Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-01-13

: votes are cast are, were they cast In
the manner required by the Constitu-
ton, and by duly qualified persons,
|, who had been appointed IN the manner
directed by the legislature of the State9
Who is to make these inquiries, is a
question now agitating the country;
but it seems to me it is settled by the
terms OF the Constitution and the uni
form practice under it from the begin
ming. The language of the Constitu-
ton is: The president of the Senate
shall in the presence of the Senate
\ and House of Representatives, open
all the certificates, and the votes shall
then be counted" The trainers of
the Constitution were careful and pre-
else III the language, and used no more
words than were necessary to express
their meaning By giving due consid-
Grafton to the words ssall" and then"
| In the phrase quoted some light may
perhaps be thrown upon its meaning.
1t is plainly the duty of the president
of the Senate to open all the certifi-
Gates from all the States, before any of
them are counted by anybody. 1t
would have been verv easy for the fra
mers of the Constitution to have said
that the president of the Senate shall
open the certificates and count the
votes, if such had been their inten-
| ton; but by requiring all the certifi-
Gates to be laid before the Senate and
House of Representatives before the
count begins. it would seem to follow
| that they were to make it.
But if there were doubt as to the
meaning of the Constitution, it would |
be settled by the practice under it from
the beginning. The mode of proceed
ing at the first election in 1889, and |
before the government was organized |
under the Constitution, can not, of
course, afford a precedent for action |
after the Government went into oper-
alton. When the election for the first |
president took place there was no pres
ident of the Senate, ner Senate, nor |
House of Representatives In exist |
ence. A number of persons who had |
been chosen senators assembled April |
6, 1889, and appointed one of their |
number president for the purpose of |
opening and counting the votes for
president, and at the same time passed |
an order to inform the House ofRepre-
sentatives that the Senate is now ready I
in the Senate chamber to proceed in
the presence of the House to discharge
that duty" thereby assuming that the
president they had appointed was mere
ly their instrument to make the count.
The senators were not then sworn into
office, nor was the oath administered
to them till January 3rd following. At
Washington's second election, in 1898,
the very first election which took place
after the Government went into ope-
ration under the Constitution, the
House passed the resolution, which
was concurred in by the Senate, to ap-
point committee to join such com
mlttee as might be appointed by the
Senate, to ascertain and report
A MODE OF EXAMINING THE VOTES
for president and vice preaident. The
committees were appointed, and re-
ported mode for canvassing the vote,
which has been substantially followed
ever since. Here was direct asser-
ton of the power of Congress over
the counting of the electoral vote.
which has never been departed from.
In 1865, to avoid the necessity of rails
ing joint committee at each recur-
ing presidential election to devise
mode of counting the vote, and to
provide mode of disposing of con-
tests over electoral votes, what is
known as the twenty second joint rule
was adopted. The authorship of that
rule has sometimes been attributed to
me; and as | believe it to be in strict
harmony with the Constitution, and
that if adhered to it would peacea-
bly, settle the complica ations growing
out Of the recent election, | should
feel proud of the distinction if entitled
to it. That rule was the production
of a joint committee appointed, ac-
cording to the practice of Congress
from 1893, to ascertain and report a
mode of examing the votes for
president and vice president. The
committee which reported the twenty
second joint rule was appointed in
January, 1865, and consisted of
TRUMBULL, CoNNERs AND WRIGHT,
on the part of the Senate, and of Ste
phens, Elihu B. Washburn, Mallory,
Henry Winter Davis and Cox on the !
House. The joint rule was considered
by unanimous consent and agreed to by
both houses Feb. 6, 1865, and the elec-
toral votes cast in 1864 1868 and 1872
were counted in pursuance of that
rule, which was considered in force
without being re-enacted and without
objection, except so far as the joint
rule was modified by a concurrent res
olution offered by Mr.. Edmunds and
adopted by both houses February, 1869,
in regard to the electoral vote of {
Georgia. Mr.. Edmunds' resolution,
which asserted the power of Congress /
over the national vote, and disposed
OF that Of Georgia, was voted for In
Senate by Edmunds, Antony, Cameron,
Conkling, Frelinhuysen, Morrill,, of 1
Maine, Morrill,, of Vermont, Sherman,
and most of the leading men now in
the Senate
The present Senate, at its last ses-
sion, passed bill which was voted for
by Mr.. Ferry, its president, and nearly
every Republican senator present at /
the time, which bill asserts theplenary [
power of the two houses over the count
of the votes for president and vice
president, and their authority to re-
ceive and reject votes By what au- |
thority did Republican senators vote
for these measures brought forward
by Mr.. Edmunds and Mr.. Nor {
ton, if the Constitution gives the
president of the Senate the right to
count the votes? Every Congress
from the days Of Washington to the 1
present time has asserted its power
and provided for the countof the cleo
toral vote. There is scarcely mem
Der of the present Senate who has not
asserted an acted upon this same pow
er, and the claim now upi in some
quarters that under the Constitution
the president of the Senate has the au-
thority to make the count is an as
sumption
AT WAR WITH THE PRACTICE OF THE
GOVERNMENT.
for more than eighty years, and is rev. !
lutionary in character. For Mr. Fer
ry and other Republican senators to !
assent to such claim would be to
stultify themselves.
It being, then, the duty of the SEN I
ate and the House of Representatives
to make the count, they can no more
escape it than they can another duty
imposed upon them. In acting upon ]
this subject they must act as indepen-
dent bodies in the same manner as
they do other business. The Consti- !
tuition knows no such BODY as a Joint {