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CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



choose their other officers ' put in at all ? The 

 reason of it is very obvious. You will find a 

 like provision in regard to the House of Repre- 

 sentatives. It was to give each body the ab- 

 solute power to choose its own officers. Just 

 for the same reason that each House is made 

 the sole judge of the election, returns, and 

 qualifications of its own members, so the 

 choice of its own immediate servants is vested 

 in each House, and it is to prevent the choice 

 of officers of the Senate, or officers of the 

 House being made a subject-matter of legisla- 

 tion, being governed by law, or being conferred 

 upon any executive authority. It is for that 

 reason alone that the clause is put in here that 

 'the Senate shall choose their other officers.' 

 Then the Constitution goes on and says : ' And 

 also a President pro tempore, in the absence of 

 the Vice-President, or when he shall exercise 

 the office of President of the United States.' 



" If the Senator from Indiana is right, why 

 was not this clause condensed so as to say 

 'the Senate shall choose their other officers, 

 and when necessary a President pro tempore f 

 Why was it not put in those few words ? 

 Where was the necessity of putting in words 

 that import a term for which that President is 

 to hold his office ? If the Senator from Indi- 

 ana and the majority of the committee are 

 correct, the whole object would have been ac- 

 complished by saying, ' The Senate shall 

 choose their other officers, and also a President 

 pro tempore when necessary.' That would 

 have left him in the power of the Senate. 

 But, instead of saying in those few words that 

 the Senate should have the power to elect a 

 President pro tempore, they go on to say, ' and 

 a President pro tempore in the absence of the 

 Vice-President.' And that is not all : ' Or 

 when he shall exercise the office of President 

 of the United States.' 



" It does look as if the plain import of this 

 language was that there is to be such an offi- 

 cer, and it is admitted he is an officer, for, if 

 he is not, he could not become President under 

 the act of 1792, and that act would be uncon- 

 stitutional. There is to be such an officer as a 

 President pro tempore of the Senate, and that 

 officer is elected for an absence of the Vice- 

 President, and if that absence is to be contin- 

 uous, as in the case of his becoming President 

 of the United States upon the death, resigna- 

 tion, or removal from office of the President, 

 then that Senator, thus President pro tempore, 

 is to hold for the whole term. 



" That is the natural import of this lan- 

 guage, as it seems to me upon further reflec- 

 tion. In view of the language of the Consti- 

 tution and in view of the fact that it seems to 

 Jiave been the idea of the framers of the Con- 

 stitution that the presiding officer of this body 

 should have a certain independent status, a 

 certain permanency of tenure of office, and 

 with the strong reasons which have been given 

 favoring this permanency of tenure, I cannot 

 bring myself ultimately to the conclusion that 



this is an office held durante leneplacito ; that 

 we are to turn our presiding officer out one 

 day and put somebody else in ; and that, ow- 

 ing to some casual change of majority or 

 change of feeling in the Senate, we are to re- 

 verse the thing the next day and reinstate the 

 old officer. I know that there is very little to be 

 gained by supposing extreme cases. There is 

 very little to be gained by supposing that the 

 Senate would do so improper a thing ; and yet 

 it might be done in times of high party ex- 

 citement. 



" Then, I think, Mr. President, that there is 

 great force in what was said by the Senator 

 from Florida (Mr. Jones). If you say that 

 the President pro tempore can be changed at 

 the will of the Senate, and the House of Rep- 

 resentatives should take the opposite view of 

 it, and the office of President of the United 

 States should devolve on the President of the 

 Senate, you might have a conflict between the 

 two Houses as to who was the Chief Execu- 

 tive Magistrate. If, for instance, we were to 

 change our President pro tempore, elect some 

 one else in his stead, and (this not being a 

 matter of the special privileges of the Senate, 

 upon which our judgment is conclusive for 

 upon it depends who shall be President of the 

 United States) if the House of Representatives 

 should take the opposite view and say, ' You 

 have improperly elected a man ; you have vio- 

 lated the Constitution by electing a man when 

 there was no vacancy and when you had no 

 power to change your presiding officer,' .wo 

 can see that there would be a conflict immedi- 

 ately between the two Houses. That may be 

 an extreme case, too that is to say, a case not 

 very likely to occur and yet it is a case so 

 likely to occur that it has been thought neces- 

 sary to provide by law for the event of the 

 death of both the President and Vice-Presi- 

 dent of the United States, and it is provided 

 for in the Constitution also. The Constitution 

 contemplates that both President and Vice- 

 President may die or their offices become vacant, 

 and it requires Congress to provide for such a 

 contingency, and Congress has provided for 

 it; so that it is not reasoning from extreme 

 cases or improbable hypotheses to say such a 

 case may arise; and, seeing that it may arise, 

 it is possible there may be this conflict between 

 the two Houses if the opinion advocated by 

 the majority of the committee shall prevail. 

 The other opinion, that which makes the of- 

 fice of President pro tempore permanent as 

 long as the Vice-President is absent, removes 

 any possibility of danger of a conflict." 



The Presiding Officer (Mr. Allison in the 

 chair) : " The question is on the indefinite post- 

 ponement of the third resolution." 



The Chief Clerk read the resolution, as fol- 

 lows: 



8. Resolved, That the office of President pro temper* 

 of the Senate is held at the pleasure of the Senate. 



The question being taken by yeas and nays, 

 resulted yeas 18, nays 36, as follows : 



