The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1868-08-05
The Electoral College Bill.
. MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT.
10 the Senate of the United States'

have given to the joint resolution en-
SitIed GA resolution excluding from to-
electoral college votes of States lately il
rebellion, which shall not have been re
organized" as careful examination as
have been able to bestow upon the subjec
during the few days that have interveneo
since the measure was submitted for my
approval.
Feeling constrained to withhold my
consent, I herewith return the resolution
TO the Senate, in which House it origlna
ted, with brief statement of the reasont
which have induced my action. Thlt
ioint resolution is based upon the assump
:ition that some of the States whose inhabl
tsnts were lately in rebellion are not now
entitled to representation in Congress ano
to participation in the election OF Fresi
dent of the United States.
Having heretofore had occasion to give
in detail my reasons for dissenting from
this view, it is not necessary at this time
to repeat them. It is sufficient to state
that continue strong in my conviction
that tho acts of secession, by which
number of the States sought to dissolve
their connection with the other States,
and to subvert the Union, being unau-
thorized by the Constitution, and IN
direct violation thereof, were from the
beginning absolutely null and VOID; IL
follows necessarily that when the rebellion
terminated, the several States which had
attempted to secede continued to be
States in the Union; and all that was re-
ouired to enable them to resume their re-
lstions to the Union was they should
adopt the measures necessary to their
practical restoration as States. Such
measures were adopted, and the legltl-
mate result was THAI those States, having
conformed to all the requirements of the
Constitution, resumed their former rela-
tions. and became entitled to the exercise
of all the rights guaranteed to them by
its provisions.
The Joint resolution under considera-
tion, however, seems to assume that by
the insurrcctionary acts of their respect
i've inhabitants those States forfeited their
rights as suoh, and can never again eXer-
else them, except upon readmission into
the Union on the terms prescribed by
Congress. If this position be correct, it
follows that they were taken out OF the
Union by virtue of their acts OF secession ;
and hence that the war waged upon them
was illegal and unconstitutional. We
would thus be placed in this inconsistent
attitudo-that whilo the war was COM
mencod and carried en- upon the distinct
ground that the Southern States, being
component parts Of the Union, were IN
rebellion against the lawful authority OF
the United States, upon its termination
we resort to policy of reconstruction
which assumes that it was not In fact
rebellion, but that the war was waged tor
the conquest of territories assumed to be
outside of tho constitutional Union.
The modo and manner Of receiving and
counting the electoral votes for President
and Vice President of the United States
are in plain and simple terms prescribed
by the Constitution. That instrument
imperatively requires that the President
of the Senate ''shall, in the presence OF
tho Senate and House of Representatives
open all the certificates, and the votes
shall then be counted" Congress has
therefore no power, under the Constitu-
tion. to receive the electoral votes or re-
iect them. The whole power is exhausted
when, in tho presence of the two Houses,
the votes are counted and the result de-
clared. In this respect the power and
duty of the President of the Senate are,
under the Constitution purely ministerial.
when, therefore, the joint resolution de-
clares that no electoral votes shall be re-
ceived or counted from States that since
the 4th of March, 1867, have not "adopted
q constitution of State government under
which State government shall have or
paniaed," power is assumed which is no.
where delegated to Congress, unless upon
4he assumption that the State Govern.
.mepts organized prior to the 4th of March
1867, were illegal and void.
The joint resolution by implication at
least, comedies that these States were
States by virtue of their organization
prior to the 4th of March, 1867, but de-
nies to them the right to vote in the eloc
ton of President and Vice President OF
the United Statos. 1t follows either that
this assumption of power is wholly unau
thorized by the Constitution, or that the
States SO excluded from voting were out
of the Union by reason of the rebellion
and have never been logitimately restored
Being fully satisfied that they were never
out of the Union, and that there relations
thereto have been legally and consttu
tionally restored, | am forced to the con
ciusion that the joint resolution, which
dcprives them Of the right to have theil
votes for President and Vice President
received and counted, is in conflict will
the Constitution, and that Congress has nc
no more power to reject their votes thar
those of Tho States which have been uni
formIy loyal to the Federal Union.
1t is worthy of remark, that it tn
States where inhabitants wero recent.
in rebellion were legally and constltl