Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1868-06-26
The Arkansas Admission Bill,
VETO BY THE PRESIDENT.

To the House Of Representatives.:
| return, without my signature, a
bill entitled "An act to admit the
State of Arkansas to representation
in Congress"
|. The approval of this bill would be
an admission on the part of the Elk
ecutlve that the Act for the more
efficient government uf the rebel
States, passed March =, 1867, and
the acts supplementary thereto, were
proper and constitutional.
Ny opinion, however, in reference
to those measures has undergone no
change; but, on the contrary, has
been strengthened by theresults which
have been attended by their execu-
ton. Even were this not the case,
) could not consent to a bill which is
based upon the assumption, either
that by an act of rebellion of a por-
ton of its people the State Of Ar
, kansas seeded from the Union, or
) that Congress may at its pleasure ex-
pei or exclude a State from the
, Union, or interrupt its relations with
the Government by arbitrarily depriv-
ing 1t of representation in the Senate
and House of DoProoonCe.Uiv 90
| If Arkansas is State not in the
. Union, this bill does not admit it as
: State into the Union.
5 If, on the other hand, Arkansas is
IL
is necessary to declare it entitled to
representation as one of the States
of the Union The Constitution al
ready declares that each State shall
have at least one Representative, that
the Senate shall be composed Of two
Senators from each State, and that
no State, without its consent, shall
be deprived of its equal suffrage in
the Senate.
That instrument also makes each
+ House the judge of election returns
:, of its own members, and, therefore,
> all that is now necessary to restore
Arkansas in all its constitutional re-
4 lations to the Government is deciS-
=, ion by each House upon the eIigibili-
. ty of those who, presenting their
v credentials, claim seats in the respec-
: tive House of Congress.
z This is the plain and simple plan
of the Constitution, and believing
that had it been pursued when Con
l. gress assembled in the month OF De
Is cember, 1865, the restoration of the
e States would long since have been
n completed, | once again earnestly re-
4 commend that it be adopted by each
r House in preference to legislation
: which | respectfully submit is not
2 only at least of doubtful constitutional
T ity, and therefore unwise and danger
re Gus as precedent, but is necessarily
N not so effective in its operation as the
he mode prescribed by the Constitution,
II as it involves additional delay, and
re may from its terms be taken rather as
lg applicable to a territory about to be
u admitted as one of the United States,
&c than to a state which has occupied a
IN place 10 the Union for upward of a
3; quarter of a century.
7a The bill declares that the State
Oh of Arkansas is entitled and admitted
to representation in Congress as one
B. of the States of the Union upon the
~ following fundamental conditions:
is That the Constitution of Arkansas
ov shall never be so amended or changed
70. as to deprive any citizen or class of
he citizens Of the United States of the
right to vote who are entitled to vote
ar by the Constitution herein recognized
ty except as punishment for such crimes
rv- as are now felonies at common Law
an whereof they shall have been duly
of convicted under laws equally applica
-es BILE to all the inhabitants of sale
ew States, provided any alteration in said
lily Constitution prospective in its efec
eX- may be made In regard to time and
ial place or residence of voters. | have
Ter been unable to find in the Constitution
tly OF the United States any warrant fol
of the exercise Of the authority thu:
ian claimed by Congress. In assuming
- the power to impose fundamental con
ditiOns upon State which has beer
o1a duly admitted into the Union on an
IN equal footing with the original States
AZ in all respects whatever, Congress as
l sertS a right to enter a State, as
. , may, to regulate the highest preroga
oIr tive of free people, the electiv
80 franchise. This question is reserved
by the Constitution to the States them
The selves, and to cOncede to Congress
ed the power to regulate this subjec
ed would be to reverse the Fundamental
FUR principle of the Government, which is
vas the creature of the States, the sover-
ass, eighty OF which justly belongs to the
'eIl, States, or the peOple-the true sourc
was of all political power, by whom GU
Federal system was created and t
lied whose will it is subordinate.
,68 The bill fails to provide in wha
acy manner the State of Arkansas is
lei signify its acceptance of the funds
hid. mental condition which Congress e
rda- deavors to make unalterable and i
mid revocable. Nor does it prescribe tt
,rks penalty to be imposed, should the pc
pie of the State amend or chang
~, particular portions of the ConStit
NJ ton which it was one of the purpos,
w OF the bill to perpetuate. But as
0''o the consequences of action it leav,
ase' them in uncertainty and doubt. Whe
>een the circumstances under which Il
'ne Constitution has been brought to tt
ldCC, attention of GonOraSS arc cOnSldprp