CONGKESS, UNITED STATES. 



171 



Blackburn, Boles, Buckland, Cake, Delano, Deweese, 

 Dixon, Dockerv, Edwards, Halsey, Asahel W. Hub- 

 barfl, George V. Lawrence, Lincoln, Loan, Morris- 

 sey, New comb. Pierce, Pile, Polsley, Eandall, 

 Schenck, Selye, Sitgreaves, Sypher, Taylor, Tift,Law- 

 rence S. Trimble, tan Wyck, Vidal, Elihu B. Wash- 

 burne, Stephen F. Wilson, and Woodbridge 35. 



The vote in the Senate, on concurring in the 

 report, was as follows : 



YEAS Messrs. Anthony, Cattell, Chandler, Cole, 

 Conkling, Conness, Cragin, Drake, Ferry, Fessenden, 

 Frelinghuysen, Harlan, Harris, Howard, Howe, Kel- 

 logg, McDonald, Morgan, Morrill of Maine, Morrill 

 of Vermont, Morton, Nye, Osborn, Patterson of 

 New Hampshire, Ramsey, Eice, Boberteon, Sherman, 

 Stewart, Thayer, Tipton, Trumbull, Van Winkle, 

 Wade, Warner, Welch, Willey, Williams, and Wil- 

 son 39. 



NATS Messrs. Bayard, Buckalew, Davis, Dixon, 

 Doolittle, Fowler, Hendricks, McCreery, Norton, 

 Patterson of Tennessee, Pool, Vickers, and Whyte 



ABSENT Messrs. Abbott, Cameron, Corbett, Ed- 

 munds, Grimes, Henderson, Pomeroy, Boss, Sauls- 

 bury, Sawyer, Spencer, Sprague, Sumner, and Yates 



The joint resolution, as adopted, was as fol- 

 lows: 



Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Represent- 

 atives of the United States of America in Congress as- 

 sembled (two-thirds of both Houses concurring), That 

 the following article be proposed to the Legislatures 

 of the several States as an amendment to the Consti- 

 tution of the United States, -which, when ratified by 

 three-fourths of said Legislatures, shall be valid as 

 part of the Constitution, namely : 



ABTICLE XV. Sec. 1. The right of citizens of the 

 United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged 

 by the United States or by any State on account of 

 race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 



Sec. 2. The Congress, by appropriate legislation, 

 may enforce the provisions of this article. 



On February 10th, at one o'clock p. M., the 

 Senate proceeded to the hall of the House for 

 the purpose of counting the vote for President 

 of the United States. The President of the 

 Senate took his seat as presiding officer of the 

 joint convention of the two Houses. The 

 Speaker occupied a chair on the left of the 

 President of the Senate. 



The certificate of the State of New Hamp- 

 shire was read in full, after that the result 

 merely in each State was announced. When 

 the State of Louisiana was announced, Mr. 

 Mullins, of Tennessee, objected to counting the 

 vote, as follows : 



I object to any count of the votes certified from the 

 State of Louisiana, andTaise the question in regard 

 to them that no valid election of electors for President 

 and Vice-President of the United States has been 

 held in said State. 



The rule in the case under which the con- 

 vention was acting required that, upon objec- 

 tion being made to counting the vote of any 

 State, each House should separately consider 

 and decide on the question raised. 



The Senate then withdrew to consider the 

 objection. After numerous resolutions and 

 amendments had been offered and rejected, the 

 following resolution of Senator Sprague, of 



Khode Island, was accepted as presenting the 

 question in proper form : 



Resolved, That the votes of the electors of the State 

 of Louisiana for President and Vice-President be 

 counted. 



YEAS Messrs. Abbott, Anthony, Buckalew, Cam- 

 eron, Cattell, ColejConkling, Conness, Corbett, Cra- 

 gin, Davis, Dixon, Doolittle, Drake, Edmunds, Ferry, 

 Fessenden, Fowler, Frelinghuysen, Grimes, Harlan, 

 Harris, Hendricks, Howe, Kellogg, McCreery, Mc- 

 Donald, Morgan, Morrill of Vermont, Osborn, Pat- 

 terson of New Hampshire, Patterson of Tennessee, 

 Pool, Eamsey, Eice, Boss, Saulsbury, Sawyer, Sher- 

 man, Spencer. Sprague-Stewart, Tipton, Trumbull, 

 Van Winkle, Vickers, Warner, White, Willey, Wil- 

 liams, and Yates 5] . 



NAYS Messrs. Chandler, Howard, Nye, Eobertson, 

 Sumner, Thayer, and Wilson 7. 



ABSENT Messrs. Bayard, Henderson, Morrill of 

 Maine, Morton, Norton, Pomeroy, Wade, and Welch 

 8. 



In the House, the question was put, as fol- 

 lows : " Shall the votes certified from the State 

 of Louisiana be counted? " and decided in the 

 affirmative yeas 137", nays 63. 



The House having notified the Senate of its 

 concurrent vote in favor of counting the vote 

 of Louisiana, both Houses again assembled in 

 joint convention and proceeded to count the 

 votes. Upon the State of Georgia being an- 

 nounced, Mr. Butler, of Massachusetts, made 

 the following objections to counting the vote : 



I object, under the joint rule, that the vote of the 

 State of Georgia for President and Vice-President 

 ought not to be counted, and object to the counting 

 thereof, because, among other things, the vote of the 

 electors in the electoral college was not given on the 

 first Wednesday of December, as required by law, 

 and no excuse or Justification for the omission of such 

 legal duty is set iorth in the certificate of the action 

 of the electors. 



Secondly. Because at the date of the election of 

 said electors the State of Georgia had not been ad- 

 mitted to representation as a State in Congress since 

 the rebellion of her people, or become entitled there- 

 to. 



Thirdly. That at said date said State of Georgia 

 had not fulfilled in due form all the retirements of 

 the Constitution and laws of the United States, known 

 as the reconstruction acts, so as to entitle said State 

 of Georgia to be represented as a State in the Union 

 in the electoral vote of the several States in the 

 choice of President and Vice-President. 



Fourthly. That the election pretended to have been 

 held in the State of Georgia on the first Tuesday of 

 November last past was not a free, just, equal, and 

 fair election ; but the people of the State were de- 

 prived of their just rights therein by force and fraud. 



Whereupon the Senate retired to decide 

 upon them, and adopted the following resolu- 

 tion: 



Resolved, That, under the special order of the two 

 Houses respecting the electoral vote from the State 

 of Georgia, the objections made to the counting of 

 the vote of the electors for the State of Georgia are 

 not in order. 



In the House, the following question was 

 presented : " Shall the electoral vote of the 

 State of Georgia be counted notwithstanding 

 the objections thereto ? " and decided in the 

 negative. 



The joint convention was then resumed, and, 

 amid great confusion and loud objections by 



