The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1872-01-05
Summers Proposed Constitutional
ANnendment


Following are the resolutions offered by
Sumner, with the proposed amendment:
Joint Resolution proposing an amendment to
the Constitution conRning the President TO
one term
WHEREAS, For many years there has been
an increasing conviction among the people,
without distinction of party, that one yielding
the vast patronage of the President should noe
be q candidate for reelection, and this con-
viction has found expression In the solemn
warnings of illustrious citizens, and In repeat
ed propositions for an amendment to the Con-
sttution confning the President to one term.
WHEREAS, Andrew jackson was so fully i'm
pressed with the peril to republican institu-
tions from the temptations to the President
while welding the vast patronage Of his Office
as candidate for reelection, that in his first
annual message he called attention to it; and
in his second annual message, after setting
forth the design of the Constitution to secure
the Independence of each department uf Gov
ernment and promote q healthful and eduit-
able administration of all tho trusts which it
has created, he did not hesitate to say that the
| agent most likely to contravene this design Of
the Constitution is the Chief Magistrate, and
then proceeded to declare, sin order particu-
larly that this appointment may as far as pos
sible, be placed beyond the reach of any inn
proper influence, in order that he may ap-
| proach the solemn responsibilities of the high
est Office in the gift of a free people, uncom-
mitted to any other course than the strict line
of constitutional dutyi and that securities for
this independence may be rendered as strong
/ as the nature, power and weakness of its pre-
deeessor will admit, cannot too earnestly in
vite your attention to the propriety of promot-
ing such amendments of the Constitution 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,
feltit his primary duty, in accepting his nom
ination as President, to assert the one term
principle in these explicit words: "Among
the principles proper to be adopted by the Ex-
ecutive sincerely desiring to restore the Ad-
ministration to its original simplicity and pur-
ity, deem the following of first Importance:
To cOnfne his services to a single term" And
then, In public speech during the canvass
which ended in his election, he declared if the
privilege of being President of the United
States had been limited to one term, the in
cumbent would devote all his time to the pub
lie interest, and there would be no cause to
misrule the country, and he concluded by
pledging himself before heaven and earth, il
elected President of the United States, to lay
down, at the end of his term, faithfully, that
high trust at the feet of the people.
WHEREAS, Henry Clay, though differing
much fran Andrew Jackson, united with him
on the one term principle, and publicly en-
forced it in a speech which he held on June
9th, 1910, where, after asking for provision
to render a person Ineligible to the Office Of
President of the United States, after service Of
one term, he explained the necessity Of the
amendment by saying: "Much observation
and deliberated reflection has satisfied me
tnat too much of the time, thoughts and exer-
tons of the incumbent are occupied during
the first term in securing his reelection. The
public business consequently suffers" An
other statesman, Benjamin F. Wade, at the
close of his long service in the Senate, urged
an amendment of the Constitution confining q
President to one term.
TMr. Summer then quoted from writings Of
the celebrated Frenchman, De Tocqueyille, in
support of his amendment.
WHEREAs, The character of republican in
stitutions requires that of the Chief Magistrate
shall be above all suspicion Of using the ma
chinery of which he is the official head, to pro-
mote his own personal aims; therefore,
Re 1t Res0lgDd By the Senate and House of
Representatives. &C., That the following article
is hereby proposed as an amendment to the
Constitution of the United States, and when
ratified by the Legislatures OF three-fourths Of
the several States, shall be valid to all intents
and purposes as part of the Constitution to-wit
ARTICLE l. Section l. No person who has
held once the Office of President Of the United
States shall be thereafter eligible to that Office
Section 2 This amendment shall not take
effect until after the fourth of March, 1873
The resolution was then read and laid over.