Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-10-25
10 nArENPonT LAWs.


meut should be carried on. It was
not form Of words to be wrested to
this purpose or that By praeticed
special pIeaders; IT was not intend
ed that adroit Commentators should
exercise their ingenuity in showing
what il might be made to mean, bat i
that enIighted statesmen, knowing \
from history what il did mean,
might honestly direct the policy Of
the nation in the light Of its pro-
visions.
Now we viii defy any one, mod I
erateIy versed in the history of the
Constitution and its adoption by
the people Of the States, to believe
that the authors or that instrument
intended the Federal executive to
have any thing to do with the ma
ehinery by which either Presiden-
tiaI Electors, or Senators, or Repre-
sentatives were designated to rep
resent the States in the National
government One has only to study
the events attendant upon the first
meeting Of Congress to be assured
that, had the finger Of a Federal adj
mfnistration been intruded into the
machinery by which that Congress
was elected, the Union Of the States
would never have appeared on the
the pages ;f history.
The proceedings Of the first Con-
gress in 1859 show that it was by
no means certain thing that the
federal union would go into action
at all, until the arrival Of Richard
Henry Lee from Virginia, on April
6, a full month after the appointed
day for meeting of Congress, made
a quorum in the Senate, members
from New Jersey and Pennsylvania
having, by their arrival a few days
before, made a quorum in the
House Of Representatives. Even
after this, members from Georgia,
Maryland, South Carolina, etc, pro-
tracted the full assemblage of Con-
gress far into the summer, and,
though Congress was then held in
New York, it was nearly the end of
July before Senators and Repre-
sentatives appeared to represent
that State or were even elected for
that purpose, and North Carolina
did not appear till the second or
Rhode Island till the third session.
These States, in fact, had not de-
cided to ratify the Constitution
when the first Congress met on
March 4, 1888, and debates in Con-
gress show it to have been u matter
of great anxiety and doubt whether
all the thirteen original States
would take part in the newly organ
lied government. When they did
so, the first step was the acceptance
Of the Constitution by the State
governments, and the second the
election Of Senators and Represent
atives to the new Congress. This
was done under the newly accepted
Constitution, and was done eXciu-
sively under the jurisdiction Of the
State governments. nor from that
time till 1870, a period Of more than
eighty wears, did the Federal gov
eminent undertake to interfere in
in any way with the election ma
chinery for making Senators Oh
members Of Congress prior to their
arrival in Washington to take their
seats, when, if petition came lfT
from the .Sta,fe itself, an inquiry could
be instituted as 10 the Legality Ofthe
election.
This at least throws the O13Us pro-
5dgldj upon those who contend that
Federal power should intervene in
State elections. A power that was
never asserted till eighty years al
ter the Constitution went into force,
Is not likely to have been one Of the
powers intended to be given to the
Federal government
1t Is right to state that the advo-
Gates Of this power do attempt tc
base it upon a positive enactment OF
the Constitution They quote the
second paragraph Of Art. I, Sec +, Of
that document, the text of which Is
as follows:
The times. places and manners OF
holding elections for Senators and
Representatives shall be prescribed
in each State by the Legislature
thereof; but Congress may at any
time, by law, make or alter such
regulations, except as to the places
of choosing Senator'S
This clause evidentIyrefers to the
possible failure of the State govern
meuts to make arrangements for
sending Senators and Representa-
tives TO Congress, failure iucOnceiv-
able in the present day, bat (which, ia
the earliest days Ofthe national gov
eminent, was not only a conceivable
but a very imminent contingency
Without such a provision, the IN
certainty of making A quorum OF
members. which was a matter OF
such anxiety in the first session,
before all the states had adopted
the Constitution, might be repeated,
even after its adoption, in future
sessions, and so the precariOus con-
dit0ns Of existence for the Federal
government might be prolonged
through an indefinite period Of Its
existence. The clause Ia question
is historically known to have been
adopted for this purpose, and was
not intended to go into operation at
all unless the State failed to make
laws which should be found efficient
for securing the representation Of
the state in Congress. VIII it be
said that any such emergency ex-
istad % Justify the laws Of 1871, now
commonly known Is the Daven-
port laws
It has already been shown that
there was no such emergency.