The daily gazette., 1877-01-24
Senator Edmunds' Point,

While the Chandler conspirators are
sti III asserting and reasserting the power
Of the ,PresidentG of the Senate to count
the electoral votes in face of the fact that
nearly every Republican Senator is on
record against it, it may be well enough
70 notice the keen thrust given to this
fraudulent pretense by one of the ablest
Republicans of the Senate. The only
possible constitutional ground for this
claim, Is the single sentences. "The Pre-
sident of the Senate shall in the presence
of the Senate and House of Representa-
tiyes open all the certificates and the
votes shall then be counted" Their argu-
ment is that the power to count rational
ly follows the power to open, that the
power to open is expressly conferred as it
undoubtedly is, and that the power to
count is implied from it. Now mark
how simple an answer may sweep this
sophistry aside. The powers conferred
by the Constitution are of two kinds emu
merated and implied, the enumerated
powers being those which are expressly
conferred, the implied powers being only
those necessary to carry into effect the
enumerated powers, Senator Edmunds In
his speech explaining the electoral bill,
showed that "the power to open does not
necessarily imply a power to count, be-
cause 1t is not necessaryto count in order
to OPEN" If the Constitution had given
the President of the Senate the power to
count the votes, the power to open the
certificates would have been implied, be-
cause opening is prerequisite to coun-
ting. 1t is easy to see, therefore, that
the Constitution conferred upon the
President of the Senate an unimportant
power. which it would not have been
necessary to confer at all if the Chandler
theory held good that he has the right to
count the votes. If the Constitution had
intended to confer this power upon him,
1t would have done so in plain terms and |
SAID nothing of the right to open. 1t |
would be as impossible to count the votes |
without opening them, as it would be to |
eat nut without breaking the shell.
Another thing, to which Mr.. Edmunds |
did not call attention, throws light on the |
intentions of the trainers of the Constitu-
ton. The sentence in question was
"The President of the Senate shall II #
open all the certificates, and the vote |
shall then be counted. In the latter half
OF the sentence itsconstructioni entirely |
changed. If they meant to confer the |
power to count lit would have saved them |
three words to say. "The President of |
the Senate shall open all the certificates |
and count the votes" There are no un- |
necessary words in the Constitution, and |
when its trainers changed the construc-
ton of this sentence they meant some
thing by it.
Another thing, the XIIth Amendment, |
from which these words are taken, was
passed by the Eighth Congress, which |
continued from 1903 to 1905. AT that |
time the Vice-Presidency was the direct |
road to the Presidency, and each of the |
Presidents had become President. |
Adams, Vice-President under Washing
ton, had succeeded Washington, and |
Jefferson, Vice-President under Adams, |
had succeeded Adams. Is it likely that
our fathers proposed to put it in the |
power of any man to count himself into |
the Presidency.