194 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 



hibited from originating. " * In like manner Mr. McDuffee empha- 

 sized the plea offered in 1833, that this was a bill to reduce duties. t 



Very few of the Senators even mentioned the constitutional phase 

 of the bill. The debate was almost wholly on the tariff, although 

 once Mr. Berrien brought the Senate back to a consideration of the 

 resolution /^r se, remarking that "however important might be the 

 discussion of the merits of the bill, there stood in advance of it a 

 question far more important, which was, whether the Senate of the 

 United States would confine its legislation within the limits of the 

 constitution, or usurp a power which the constitution had not con- 

 ferred upon it.;};" In general, however, the debate jjrogressed with 

 no reference to this point, and as it drew to a close, it became mani- 

 fest that the bill would have no chance of passing, even if it should 

 come before the Senate for a direct vote. Consetjuently it was not 

 at first intended to ])ermit a vote of the Senate which would show just 

 how each member stood with regard to the matter of Mr. McDuffee's 

 bill. But if a vote was to be demanded ujjon the resolution alone, 

 many Senators who really favored the tariff bill would find it neces- 

 sary to vote for the resolution preventing the introduction of that bill. 

 Senators were afraid that their votes would not be understood. Fur- 

 ther, a vote on the resolution alone, would aj)pear to be a device for 

 the shirking of responsibility for a vote on tariff reduction. Hence 

 Mr. Allen introduced an amendment to the resolution, reading: "Re- 

 solved that the duties imposctl on importations by existing laws are 

 unjust and oppressive, and ought to be repealed, but that the bill,§" 

 etc. On this amendment the vote stood yeas, 18; nays, 25, indicat- 

 ing each Senator's jiosition on the tariff, while on the resolution itself 

 the vote§ was yeas, t^t^; nays, 4. 



This overwhelming vote was another step in preserving to the 

 House the right of originating money bills. As yet, however, the 

 Senate had put no interpretation on the words "for raising revenue." 



VI. Thirty-fourth Congress, iSjj. Debate in the Senate upon the 

 attempt of the Senate to originate general appropriation bills. 



December nth, 1855. Mr. Brodhead of Pennsylvania introduced 

 into the Senate a resolution,** "that the committee on finance be 

 directed to inquire into the expediency of reporting the appropriation 



♦Cong. Globe, I. Sess. 28 Cong., p. 160. 



+ Ibid., p. 16.5. 



tlbid., p. 493. 



§Ibid., p. 633. 



6 Ibid., p. 633. 



•*Cong. Globe, 1855-56. pt. I, p. 160. 



