then is elected for the
Office himself They know that resigna-
tions, deaths and disabilities of public
officers during the terms for which they
have been elected, are not of very fire.
quent occurrence; and that, consequent
| ly, it must be an instance of rare occur
renee to have Lieutenant Governor
who accidentally had acted as Governor
appear Immediately after as a candidate
for the Office of Governor. They could
therefore, well afford to exclude such an
unusual case from their prohibition, anG
leave the propriety of the election to tbs
judgement of the voters. And thus i
came that they said nothing in this arti
Gle about any ones acting accidental,
as Governor; but they prohibited an,
man to be twice elected Governor within
eight years. larsHE
The principle of ignoring, in question
of eligibility, the fact that the candidat
may, without an election, but by appoint
ment, have filled an office for part O
its proper term, is plainly announced il
the llth section in article II: 'In case
in which it is provided that an offic
shall not be filled by the same perso
more than certain number of year
continuously, an appointment pro ten
pore shall not be reckoned a part of tkO
tern"
But there are some who think ths
Gov. Morton's case is different in charat
ter from any other, and that he is not a
acting Governor, or Governor pro ten,
, but Governor in the full and strict sens
of the word; and that, in consequence,
he cannot be affected by the section ju!
quoted As evidence, they adduce tn
fact of his signing himself on public do
uments as GoUernor of Indiana, an
they say that those documents and sign
lures are received by all puplic author
lies without questioning their authel
sicity,
In reply to this will remark that Il
formalities for signatures are prescribe
byahe Constitution, on the suppositio
that a Governor has been elected and
acting; and it is proper and right thi
he who performs the duties of GoYern'
, pro tenn. should observe thoseforms
the same time it is very evident that Il
style of Governor Morton's signatur
can not in the least affect his Constit
=, tiOnal position.
: Suppose that Governor Lane had n
resigned, but that he had become affliC
= ed with severe disease followed BY i
i, sanity, Lieutenant Governor Mortt
a, would then have become acting &c
> ernor, as he now is. But then suppo
/ further, that after the lapse of one ye
to Lane should recover his health, tn
would Lane be reinstated, and Mort
would be again Lieutenant Governor
= no matter how he might have sign
= documents in the interim. This ct
= shows an essential difference between
N Governor elected by the people, and
Lieutenant Governor on whom the off
of Governor devolyed through an al
dental event
:, But why argue this question? 1t
quite immaterial whether Governor NJ
ton be Governor, acting Governor,
Governor pro tempore One thing
certain: he has never been elected G
ernor By the people; for the argum
mar that he has been elected Lieutenant
a ernor, with the contingency of cha