Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-03-22
Speaker Cobb's Historic
Ruling
BY JOHN T. BOIFEUILLET

! mention OF historical incident III WHICH TWO
eminent Georgians figured
Official records at Washington say that the
! term of this senator and that senator will eX-
| pre on March 8, of such and such year,
! whereas, it does not terminate until noon OF
! the following day-March 4. The official
statement is cOnstitutionally correct, but leg
! islatively wrong. The seeming contradiction
is due to the fact that Congress does not rec
! ognize the calendar day, but recognizes the
! legislative day.
| The legislative day of March of the final
| session Of a Congress is held to terminate at
I IL o'clock noon of March 4. From the early
! DAYS of the republic, until 1851, it was gem
orally considered that the limit of a con-
gressional term ceased at midnight on March
| 8 of each alternate odd-numbered year, and
| that beyond this hour and date the term could
not be lawfully and constitutionally extended.
i In 1851 the great Howell Cobb, of Georgia,
| was speaker of the House. At five minutes
| before IL o'clock of the night of March 8, OF
! that year, Representative Alexander III. Ste
! phens, also eminent son of this state, rose
/ to a question of privilege. He submitted to
| Speaker Cobb the proposition that const1tu-
| tiOnally Congress expired at II o'clock. He
| inquired whether the House had the right to
sit after that hour The point was made by
! someone that since in the presidential year a
new administration is not inaugurated until
! ~ o'clock noon on the 4th of March, the IN
! terpretaton of the law commonly received
would create an interregnum of twelve hours
| duration
! Speaker Cobb refused to decide the Ques-
| ton until the hour of midnight arrived. Then
| he ruled that the term of an outgoing Con-
! gross did not expire until IL O'Clock noon OF
March 4.
Representative Stephens moved that the
! House adjourn sine die, and he called for the
ayes and nays on the motion Inc moIlon
was lost by 80 yeas to 1853 nays. Speaker
| Cobb's ruling this subject has been fol
| lowed by Congress for seventy-two years. and
guess it will remain in effect as long as the
republic endures.
The illustrious Nathaniel Macon, of North
! Carolina in whose honor the city of Macon
| Ca, was named was a distinguished speaker
| of the house, and eminent senator. He was
one of many able men who believed that the
! constitutional right or power of new Con-
| gress commenced at II o'clock midnight
March 8, the calendar day, and that the old
| Congress expired at that time, ana not at
noon on the 4th of March He oel1eVeo thal
under his oath he had no authority to act as
| a member of the old Congress after midnight
| of the 3D. nor the Senate or House to make
him act as such, when midnight arrived
he put on his hat and walked away
J have observed Seab Wright, the Demos
themes of the Mountains, when he was rep
resentative in the general assembly OF Geor-
gia, follow this practice OF the eminent Ma
thaniel Macon. Guided by his conception or
his constitutional duty, the brilliant orator
from Floyd refused to participate in the leg1s-
lative proceedings, and retired from the scene
when midnight of the closing night or the
term of the general assembly arrived me
eloquent Georgian had an illustrlous exam
pie in the renowned North Carolnian. Thorn
as Jefferson called Macon ''the last of the Ro-
mans" but Seab Wright has since lived.
This question as to the time of the explra-
tion of the term of the Congress was raised
as far back as March 8, 1885. nearly ninety
| years ago, by Representative James, OF Maine,
who at midnight of that date, made the polnt
of order that the functions OF the House had
ceased Speaker John Bell said he could not
decide the question and that the proper pro-
cedure to obtain the opinion of the House
would be by motion to adjourn. Where-
upon, a prominent Georgian, Representative
Seaborn Jones, was promptly in evidence with
the necessary notion and the same was lost.
On the night of March g. 1849 a similar
question presented to the senate. during
the debate, Senator Mason, of Virginia, eX-
| pressed a doubt as to whether the term Tor
| which he had been chosen had not expired,
and desired. if he continued to act after mid
night, to take the oath and be qualified as a
senator for the new term.
J Senator Stephen A. Douglas, the Little
Giant" of Illinois, offered the following reso-
! luton:
| "ResoIved That inasmuch as the final
session of this Congress does not expire under
! the constitution until IL o'clock noon on the
! 4th of March instant the Hon. James M.
Mason. a senator-elect from the state of Vir-
ginia, is not entitled to take the oath of office
| at this time, tO-wit: on the 4th OF March at
! l o'clock a.. M
| The resolution was adopted by vote OF
! 27 yeas to II nays.
| The further point was made at this time
| that the Senate had no constitutional right to
sit after midnight March 5, 1915. and this
was lost by Z yeas to 33 nays. The famous
I Senator Cass of Michigan, in whose honor
former county in Georgia was named. gave
! it as his opinion that Congress terminated on
the night of the Sd of March at % o'clock
| He declared that the bills that would be
| passed after midnight would be signed on
! "the Sd of March" 1t would be so stated
| but it was not true. at was merely to resort
to a fiction to Justify holding over" Being
! Of this belief he so voted, and after voting
! did no more business
! Senator Jefferson Davis, Of Mississippi, at
midnight on March 8, 1861, stated that as
Washington was inaugurated president at
! noon on March A. and as every presidents
term had been for four years from that period,
and as every senatorial term was for six years,
| the session might continue until ~ ocioch
! noon on March 4. But as the weight of very
high authority was against his opinion, ne
I desired to test the question. Therefore he
would present himself at the chair and ask
| to be sworn in as q member for new term.
F.. The chair did not feel at liberty to administer
the oath as the old Congress had not ad~
journed.
/ It is interesting 10 note that Senator JetfeT-
son Davis and Representative Alexander il.
Stephens who raised this question, one in the
| Senate ten years after the other did in the
House, became president and vice president
each respectively, Of the Confederate States
of America, and that Speaker Cobb, to whom
Representative Stephens submitted his query
was chosen chairman of the Congress of the
Southern Confederacy which assembled at
Montgomery and elected Davis and Stephens
as the heads Of the government of the seces-
sion states.
/ Representative Singleton, of Illinois, at