214 



CONGKESS, UNITED STATES. 



of a return made in good faith from consider- 

 ation by the two Houses, on the ground that, 

 in contemplation of law, it is not in fact a re- 

 turn, opens a still wider door to the danger of 

 the introduction of returns that are not made 

 in good faith ; that are merely simulated re- 

 turns, but are drawn up in such form as that 

 they purport to be honest returns. These re- 

 flections also suggest the point, upon which 

 the bill is silent, that where a paper purporting 

 to be a return from a State of a vote by elec- 

 tors for President and Vice-President is sent 

 to the President of the Senate, and a question 

 is made whether it is a forged, or false, or 

 simulated paper, that either House should have 

 the right to declare its judgment that such 

 paper is false, or forged, or simulated, and 

 that thereupon it should be rejected ; and also 

 that such an objection, when made, should be 

 acted upon separately by each House, and its 

 decision should be announced by the presid- 

 ing officer in joint meeting, before any other 

 objection should be considered to such vote. 

 These points escaped my attention in the com- 

 mittee, and I now suggest them to the commit- 

 tee, as I should have done at that time, for 

 their consideration. It may be that the bill 

 will be improved by their introduction into it 

 by amendment; at all events it is proper that 

 I should bring these matters to the attention 

 of the committee and of the Senate. 



" This bill is an earnest and bold movement 

 to assert the rights of the States in the enjoy- 

 ment of this important privilege of free con- 

 stitutional government. It recognizes the right 

 of each State to appoint electors to vote for 

 President and Vice-President, and the right 

 of the Legislature of each State to direct the 

 manner of appointing electors. This is an ex- 

 press grant of constitutional power to the 

 States, and by necessity the power thus granted 

 is supreme in the same sense that the Consti- 

 tution of the United States is supreme. The 

 power to appoint electors and to direct the 

 manner of their appointment can not be taken 

 away from the States by any law or by the 

 action of any department of the United States 

 Government. This power must be removed 

 from the Constitution before it can be denied 

 to the States, or before any department of the 

 Government can usurp it or participate in its 

 exercise. It is a power that must be fully and 

 completely exercised by the States in conform- 

 ity to State laws, without their being con- 

 strained, directed, or obstructed by any other 

 power whatever." 



Mr. Jones of Florida: "Mr. President, I 

 shall consume but very little of the time of the 

 Senate in stating my objections to this bill. 

 The subject it professes to regulate is so full 

 of difficulties that I have no complaint to make 

 of the efforts of the committee, and I freely ad- 

 mit that it is much easier to point out objections 

 to the measure than to supply them by better 

 and wiser provisions. 



" The first section of the bill, following the 



Constitution, requires that all the electors shall 

 be appointed on the second Tuesday in October. 

 The fixing of the time is left to Congress, but 

 the day, whatever it may be, must be the same 

 throughout the United States. This require- 

 ment, as we know, was regarded as a most im- 

 portant one ; for it is plain that if the appoint- 

 ment of electors could take place in the States 

 on different days, the election of the Chief 

 Magistrate would be controlled by intrigues 

 and influences which would stifle the honest 

 voice of the people. Suppose it was compe- 

 tent for the States to vote on different days, 

 that all but one State voted on the same day, 

 and that the vote of this last State was suffi- 

 cient to determine the election of President, 

 does any one suppose that after it was ascer- 

 tained that the election depended upon the 

 vote of a single State it would be possible to 

 have an election there which would be free and 

 tranquil? Is it not clear that every influence 

 of party and power, all that wealth and au- 

 thority could do, would be done on both sides 

 of the contest to secure that vote ? And is it 

 not more than probable that such an immense 

 power concentrated within such narrow bounds 

 would prove too strong for the arm of local 

 authority, and that, with the mind of the whole 

 country excited as we know it would be, an 

 outbreak of violence on such an occasion and 

 in such a State would convulse the entire 

 Union? Every evil which would be likely to 

 result from the appointment of electors on dif- 

 ferent days might be expected to follow from 

 the operation of this bill. 



" The framers of the Constitution guarded 

 the interest not of one State but of every State. 

 The question here is not in regard to the right 

 of a single Commonwealth to select its dele- 

 gates in the electoral college, but it involves a 

 greater power ; it involves the right to select 

 a number of men who, it may be, will hold in 

 their hands the title to the first office in the 

 world. 



" What does the Constitution mean when it 

 requires the appointment of the electors to be 

 made on the same day throughout the Union ? 

 Does it not mean that on that day, and on that 

 day alone, the rights and powers of every elec- 

 tor shall be fixed and determined, so that the 

 whole country on the night of the day of the 

 election can understand who has been elected 

 President ? What, sir, would be our condition 

 it, after the election on the second Tuesday in 

 October and until the 1st of January following, 

 nearly three months, this great country, with 

 its immense interests, should be kept in a state 

 of suspense and excitement ? I need not tell 

 grave Senators of the influence which an event 

 like this has upon all the business interests of the 

 country, how much is gained to all classes when 

 it is satisfactorily ended, or how much is lost 

 when uncertainty intervenes to produce alarms 

 and dangers. Under the fourth section of this 

 bill, should it become a law, no one would be 

 able to tell who was elected President until 





