CON(- !:!.. rXII'KD STATES. 



133 



mil im-ii.-.liat.-ly continue to be taken until a 



l.'iit .-.hall In- . lifted. 



An I it' tlu' H..II-I- of Representatives shall not 



a I'll si. lent, when tiio right of choice shall 



tli-volvi- ii[)<iii tin-in, l)i-i'ni-- tin- fourth clay of Murch 



'lluwinif, tlu-ii tin- Vice Presidential!] act as 



..nt, us in the case of the death or other con- 

 stitutional .lisubility of the President. The person 

 having the greatest number of votes for Vicr-I'ruM- 

 . I Mj, to be counted und determined as in cao of 



i>-tit as before provided, shall be Vice I'M-M- 

 dent. if such number l>o a majority of the whole 

 minihcr of electors appointed. And if no person 

 have a majority, then from the two highest num- 

 bers on the list the Senate shall choose a V ice-Presi- 

 li-iit ; a quorum for the purpose sliull consist of two- 

 thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a ma- 

 jority of the whole number shall be necessarv to a 

 i-hoifi-. But no person constitutionally ineligible to 

 the office of President shall be eligible to that of 

 Vice-President of the United States. 



SEC. 2. No person holding the office of a Justice of 

 the Supreme Court of the United States shall bo 

 eligible to be elected as President or Vice-President 

 until the expiration of two years next after he shall 

 have ceased to be such justice. 



On May 12th the committee reported the 

 same back with amendments, but no further 

 action was taken. 



In the House, on December 14, 1875, Mr. 

 Ulaine, of Maine, introduced the following 

 joint resolution for an amendment of the Con- 

 stitution, which was referred to the Commit- 

 tee on the Judiciary : 



ARTICLE XVI. No State shall make nny law re- 

 specting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting 

 the free exercise thereof; and no money raised by 

 t.ixation in any State for the support of public 

 sshools, or derived from any public fund therefor, 

 nor any public lands devoted thereto, shall ever be 

 under the control of any religious sect ; nor shall any 

 money so raised or lands so devoted be divided be- 

 tween religious sects or denominations. 



On the same day Mr. Randall, of Pennsyl- 

 vania, introduced to the House the following 

 joint resolution for an amendment of the Con- 

 stitution, which was referred to the Commit- 

 tee on the Judiciary : 



ARTICLE XVI. 1. From and after the next elec- 

 tion for a President of the United States the Presi- 

 dent shall hold his office during the term of six 

 years, and, together with the Vice-President chosen 

 for the same term, be elected in the manner as now 

 providedj or may hereafter be provided ; but neither 

 the President, nor the Vioe-President, when the 

 office of President has devolved upon him, shall be 

 eligible for reelection as President. 



On January 18th the Judiciary Committee 

 reported back the resolution with a substitute, 

 which was read, as follows: 



No person who has held, or may hereafter hold, 

 the office of President hhall ever ag'ain be eligible to 

 said office. 



Mr. Frye, of Maine, from the minority of 

 the committee, submitted the following amend- 

 ment : 



Strike out these words : 



No person who has held, or may hereafter hold, 

 the office of President shall ever again he eligible to 

 said office. 



And insert in lieu thereof the following: 



From and after the 4th day of March, in the year 



1885, the term of office of President and Vieo-I'r.-M- 

 <li ui <>f the United States Mhull be six year*; and 

 any person huviiig been elected to and held the office 

 of'l'ivM.li-nt, or who for two years has held such 

 office, shall be ineligible to a reelection. 



The Speaker pro tempore (Mr. Holman) : 

 " Tin- question is on the amendment submitted 

 by the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Fryej <>n 

 behalf of the minority of the committee. The 

 gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Knott), the 

 chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, 

 is entitled to the floor." 



Mr. Knott, of Kentucky, said : "I do not 

 propose at this time to enter into a discussion 

 of the reasons which influenced the Commit- 

 tee on the Judiciary in reporting this proposed 

 amendment to the Constitution. I desire 

 merely to state as succinctly as possible the 

 conclusions at which they arrived. The com- 

 mittee appreciated the unanimity of opinion 

 everywhere that there should be some limit to 

 eligibility to the office of President. The only 

 question upon which there was any contrari- 

 ety of judgment, as is apparent from the report 

 of the committee and the views of the minor- 

 ity, was as to the length of the term. As the 

 House knows, there were a variety of propo- 

 sitions submitted to the committee : one to 

 extend the term to six years and render the 

 incumbent forever after ineligible to the office 

 of President ; another extending the term to 

 six years and rendering the incumbent ineli- 

 gible for the six succeeding years ; another ex- 

 tending the term to six years and making the 

 President a Senator for life for the United 

 States at large, after the expiration of his term 

 of office; another limiting the term to four 

 years. 



" After considering these various proposi- 

 tions the committee concluded that they could 

 give to the people of this country no good rea- 

 son why the presidential term should be ex- 

 tended beyond its present limits. An amend- 

 ment to the Constitution in this direction is 

 evidently in the interests of the people them- 

 selves, jealous at all times, as they should be, 

 of executive power. The committee, there- 

 fore, were of opinion that no amendment ex- 

 tending the term beyond its present limits 

 would meet the approbation of the people of 

 this country, and that such a proposition 

 would be entirely nugatory. 



" Neither could the committee appreciate the 

 propriety or the importance of rendering the 

 1'iv^ident eligible after the lapse of a given pe- 

 riod of time. It occurred to them, I have no 

 doubt, as it did to myself, that men make their 

 calculations as though they expected to live 

 always, and that a President in office, with an 

 expectation of being elected again after the 

 lapse of four or six years, would, if inclined 

 to use his influence at all for the promotion of 

 his own ambition, be under the same tempta- 

 tion as if he were immediately reflected. 



."The committee, therefore, submit to the 

 House the proposition, simple and unadorned, 



