Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1868-07-21

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MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT
VETO OFLTHE ELECTORAL COL
LEGE RHLL..-PASSAGE OFER
THE VETO,
WASHINGTON, July 2O.-The President this
afternoon sent to the Senate the following
message:
To the Senate of the United States: :, !,
I have given to the joint resolution, entitled
"A resolution excluding from the Electoral
College votes of the States lately in rebellion,
which shall not have been reorganlzed," as
careful examination as have been able to be-
stow upon the subject during the few days that
have interviewed since the measure was submit
ted for my approval. "o) r
Feeling constrained to withhold my assent, l
herewith return the resolution to the Senate,
in which house it originated, with brlef state
ment of the reasons which have induced my
a,tion. ~. ~! +,
This Joint resolution is based upon the as
sumption that some Of the States whose IN
habitants were lately in rebellion are, not now
entitled to representation IN Congress and to
participation in the election OF President and
Vice President of the United States.
Having heretofore had occasion to give in
detail nv reasons for dissenting from this view,
II is not necessary at this time to repeat them.
II is sufficient to state that continue strong
in nv conviction that the acts OF secession, by
which number of the States sought to dis
solve their connection with the other States
and to subvert the Union, being unauthorized
by the Constitution, and in direct violation
thereof, were from the beginning absolutely
null and void. 1t follows necessarily that
when the rebellion terminated the several
States which had attempted to secede contln-
ued to be States in the Union, and all that was
required to enable them to resume their rela-
tions to the Union was that they should adopt
the measures necessary to their practical res
toration as States. Such measures were adopt
ed, and the legitimate result was that those
States, having contormed to all the require
ments of the Constitution, resumed their for
mer relations, and became entitled to the exer-
cise Of all the rights guaranteed to them by its
provisions Rage 800 ..4
The Joint resolution under consideration,
however, seems to assume that by the insur-
rectionary acts of their respective Inhabitants,
those States forfeited their rights as such, and
can never spain exercise them except upon re-
admission into the Union on the terms prescrlb-
ed bv CONGRESS. If this position be correct, it
follows that they were taken out or the Union
hv 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 attitude, that while the war
was commenced and carried on upon the dis
tinct ground that the Southern States, being
component parts of the Union, were IN rebel,
lion against the lawful authority OF the United
States upon its termination we resort to a
policy of reconstruction which assumes that 1t
was not in fact rebellion, but that the war
was waged for the conquest OF territories as,
sumed to be outside of the constitutional
Union. Il,
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 Con
stitution. That instrument lmperatlVey re-
quires that the President OF the Senate snail,
in the presence of the Senate and House OF
Representatives, open all the certlhcates' ana
has therefore no power under the Constitution,
10 receive the electoral votes or reject them.-
The whole power is exhausted when, In the
presence of the two Houses, the votes are
counted and the result declared. ln this re-
spect the power and duty of the President OF
the Senate are, under the Constitution, purely
ministerial. When, therefore, the joint reso-
luton declares that no electoral votes shall be
received or counted from States that since the
9TH of March, 1867, have not adopted a con-
stitution of State Government under which a
State government shall have been organized, -
q power is assumed which is no where dele.
gated to Congress, unless upon the assumption
that the State governments organized prior tc
the 4th of March, 1867, we're illegal and void
i, The Joint resolution, by implication at least
comedies that these States were States
by virtue of their organization, prior to the Att
of March, 1867, but denies to them the rlgh
to vote in the election of President and Vice
President of the United States. 1t follows
either that this assumption of power is wholly
unauthorized by the Constitution, or that tht
States so excluded from voting we're out of tht
Union by reason of the rebellion. and have
never been legitimate]y restored. Being fully
satisfied thatythey were never out OF the Union
and that their relations thereto have been lie
gally and constituticnally restored, l am forcet
to the conclusion that the joint resolution which
deprives them Of the right to have their vote
for President and Vice President received ant
counted, is In conflict with the Constitution
Z and that Congress has no more power to rejec
their votes than those Of the States which haVt
been uniformly loyal to the Federal Union. I.
1t is worthy OF remark that if the State
whose inhabitants we're recently in rebellion
were legally and constitutionaly organized aue
restored to their rights prior to the 4th o
March, 1867, as I am satisfied they were, tht
only legitimate authority under which the ielec
ton tor President and Vice President can b.
held therein must be derived from the govern
ments instituted before that period
1t clearly follows that all the State govern
ments organized in those States under acts Q
Congress Tor that purpose, and under miltar.
control5are. lllegltlmate and of no validity what
ever; and 10 that view, the votes cast in thos
States tor President and ce-President, il
pursuance OF acts passed since the 4th o
March, 1867, and in obedience to the So calle,
reconstruction acts OF Congress cannot be legal
ly received and counted; while tue only vote
=, q, -. -.