CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



217 



Buckingham, Carpenter, Chandler, Conover.Cragin, 

 Gilbert, Hamlin, Jones, Lewis, Norwood, Ramsey, 

 Robertson, Sprague, Stewart, Stockton, Washburn, 

 and Wright 20. 



So the amendment was agreed to. 



The Chief Clerk : " The amendment of the 

 Senator from Indiana is to add to the resolu- 

 tion the following words : " 



And whether he has any information in regard to 

 the existence of armed organizations in the State of 

 Louisiana hostile to the government of the State 

 and intent on overturning such government by 

 force. 



The Presiding Officer : " The question re- 

 curs on the amendment of the Senator from 

 Indiana (Mr. Morton). 1 ' 



The amendment was agreed to. 



The Presiding Officer : "The Chair will be 

 excused for asking the Clerk to read the amend- 

 ment offered by the Senator from California 

 (Mr. Sargent)." 



The Chief Clerk : " It is proposed to amend 

 the resolution by inserting after the word 

 ' Senate,' where it last occurs in the original 

 resolution, the words ' under what circum- 

 stances ; ' so that if amended it will read : " 



And if such has been the case, then that the Presi- 

 dent inform the Senate under what circumstances 

 and by what authority such military intervention 

 and interference have taken place. 



Mr. Morton : " That is right." 



The amendment was agreed to. 



The Presiding Officer: " The question is on 

 the adoption of the resolution as amended." 



The resolution as amended was agreed to. 



The answer of the President to the resolu- 

 tion consisted of an extended report on the 

 state of affairs in Louisiana, chiefly in Decem- 

 ber, 1874. The message was sent to the Sen- 

 ate on January 18, 1875, and will be found 

 under the title PUBLIC DOCUMENTS in the AN- 

 NUAL CYCLOPAEDIA for 1874. See also the ar- 

 ticle LOUISIANA in the same volume. 



In the Senate on December 15, 1874, Mr. 

 Wright, of Iowa, offered the following joint 

 resolution proposing certain amendments to 

 the Constitution of the United States : 



Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives 

 of the United States of America, in Congress assem- 

 bled, That the following amendments to the Consti- 

 tution of the United States be proposed to the States 

 for their ratification : 



ARTICLE .SEC. 1. The President and Vice- 

 President of the United States shall be elected by 

 direct vote of the people and by ballot. They shall 

 hold their office for the term of six years, and the 

 President shall be ineligible to a reelection. 



SEC. 2. Every male citizen of the United States of 

 the age of twenty-one years and upward, residing 

 in each State, District, and Territory thereof, who 

 shall not have been convicted of felony, shall, after 

 registration, be a competent voter at all elections for 

 President and Vice-President of the United States. 



SEC. 3. The election for President and Vice-Presi- 

 dent shall be held at the same time in each State, 

 District, and Territory of the United States, and it 

 shall require a majority of all the votes cast to elect 

 to either office. If no person shall receive such ma- 



jority, another election shall be held, at which the 

 two persons who shall have received the highest 

 vote for either office at the previous election shall 

 alone be voted for and all votes cast fpr any other 

 person shall be null and void. 



SEC. 4. The returns of all elections for President 

 and Vice-President shall be sealed up and transmit- 

 ted to the Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court of 

 the United States. That court shall open and can- 

 vass said returns ; they shall hear and determine all 

 questions arising thereon ; they shall ascertain and 

 declare the result of the election, and grant a certifi- 

 cate accordingly to the persons elected. 



SEC. 5. The Congress shall have power to pass all 

 laws necessary and proper to carry into effect the 

 provisions of this article. 



Mr. Wright : " The amendments proposed 

 were not draughted by myself, but sent to me 

 by a very intelligent citizen of the country, 

 and I present them by request. I move that 

 the resolution be referred to the Committee 

 on Privileges and Elections." 



The joint resolution was read the second 

 time by its title, referred to the Committee on 

 Privileges and Elections, and ordered to be 

 printed. 



This session of Congress closed on March 3d, 

 when that body adjourned sine die. 



The most important of the various measures 

 passed at this session was the one to provide 

 for the resumption of specie payments. The 

 following is a part of the 3d section of this act : 



And on and after the first day of January, anno 

 Domini eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, the 

 Secretary of the Treasurv shall redeem in coin the 

 United States legal-tend"er notes then outstanding, 

 on their presentation for redemption at the office of 

 the Assistant Treasurer of the United States, in the 

 city of New York, in sums of not less than fifty 

 dollars. And to enable the Secretary of the Treasury 

 to prepare and provide for the redemption in this 

 act authorized or required, he is authorized to use 

 any surplus revenues from time to time in the Treas- 

 ury not otherwise appropriated, and to issue, sell, 

 and dispose of, at not less than par, in coin, either 

 of the descriptions of bonds of the United States 

 described in the act of Congress, approved July 14, 

 1870, entitled " An act to authorize the refunding of 

 the national debt," with like qualities, privileges, 

 and exemptions, to the extent necessary to carry this 

 act into full effect, and to use the proceeds thereof 

 for the purposes aforesaid. 



CONKLING-, EOSCOE, Senator in Congress 

 from New York. He was born at Albany, 

 October 30, 1829, and received his education 

 at the schools and academies in that city, where 

 he studied law and commenced its practice. 

 In 1846 he removed to Utica, and became the 

 attorney for Oneida County in 1850. Subse- 

 quently he was elected Mayor of Utica, 1850, 

 and a Representative in the Thirty-sixth, Thir- 

 ty-seventh, Thirty-ninth, and Fortieth Con- 

 gresses. But immediately after the last elec- 

 tion as Representative he was chosen to the 

 Senate of the United States, to succeed Ira 

 Harris. He has constantly been an active and 

 prominent member of the Republican party. 

 He took his seat in the Senate on March 4, 

 1867. At the expiration of his term he was 

 reflected, and took his seat March 4, 1873. 

 His present term will expire March 3, 1879. 



