CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



193 



he would have been elected. They were di- 

 vided equally between the two, each receiving 

 five. Jefferson's total vote was seventy-three, 

 Adams's sixty-five. Had all the votes of Mary- 

 land been given for Adams, his total would 

 have swelled to seventy, and Jefferson's would 

 have shrunk to sixty-eight; and the election 

 would have been strictly and unquestionably 

 legal and constitutional. The Legislature of 

 Maryland would have exercised no power but 

 that which the Constitution clearly conferred 

 upon it, and confers upon it still, and there 

 was no authority to review its doings. Such 

 a proposition, although not carried to the ex- 

 tent of a precedent, yet was urged on such 

 authority as gives to it almost the weight of a 

 precedent. 



" And, be that as it may, it might have been 

 done then, and it might be done now ; and 

 those who resisted it would place themselves 

 against the law, and expose themselves to the 

 penalties of the law. A President thus elected, 

 however he might lack the moral support 

 which should underlie his great office, would 

 be * every inch ' a President, would command 

 the army and the navy, and must have the 

 solemn judgment of the Supreme Court. 



"From all the difficulties of the existing 

 system, from all the evils and the dangers 

 which experience has developed in it, the pro- 

 posed amendment appears to offer a mode of 

 relief; and, while it commends itself to all the 

 States, I think that it is especially desirable to 

 those, if any there still be, who apprehend the 

 danger to the smaller members of the Union 

 from the ambition or the aggression of the 

 larger. 



"Representing, in part, one of the smaller 

 States, but one of those which brought its ori- 

 ginal sovereignty into the compact, and which 

 required no vote of the other States for ad- 

 mission into the Government, which she had 

 done her full share to establish, I give my 

 cordial assent to this important change which 

 is so clearly for the general good ; and which, 

 by dividing all the States into single electoral 

 districts, yet preserving to each the equal votes 

 that she has enjoyed, in recognition of her 

 equal membership in the Union, breaks down 

 the unhealthy, if not dangerous, preponderance 

 that the larger States possess." 



Mr. Thurman: "This is one of the greatest 

 subjects that could possibly engage the atten- 

 tion of the Senate ; and I do not think a casual 

 consideration of it, calling it up and then lay- 

 ing it over in a casual way, is likely to be pro- 

 ductive of much good. If a time is set for its 

 discussion, and we go on with the discussion 

 of it, Senators will attend to it and understand 

 the question ; but if it is taken up in a per- 

 functory way one day and then laid aside, and 

 again taken up three days afterward, nobody 

 ever knowing when it is to be up, it will not 

 receive that consideration which it ought to 

 have. I therefore renew my motion to post- 

 pone to next Wednesday." 

 VOL. xv. 13 A 



The Presiding Officer : " The Senator from 

 Ohio moves to postpone the pending joint reso- 

 lution until Wednesday next." 



The motion was agreed to. 



No final action was taken on the resolution, 

 but the subject was further discussed. 



In the Senate on January 27, 1874, Senator 

 Morton, of Indiana, offered the following reso- 

 lution relative to counting the votes for Presi- 

 dent and Vice-President, which was taken up 

 for consideration on February 4, 1875 : 



Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 

 concurring}, That the twenty -second joint rule of the 

 two Houses be, and the same is hereby, repealed. 



Mr. Morton : " Mr. President, the abolition 

 of this rule of course would follow as a result 

 of the constitutional amendment which I had 

 the honor to report from the Committee on 

 Privileges and Elections ; but I am satisfied 

 that, from the want of time and other causes, 

 that amendment cannot be passed and adopted 

 before the next presidential election ; and as, 

 in my opinion, the existence of this rule im- 

 perils the peace of the nation and subjects the 

 Government to great danger, I think it is our 

 duty to repeal the rule or to so amend it at 

 once as to avoid this approaching danger. 

 After consulting with a number of Senators in 

 regard to this matter, I ask leave to submit 

 this as a substitute for the resolution already 

 offered, which is to amend the rule, instead of 

 repealing it : 



That the twenty-second joint rule of the two 

 Houses be so amended that no objection to the re- 

 ception and counting of any electoral vote or votes 

 from any State shall be valid unless such objection 

 is sustained by the affirmative votes of the two 

 Houses. 



"Under the rule as it now exists, when the 

 votes for President and Vice-President are 

 counted, any formal objection, no matter how 

 trifling or insufficient or even contemptible in 

 its character, has the effect to separate the two 

 Houses, and they are to vote upon this objec- 

 tion, and, unless both Houses concur in voting 

 it down, the electoral vote of that State is 

 lost. In that way by the dissent of either 

 House any State may be disfranchised; the 

 vote of the State of New York or of Indiana 

 may be rejected by the most foolish and triv- 

 ial objection unless both Houses shall concur 

 in voting down that objection. The vote of 

 every State may be rejected in this way. It 

 requires no argument, therefore, ti prove 

 the absurdity, the unconstitutional! ty, and the 

 danger of this rule ; and, as I have had the 

 honor to argue this question before the Senate 

 on several occasions, I think it is not neces- * 

 sary to say any thing further now." 



The Presiding Officer: "The question is on 

 the amendment proposed by Senator Morton." 



Mr. Bayard, of Delaware, said: "I do not 

 know, Mr. President, that there is any rule be- 

 yond that of convenience and comity between 

 members of the Senate that should control the 



