CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



185 



toral vote of the State of Texas, because four elect- 

 ors, less than a majority of those elected, undertook 

 to nil the places of other four electors, who had been 

 elected and were absent. 



The two Houses separated and voted. We 

 overruled the objection in the Senate by a vote 

 of 34 to 24 ; I believe the vote in the House 

 was still closer ; but a change of six votes in 

 the Senate would have thrown out the vote of 

 Texas. Luckily nothing depended upon it ; 

 but, if the election of one candidate or the 

 other had depended upon it, what would have 

 been the result in that case ? Then we come 

 to the vote of Mississippi. A formal objection 

 was made to the vote of Mississippi. "We over- 

 ruled it; the House overruled it by a small 

 majority; but it happened that nothing de- 

 pended upon that vote. It was not very im- 

 portant ; but it shows the possibility of doing 

 the thing. Now let ine suppose a case where 

 the Senate belongs to one party and the House 

 to another in point of majority and we come 

 to count the votes. If you please, a Demo- 

 cratic State is called. We look at the certifi- 

 cate. It is informal in some respect ; some 

 little objection may be made to it in the nature 

 of a special demurrer. We separate, and vote. 

 The Senate being Republican, we throw out 

 the vote. The next State called is a Republican 

 State. Some little objection is found to that, 

 because a good lawyer can always pick some 

 little flaw in a certificate. The two Houses 

 separate, and the House of Representatives 

 throws out that vote. And thus we throw out 

 first on the one side and then on the other, till 

 they are all gone, and the election goes for 

 nothing. 



" This is not only possible but it is probable. 

 Here we have a rule not a law, but a simple 

 rule agreed upon between the two Houses 

 by which either House, against the ot;her, may 

 throw out the vote of every State in this Union 

 for President and disfranchise the people and 

 throw the election into the House of Repre- 

 sentatives. There could not be a grosser vio- 

 lation of the Constitution of the United States. 

 It was not intended to give Congress any power 

 over the electoral votes ; but here by a simple 

 rule, never passed as a law, never approved by 

 the President of the United States, either House 

 of Congress is enabled to disfranchise any and 

 every State in this Union and to throw the 

 election into the House of Representatives. 

 If that is not full of danger, I cannot conceive 

 what is. You take a time when parties are 

 bitter, when party spirit runs high. The elec- 

 tion of President is a great prize; the office 

 commands vast patronage and vast power; and 

 here is a rule which enables either House to 

 cast out the vote of any or of all States, dis- 

 franchise the people, and throw the election 

 into the House of Representatives. It makes 

 Congress a canvassing board, a thing that the 

 Constitution expressly prohibited, not in words 

 but in effect, by various provisions. While 

 the Constitution attempted to withdraw the 



election entirely from Congress, here is a rule 

 that puts it in the hand of either branch. It 

 does not require a joint vote to disfranchise 

 New York, but enables either the House or 

 the Senate to disfranchise New York, Missis- 

 sippi, or Indiana. 



" Now, sir, I come to the question of an elec- 

 tion by the House of Representatives. We 

 have a rule that enables either House to throw 

 the election there. What is an election by the 

 House of Representatives? There they vote 

 by States. They do not elect the President by 

 a majority of the members of that House, giv- 

 ing it some sort of a popular character, but 

 they vote by States. Nevada has one vote ; 

 New York has one vote. Nevada with forty-two 

 thousand people has the same vote as New York 

 with five million one hundred and fourteen 

 times the population of Nevada. 



There was some calculation made as to the 

 possibility of an election by the House, and I 

 want to read it from the report, as being bet- 

 ter stated than I can do it now. Let me call 

 the attention of the Senate to the possibility 

 of an election by the House of Representatives. 

 In the election of a President by the House of 

 Representatives under the present apportion- 

 ment, each State having one vote, forty-five 

 members out of two hundred and ninety-two 

 can make the election. For example : 



Delaware, Nebraska, Nevada, and Oregon, have 

 each one member, and four members would cast the 

 votes of those four States ; Ehode Island and Florida 

 have each two, and four members would cast the 

 votes of those States; Minnesota, New Hampshire, 

 West Virginia, Vermont, and Kansas have each three 

 members, and two votes in each, or ten members 

 in all five, would cast the votes of those five States ; 

 Arkansas, California, and Connecticut have four 

 members each, and three in each, or nine in all, may 

 cast their votes; Maine and South Carolina have 

 each five members, three of whom in each, or six in 

 both, may cast their two votes; Maryland, Missis- 

 sippi, and Texas have each six members, and four in 

 each, or twelve in all, may cast the vote of those 

 three States. This makes nineteen States, or a ma- 

 jority of the States in the Union, and forty-five mem- 

 bers may cast their votes and elect a President of 

 the United States against the wishes of the other two 

 hundred and forty-seven members of the House of 

 Representatives. 



This may not be likely to happen ; but this 

 can be done under the election of a President 

 by the House of Representatives. Why, sir, to 

 call that republican or to call it democratic is 

 to make nonsense of it. It is as far removed 

 as possible from what may be considered a 

 democratic or republican election of a Presi- 

 dent of the United States. And see how it is 

 done : The voting is by members elected two 

 years before. Members elected two years be- 

 fore on different issues, when the politics of 

 the country were entirely different from what 

 they are when the election takes place, are to 

 choose the President of the United States and 

 do it by States. 



The election of a President by the House of 

 Representatives is full of danger. It has been 

 tried twice, and each time we came near mak- 



