New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-12-28
Summers Proposed Amendment.

Mr. Kellogg: Yes, sir.
Summers Proposed Amendment.
WASHINGTON, December 2l.-Mr. Sumner
offered a joint resolution amending the con
| stitutiOn SO as to contine the President tC
one term, and he said Grants civil service
| reform recommendation omitted the im
pOrtant recommendation of adopting the
one term principle. Civil service reform
without this would be playing Hamlet with
Hamlet left out. This amendment would
not go into operation until the fourth OF
March, 1873.
! THE JOINT RESOLUTION.
Joint resolution proposing an amendment
| to the constitution cOntining the presi
| dent to one term.
| WHEREAS, For many years there has been
| an increasing conviction among the people
| without distinction of party. that one WELD
| ing the vast patronage of the President
! should not be a candidate for reelection.
| and this conviction has found expression
in solemn warnings Of illastrions citizens
and in repeated propositions for an amend
ment OF the constitution coniining the presi-
| dent to one term and,
Whereas, Andrew jackson was so fully
impressed by the peril TO republican insti-
tutions from the temptations acting on the
President, who welded the vast power Of
his office as a candidate for re election. that
Ill his first annual message he called atteu-
ton to it; that in his second annual mes-
| sage, after setting forth the design of the
constitution to secure independence to each
department. and promote the faithful and
equitable administration of all trusts which
ii has created. he did not hesitate to say
the agent most likely to contravene this
design OF the constitution is the chief magis-
trate, and then proceeded to declare ..iu
order particularly that this appointment
may, as far as possible, be placed beyond
the reach OF any improper influences. and
IN order that he may approach the solemn
responsibilities of the highest office in the
gift OF a tree people uncommitted to any
other course than strict line of constifu
tional duty. and that securities for this in
dependence may be rendered as strong as
the nature, power and weakness of its pos
SCISSOR will admit. can not too earnestly in
vite your attention to the propriety of pro-
noting such amendments of the constitu-
tion as will render him ineligible after one
term of service and then. again in his
third annual message. the same President
renewed this patriotic appeal.
Whereas. William Henry Harrison. fol
lowing IN the footsteps of Andrew jackson.
nit 1t a primary duty in accepting his
nomination President. to assert the one
term principle in these explicit words
among the principles proper To be adopted
by an executive sincerely desiring TO restore
the administration to its original simplicity
and purity | deem the following of I'M
portance: First. To contne his services t. a
single term and then III public speech.
during the canvass which ended in his elec-
ton. declared III the privilege OF being
President of the United States had been
limited to one term. the incumbent would
devote all his time to the public interest.
and there would be no cause to nisrue the
country" and concluded by pIedging him
self before heaven and earth. ''if elected
President of the United States to lay down
at the end OF his term faithfully that hiyh
trust at the feet of the people, and
Whereas, Henry Clay. though differing
much from Andrew jackson. united with
him on the one-term principle. and publicly
enforced 1t in speech on June y 1910.
where, after asking for provision to rem
der person ineligible to the Office of Pres
ident of the United States after the service
of one term. he explained the necessity of
such an amendment by saying: Much OBJ
servati"n and deliberate reflection have
satisfied me that too much OF the time.
thoughts and eXertiOns OF the incumbent
are occupied during his first term in secur-
ing his reelection. and the public business
consequently suffers" and then again. in a
letter dated September l3. 1872 while set
ting forth what he calls the principal OBJ
.jects engag ing the common desire and com
mon exertion of the Wing party, the same
statesman specifies an amendment to the
constitution limiting the incumbent of the
presidential Office to a single term; and.
Whereas, The Wing party in its national
convention at Baltimore, May |, 1884, nom
mated Henry Clay as President, with plat
form where a single term for the Presi-
dency is declared to be among the great
principles of the Wing party-principles in
from public honor and prosperity,
to be maintained and advanced by the cleo
ton OF those candidates, which declaration
was echoed at the immense meeting in
Monument square addressed by Daniel
Webster, where it was resolved that the |
limitation of the President to a single term
was among the objects for which the Wing |
party will increasingly strive until their |
efforts are crowned with signal and |
success; and |
Whereas, la the same spirit and in har- |
mOny with these authorities, another states
man, Benjamin F. Wade. at the close of his |
long service in the Senate, most earnestly |
urged an amendment to the constitution |
the President to one term, and in
his speech on that occasion, February 26, |
1900, said: 'The offering Of this resolution |
s no new impulse of mine, for have been
an advocate of the principle contained in
~ y
strong impression which entertain on the
subject from very careful observation of
he workings of the government during the
period that l have been an observer of
hem. believe it has been very rare that
We have been able to elect a President of
he United States who has not been tempted
o use the vast powers intrusted to him ac-
'ording to his own opinions to advance his
'e-election;' and then, after exposing at
ength the necessity of this amendment, the
'eteran Senator further declared: There
ire defects in the constitution, and this is
lmong the most glaring all men have seen.
Vow let us have nerve, let us have the
resolution to come up and apply the
enedy;" and
Whereas, These testimonies, revealing the
intense and widespread convictions of the
American people, are reinforced by the
ricndly observations of De Tocqueville, tho
emarkable Frenchman to whom our coun-
~ is under such great and lasting obliga-
ions IN his famous work on Democracy in
America" where he says in words OF singu-
ar clearness and force: Intrigue and cor
upton are vices natural to elective govern
aents, but when the chief of government
an be reelected these vices extend in,letj-
itely, and compromise even the existence of
he country. When 3 single candidate seeks
uccess by intrigue, his naneuvres can !