CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



1C1 





The two Houses, acting separately, shall decide 

 to be tliu truo and valid return. 



" And in lieu thereof insert 



The House of Representatives, voting by States, 

 in tliu manner provided by the Constitution when 

 tlio election devolves upon the House, shall decide 

 to bo the true and vulid return. 



" So that, if amended, the section will read : 



That if more than one return shall bo received by 

 the President of the Senate from a State, purporting 

 to be the certificates of electoral votes given at tliu 

 last pn-ei'ding election for President and Vice-Presi- 

 dent in such State, all such returns shall be opened 

 by him in the presence of the two Houses when as- 

 sembled to count the votes ; and that return from 

 such State shall be counted which the House of Rep- 

 resentatives, voting by States, in the manner pro- 

 vided by the Constitution when the election devolves 

 upon the House, shall decide to be the true and valid 

 return." 



Mr. Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey, said : 

 " Mr. President, it had always appeared to me 

 that the provision of the twelfth article of 

 the amendments to the Constitution, which 

 declares that the President of the Senate shall, 

 in the presence of the Senate and House of 

 Representatives, open all the certificates, and 

 omits to say that he shall do anything more, 

 was equivalent to the exclusion of the idea that 

 any other duty was to be performed by him, 

 and that the Constitution left it open as to who 

 should count the votes otherwise than by stat- 

 ing that they should ' then be counted.' There 

 is some force, however, in the resolution of the 

 convention to which our attention has been 

 called by the Senator from Maryland ; and as 

 we are making suggestions it has occurred to 

 me that the second section might be amended 

 by adding: 



An. I if the two Houses do not agree as to which is 

 the true and valid return, then the President of the 

 Sjuate shall determine which is the valid return. 



" I do not mean to say that, on deliberation, 

 that is the best provision ; but it is very clear 

 from the amendments which have been offered 

 that it is within the compass of our power to 

 providj for that omission which exists in the 

 bill." 



Mr. Cooper: I ask leave to modify my 

 amendment, instead of striking out to leave 

 the section as it now is, and add the words: 



And if the Houses do not agree on which return 

 shall be counted, the House ofEepresentatives, vot- 

 ing by States in the manner provided by the Con- 

 stitution when the election devolves upon the House, 

 shall decide which shall be the true and valid return. 



" So that the question shall only be left to the 

 House voting in that way in the event that the 

 t\vi> Houses acting separately cannot agree." 



On March 14th, the Senate, as in Committee 

 of the Whole, resumed the consideration of the 

 bill to provide for and regulate the counting of 

 votes for President and Vice- President, and the 

 decision of questions arising thereon, the pend- 

 ing question being on the amendment of Mr. 

 Sherman to strike out in lines seven, eight, 

 and nine, of the third section the words : 

 VOL. xvi. 11 A 



In the power of a majority of each House to direct 

 that the main question shall be put. 



And insert in lieu thereof: 



The duty of each House to put the main question. 



So that the proviso will read : 



Provided, That, after such debate has lasted two 

 hours, it shall be the duty of each House to put the 

 main question without further debate. 



The amendment was agreed to. 



The President pro tempore : " The question 

 will now be on the amendment proposed by 

 the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper;, 

 which will be read." 



Mr. Johnston, of Virginia, said : " Mr. Presi- 

 dent, I offer the following amendment to the 

 amendment, as a substitute for it : 



_ But if the Senate should vote for counting one cer- 

 tificate and the House of Representatives another, 

 the joint meeting of the two Houses shall finally de- 

 termine which shall be counted, by a vote by States, 

 the representation from each State (including the 

 Senators therefrom) having one vote; but if the 

 representation of any State shall be equally divided 

 its vote shall not be counted. 



The President pro tempore : " The question 

 is on the amendment of the Senator from Vir- 

 ginia to the amendment of the Senator from 

 Tennessee." 



Mr. Johnston: "It is evident that the bill 

 is defective in one respect. The author of the 

 bill himself admits that in a certain contingency 

 this bill will not be operative ; that where there 

 are two returns from a State and the House of 

 Representatives votes for accepting one return 

 and the Senate the other, in that event the 

 vote of the State will be lost. It seems to me 

 in a bill of so much importance as this there 

 ought to be no omission of that sort, but that 

 the bill ought to be complete and provide for 

 every contingency that may arise. It is not only 

 the right of Congress to provide for counting 

 the electoral votes, but it is an imperative duty, 

 and we ought to perform that duty. It seems 

 to me that Congress itself is the only body to 

 determine this question. The Constitution pro- 

 vides that where there has been no election by 

 the people the House of Representatives shall 

 decide who shall be President, but the same 

 Constitution provides that where there shall 

 be no election of Vice-President the Senate 

 shall decide who shall be Vice-President. The 

 second article of the Constitution in the second 

 section has this provision. After providing 

 for the election of President by the House, it 

 says : 



The person having the greatest number of votes 

 as Vice-President shall be the Vice-President, if 

 such number be a majority of the whole number of 

 electors appointed ; and if no person have a majority, 

 then from the two highest numbers on the list the 

 Senate shall choose the Vice-President j a quorum 

 for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the 

 whole number of Senators, and a majority of the 

 whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But 

 no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of 

 President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President 

 of the United States. 



