The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1868-07-30
WASHINGTON, July 90, 1868.

The President this afternoon sent the FOL
loving Message to Il House:
To tie Senate Of the United S6Gtes:
have given to the joint resolution entitled
IA resolution excluding from the Electoral
College the votes of States lately IL rebellion
which shall not have been reorganzed," /" as
| careful an examination as | have been able
| to bestow upon the subject during the few
| ,iays that have interviewed since the measure
| was submitted for my approval FeeiiDg
! constrained to withhold my assent, / here
with return the resolution 10 the Senate, i'll
| which house it originated, with brief state
ment of the reasons which have induced my
action. This joint resolution is based upon
! the asst Lmption that some of the States whose
| people were lately in rebellion are not now
entitled to representation in Congress and
participation in the election of President and
| Vice Pre- Sldeut of the United States. Having
| heretofore had occasion To give in detail my
reasons for dissenting from this view, tits not
Necessary at this time to repeat them tits
! sufficient to state that l continue strong IN
! my conviction that the acts of secession by
/ which n number of the States sought to
| dissolve their connection, and in direct Vio-
! lation thereof, were from the beginning
| absolutely null and void. 1t follows, neces-
! sariiy, that when the rebellion terminated,
[
secede continued to be States in the Union,
! and all that was required 20 enable them to
resume their relation to the Union was that
| they should adopt measures necessary to their
practical restoration as States. Such mea-
| sures were adopted, and the Legitimate result
! was that these States. having cOnfO<med 10
| all the requirements Of the Constitution, re-
| sumCd their former relations and became en-
titled to the exercire of AL the right. guSfan-
! teed to them by its provisions. The joint
| resolution under consideration, however,
| seems to assume that. by the insurrectionaHI
| acts of their respective Inhabitants, these
| States forfeited their rights as such, and can
never again exercise them, except upon re-
| admission into the Union, on the terms
/ presented by Congress. If this position be
! correct, it follows thay they are taken out
| of the L ion by virtue Of their acts Of seces-
! sion, and hence that the war waSed upon
them was Illegal and unconstitutional. We
would thus be placed IN the inconsistent
| attitude that while the war was commenced
! and carried on on 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 recon-
structiou which assumes that it MAS in fact Q
rebellion, but that the war was waged for the
! conquest of territories assumed to be out Of
the constitutional Union. The mode 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 instru-
| ment imperatively requires that the Presidents
of the Senate shall in the. presence of the
| Senate and House of Representatives,, open
| all the certificates, and the votes shall then
| be counted. Congress has therefore no power
! under the Constitution to revise the electoral
votes or to reject them. The whole power
| is exhausted when, in the presence OF the
| two Houses, the votes are counted and tho
result declared. For ia this respect the
! powers and duties OF the President of the
! Senate are, under the Constitution, partly
| ministerial. When, therefore, the joint res
! olutiOn declares that no electoral votes shall
| be received OF counted from States that since
March 4, 1867, have not adopted a Consti.
tuition under which State Government shall
have been organized, a power is assumed
| which is nowhere delegated to Congress-,
unless upon the assumption that the State
Governments organized prior to March 4, ,'67,
were illegal and void The oiat resolution,
10y implication, at least, comedies that these
States were States by virtue of their organ
ization prior to March 4, 1867, but d,nies
to them the right to vote. on the election of
| President and Vice President of the United
States. 1t follows that either this asSump-
tiun of power is wholly unauthorized by the
Constitution, or that TIE States SO excluded
from voting were out of the Union bv reason
of the rebellion, and have never been legiti-
mately restored. Being fully satisfied that
they were never out of the Union, and that
! their relations thereto have been legally
restored, am forced to the conclusion that
| the JOINT resolution which deprives them of
/ Il i A. al. r. L.
! and Vice President received and counted, is
| in conflict with the Constitution, and that
Congress has 10 more power to reject their
votes than those of the States which have
been uniformly loyal to the Federal Union.
1t it worthy Of remark that if tie States
| whose inhabitants were recently in rebellion
| were legally and constitutionally organized
and restored to their rights prior to March
| 4th, 1857, as l am satisfied they were, the
/ only legitimate authority under the election
| for President aud Vice President held therein
must be deprived from the governments
instituted before that period and it clearly
/ follows that all State governments organized
| in those States under acts of Congress for
| that purpose, and under military control, are
| illigitimate and of no validity whatever; and
| 10 that view the votes cast in those States
! for President and Vice President, in pursu-
ance of acts passed since March 4th, 1897,
and in obedience to the so called reconstruo-
ton acts of Congress, cannot be legally re-
ceived.and counted, while only votes in those
States that can be legally cast and counted
will be there cast in pursuance of the laws
in force in the several States prior to the
legislation by Congress upon the subject Of
reconstruction. ANDREW Johnson.
After she reading of the message the bill
was passed over the veto, when the Senate
went into Executive session and soon after
adjourned.