National Republican., 1876-12-12
ible under the present condition and probable
uture condition Of the Republic.

ons iiution should have paused exactly where It
The question just whsre this proposed amend aeat
so.s. after the State has appointed It's electors,
.shali make isf Of all the pc persons yoea for and
sign and certify and aG' .fansnit sa Scaled to The
ses - hs sc Sf hs United & sas r.s
deit oithe SENATE shall Id the presence OF IN Sen.
certificates, and tre votes shall .6en De eousted.
Jne pseion hssine ne greatest humber OF vo'es
That, the senate will observe. is the provision of
the Consultation Of 17S: OF the Goyernment G %hlch
the proyition now in force, which shall come to
The arst thing that took place. of course, in re;
spect Of this provision, was Its being proposed and
sonsSeFed in the Federal convsni9n; ournsi saTe oe
that convention to find some light, 'Tever faint,
fS n
OF the powers Of any body
WHEN THE CERTIFICATES SHOULD HAVE OPENED;
and am unsbIe. for one, to find the proceedings
sht upon IT. That 50 far haze Of ep Sfsn
csm % or aeSste It m.s be that it
but have not been able to find 1t.
of P Presdenf Washington, sS @ % Congress was csiied
upon to pass law to put this provision of the Coz
time when the Electors should Sc voted FOR and
time when the electors should give their votes and
pro2siSns sei q the II 90 restns
fsetSn Of and vfe GT 1ne
stance although there Is considerable body Of de-
pSiat of RsT he
any power at all, to count these votes the extent OF
entrey oe Single word
| comment criticism or debate. There was no al
as to the @ proper time to x of distance between the
votes Of the people and the votes Of the electors
day almost, Il it were possible. to guard agsin;t
their being inaueneeS BY M and am ts
the passage of this first law, which was to put
tion ef President and vice President Into effect and
provide for future elections, the hrst one Deing
that has been already referred to, and which con
tains very stI ong implication apparsntly In the
iaefSe in neither i House @ eff Of Congress, but may
RESIDING IN THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE,
this question was untouched. do not mean to say
e1tent or the Unit OF the power or the presiding
officer ofthe Senate, but seems to imply tht the
presiding ofhceI Of me senate; and On that Sesa:
Senate and the sttendance OF the House or Repre-
se.tsti5es in the Chamber proceeded sRPsres1ty
fthe Senate did everything. Since that ame, s as
a.; snS mot in wS.
do no. intend e any opinion as to ths true
TO define what Is the true eonstruciion Of ne Con-
stitution wish to do It for myself after further
saSse snS
| ciple upon which the committee proceeded in re-
SS s0 The
Of the commitss. upon any determination that we
ton. but rather upon the veiiknowa fact that for
many yesrs, at least there has been among GENTLE
CONSIDERABLE DIFFERENCE OF OPINION
as to the true Interpretation Of the Constitution
and in order to escape from that diticuty and TO
HG D Of
can people, thought 1t was desirable to do 1t in
this way, and for other reasons that shall come to
Mr.. III Pre;iden. under this provision of the Con-
passed which throws NO light at an upon the CON:
that IN e s Sr
Shall be N sessienon the second Wednesday in Feb
ssait ascertained in the manner PROVIDED BY
the Constitution. 1t goes directly back to that and
| that / can find upon what sort Of power resided
anywhere on tuch an occasion.
THE NEXT TIME AND PLACE THAT ONE MIGHT
FAIRLY LOOK FOR LIGHT
Msen there he
and passed, a bill providing for disputed Presi,
after n considerabe discussion each House ADHERED
ter ici Of coarse That ended the attempt Of 1900
MT. BAYARD. VIII the senstor be kind enough
proceedings TO which he has referred exist and the
pfMfes Mr. EpMTNps All this IL viii Be found about the
@ that an o Fss ri S a @
tas ass to lso Il runs through aTge
Hey mot Of tnS s1
| umfs but by Congresses, the Sixth Congress- 1873
| to 1901. After that came
THE ELECTION OF MR.. JEFFERSON
brated tie Of the vote between himself and Mr.. Burr
Is familiar. The Constitution IL then stood as
preyided for partSsr meshed Where there Wer
votes for several Of on the psrticu-
electors were not authorized to Distinguish who
they were for as to President and Vice President,
Then It was proposed 70 amend the Constitution,
s 10 & a II n
twelve of the amendments, which, 50 far as this
he to vote
for President and some person for Vice President,
sSect about Which this proposion of the Committee
on the Judiciary W @ acts al and speaks adopts literally
had been fourteen years, nearly fifteen years, since
the Government went into operation,
FOUR ELECTIONS OF PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES UNDER THE OLD ARTICLE,
although there had been in the debate three years
before, in the preceding Congress, great differ
where was the limit of CONSTITUTIONAL power in
Congress, II any existed at all and what was its
posed 10 The States this fresh amendpeht to cure
the that had arisen sen IN f isC they took
taken Sefofs re- in Tespsct Of the disposition of the
vided that the lists should be signed and certified
and transmitted sealed ITO the seat of the Govern
ment Of the United States, directed to the President
''Ihe President of the Senate shall, in the pres
open all the certificates and the votes shall then be
Making no provision for what had already been
drawn into dispute and discussion as 10 the exer
else oftsat power, and no specific direction As to
tie limit Of the jGrisdictIon ol tha; person Or
Subject Of thst to he one
which went through and was adopted. as have
Il all il 50 IN
saying that that debate this change in the Com
aea
land the votes shall then be couated.''
TITS ENTIRELY DARK,
HnE yet be found can daw ne gs
from the discussion on this new amendment in re-
From that me 10 this as everybody knows
what hiss been done has been done somewhat yari-
Except the @ ss tG Of
17s2 which does not touch at all the subject that
thing shall Be done according the Constitution,
M %
rule OF Other pfoGeedirg Of The t two Houses that
CONSTITUTION except BY the mere mechanical pres
70 IL 1s
that know Of when any question was made was In
the day that the act Of Isl required they shOIld
substance mandate instead OF direction the vote
of the State of Wisconsin had been given In Accord
ance with the Constitution. But the certificate was
received BY the President Of the Senate,
MR.. MASON, OF VIRGINIA,
and and S the in the
nouDcing that vote somebody rose and questioned
the right of the Presiding Officer to determine
whether that was the constitutional vote of the
State of Wisconsin or not and the Presiding Officer,
It is stated, declined 70 entertain the question Of
order to submit to the bodies tor people what
ever they might be called, who were before him.
and retired from the Chair, and with the Senate
came bafk to the Senate Chamber.
Mr.. MORTON. And said the only thing in order
was to count the votes.
Mr., EDMUNDS. And he said the only thing in
order was to count the vote. Then in each House
a resolution on the subject was Immediately pro-
posed, and after some discussion in each House the
whole thing was dropped without throwing any
light on the matter further than the event itself
shows. That was under the law, and upon a point
that the Law explicitly provided for.
IN OTHER CASES,
those of Indiana and Missouri and Michigan, con-
nected with their condition Is States in the Union
or out of It, whether they were entitled States,
in each ins tance believe TO cast the vote, ques-
tions were made, and certain forms of resolutions
of the two Houses were in all, or the most OF them
adopted. That in respect Of Missouri was simply
providing that the result should be stated con-
tingently. Inssmuch as 1t was understood before