The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1868-07-03
The s8eafura Gazette.
MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT.
Veto of the Arkansas Bill.

admission of Arkapsas
To the House Of Representatives
| return without my signature bill
entitled can Act to admit the State
of Arkansas to representation in Con-
gress."
The approval of this bill would be an
admission on the part of the Execu-
tive that the "Act for the more eff
cient government Of the rebel States,"
passed March I'd, 1867, and the act sup
Elementary thereto, were proper and
constitutional. My opinion, however,
in reference to these measures has un-
dergone no change, but on the contrary,
has been strengthened by the results
which have attended their execution.
Even were this not the case, / could
not consent to bill which is based,
upon the assumption either that by an
act of rebellion of portion Of its peo-
pie the State of Arkansas seeded from
! the Union, or that Congress may at its
pleasure, eXpel or exclude a State from
the Union, or interrupt its relations
with the Government by arbitrarily de-
priving it Of representation in the Sen
ate and House of Representatives. If
Arkansas is a State not in the Union,
this bill does not admit it as State in
to the Union. If, on the other hand,
Arkansas is a State in the Union, no
! legislation is necessary to declare it en-
titled "to representation in Congress as
one of the States of the Union." The
Constitution already declares that
'each State shall have at least one Rep
resentative :" "that the Senate shall be
composed Of two Senators from each
! State :" and "that no State without its
consent shall be deprived of its SUI
frage in the Senate" That instru-
ment also makes each House "thejudg-
es of the elections, returns and qualiti-
cations of its own members" and
! therefore all that is now necessarily to
restore Arkansas in all its constitution
al relations to the Government is the
decision by each House upon the eligi-
bility of those who, presenting their
credentials, claim seats in the respec-
tive Houses of Congress. This is the
plain and simple plan of the COnstitu-
ton; and believing that had it been
pursued when Congress assembled in
the month of December, 1865, the re-
storaticn of the States would long since
have been completed, | once again re-
commend that it be adopted u each
House, in preference to legislation
which 1 respectfully submit is not only
of at least doubtful constitutionality,
and therefore unWise and dangerous as
a precedent, but is unnecessary, not so
effective in it's operation as the mode
prescribed by the Constitution, in
wolves the additional delay, and from
its terms may be taken rather as appli-
cable to Territory about to be admit
| ted as one Of the United States than to
State which has occupied place in
the Union for upwards Of aquarter Of a
century.
The bill declares the State Of Arkan-
sas entitled and admitted to represen-
tatiOn in Congress as one Of the States
of the Union upon the following funda-
mental condition:
That the constitution of Arkansas
shall never be so amended or changed
as to deprive any citizen or class of
citizens of the United States of the
right to vote who are entitled to vote
by the constitution herein recognized,
except as punishment for such crimes
as are now felonies at common law,
whereof they shall be duly convicted
under laws equally applicable to all
the inhabitants of said State. PrOUided,
That any alteration of said constitution,
prospective in its affect, may be made
in regard to the time and place of resi-
| dence of voters.
| | have been unable to find in the
Constitution of the United States any
warrant for the exercise of the authOri-
ty thus claimed by Congress. In as
suming the power to impose "funda-
mental condition" upon a State which
has been duly admitted into the Union
on an equal footing with the original
States, in all respects whatever, Con-
| gress asserts a right to enter a State as
it may a Territory, and to regulate the
highest prerogative ola free people
the elective franchise. This question
is reserved by the Constitution to the
States themselves, and to concede to
Congress the power to regulate this
subject would be to reverse the funda-
mental principle of the Republic, and
! to place in the hands of the Federal
| Government (which is the creature Of
the States) the sovereignty which just
ly belongs to the States or the people,
to the true source of all politica! power
by whom our federal system was crea-
! ted, and to whose will all is subOrdi-
nate.
The bill fails to provide in what man.
ner the State of Arkansas is to signify
its acceptance of the fundamental
condition" which Congress endeavors
to make unalterable and irrevOcable.
Nor does it prescribe the penalty to be
imposed should the people of the State
amend or change the particular por-
tions Of the constitution which it is one
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