CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



is one perhaps of mere phraseology. It de- 

 clares that ' the President of the Senate, as 

 presiding officer of the two Houses, shall de- 

 cide.' I do not think myself, under the Con- 

 stitution, that any duty of the President of the 

 Senate imposed upon him by the Constitution, 

 in respect of counting the votes, is in the 

 character of a presiding officer of the two 

 Houses, which implies a strict joint assembly, 

 and logically to my mind would imply that the 

 two Houses then and there assembled, as they 

 frequently do in the States, as they do in my 

 State, should act in a consolidated way, and 

 decide any question that might arise just as 

 either House would alone. Therefore, phrased 

 as the amendment is, I cannot vote for it for 

 that reason, for I do not understand that the 

 President of the Senate is the presiding officer 

 of either House when he is performing that 

 duty, in any legal and constitutional sense. 

 That he sits in the chair, and that everybody 

 keeps quiet, I agree ; but in respect of it in a 

 legal and constitutional sense I do not believe 

 it at all. But of course it would be very easy 

 to change that phraseology. 



" The objection that I have in substance to 

 this amendment, and which to my mind is 

 absolutely fatal, is that the President of the 

 Senate may be, sometimes has been, and very 

 likely often will be, a candidate for President or 

 for Vice-President himself, and this amendment 

 proposes that that very person, selected by 

 designation, shall, in a case of great doubt and 

 dispute, when the two Houses, acting with a 

 patriotic disposition to follow the law and the 

 Constitution, are unable to agree, decide him- 

 self whether he shall be President or not. It 

 appears to me that that would be a very unsafe 

 and dangerous proposition. It is wrong in 

 principle, as I think; and, that it would be 

 dangerous in the last degree in practice, I have 

 no doubt at all." 



Mr. Cameron, of Pennsylvania, said : " I 

 would suggest to the Senator from Texas to 

 make a correction in his amendment by blot- 

 ting out the words ' as Presiding Officer of the 

 two Houses.' " 



Mr. Maxey : "I will state to the Senator 

 from Pennsylvania that my attention was 

 called to that by the Senator from Vermont. 

 I think the expression ' President of the Sen- 

 ate ' is sufficient, and that the words ' as 

 Presiding Officer of the two Houses ' are un- 

 necessary. I ask that that modification be 

 made." 



The Chief Clerk : " It is proposed to insert 

 at the end of the second section of the bill the 

 following : 



But if the two Houses fail to agree as to which of 

 the returns shall be counted, then the President pt 

 the Senate shall decide which is the true and valid 

 return, and the same shall then be counted." 



The President pro tempore : " The question 

 is on agreeing to this amendment." 

 The call of the roll resulted as follows : 

 YEAS Messrs. Bogy, Cameron of Pennsylvania, 



Hamlin, Maxey, Eobertson, Sargent, and Withers 

 7. 



NAYS Messrs. Allison, Anthony. Bayard, Booth, 

 Boutwell, Burnside, Cameron of Wisconsin, Capei- 

 ton, Christiancy, Conkling, Dawes, Dennis, Eaton, 

 Edmunds, English, Ferry, Frelinghuysen, Gold- 

 thwaite, Gordon, Hamilton, Howe, Ingulls, Johnston, 

 Jones of Florida. Jones of Nevada, Kelly, Key, Mc- 

 Creery, McDonald, Merrimon, Mitchell, Morrill of 

 Maine. Morton, Norwood, Oglesby, Sharon, Why to, 

 and Wright 38. 



ABSENT Messrs. Alcorn, Bruce, Clayton, Cock- 

 rell, Conover, Cooper, Criigin, Davis, Dorsey, Har- 

 vey, Hitchcock, Kernan, Logan, McMillan, Morrill 

 of Vermont, Paddock, Patterson, Eandolph, Ran- 

 som, Saulsbury, Shermtin, Spencer, Stevenson, Thur- 

 man, Wadleigh, Wallace, West, and Windom 28. 



So the amendment was rejected. 



Mr. Merrimon, of North Carolina, said: "I 

 now offer the amendment which I suggested." 



The Chief Clerk : " It is proposed in sec- 

 tion 2 of the bill, lines seven, eight, and nine, 

 to strike out the words : 



The two Houses acting separately shall decide to 

 be the true and valid return. 



" And in lieu thereof to insert : 



Shall be duly authenticated by the State author- 

 ties, recognized by, and in harmony with, the United 

 States, as provided by the Constitution. 



" So that the section will read, if amended : 

 That if more than one return shall be received by 

 the President of the Senate from a State, purporting 

 to be the certificates of the electoral votes given at 

 the last preceding election for President and Vice- 

 President in such State, all such returns shall bn 

 opened by him in the presence of the two Houses 

 when assembled to count the votes; and that return 

 from such State shall be counted which shall be- 

 duly authenticated by the State authorities recog- 

 nized by, and in harmony with, the United States, 

 as provided by the Constitution." 



The President pro tempore : " The question 

 is on the amendment proposed by the Senator 

 from North Carolina." 



The amendment was rejected. 



Mr. Randolph, of New Jersey, said : " I have 

 withheld the amendments that were under dis- 

 cussion yesterday, partly because I did not in- 

 tend to speak to them, and partly because I felt 

 that some amendments might be offered that 

 would do away with the necessity for those 

 which I had already presented. I now offer 

 as an amendment to the pending bill the addi- 

 tional sections which I send to the Chair, and 

 I ask the Clerk to read them." 



The Chief Clerk: "It is proposed to insert 

 as additional sections to the bill the following : 



SECTION . To insure each State the count of the 

 electoral vote, except it shall be rejected, as provided 

 for in section 1 of this act, it is declared the duty of 

 each House of Congress to record its vote by yeas 

 and nays upon all questions as to which are the true 

 and valid returns of a State ; and it shall be the duty 

 of the presiding officer of each House to immediately 

 forward to the other a true and detailed return of 

 such vote. 



SEC. . Should it then appear that the two Houses 

 have failed to agree as to which are the true and 

 valid returns, they shall immediately reassemble, 

 and the President of the Senate shall announce those 

 returns as valid which shall have received a majority 



