230 



CONGRESS. (TiiK PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION.) 



So that, whether the President be a Republican 

 or a Democrat, whatever he may be, it is car- 

 rying out the will of the people as nearly as it 

 is possible for us to do should the unfortunate 

 occurrence come about that we have no Presi- 

 dent or Vice-President when we place in his 

 stead a man whose politics are in accord with 

 those of the people as indicated by their elec- 

 tion of President and Vice-President. There- 

 fore, in my judgment, not only because these 

 are officers of the United States, but because 

 they are the proper officers, I believe the pro- 

 visional successor should come from that line." 



Mr. Edmunds, of Vermont, said, in criticism 

 of the measure : u If I were to regulate this 

 matter (as I know from the present situation 

 and from the opinion of a majority of the Sen- 

 ate I am not to do), or if I were to assist in 

 regulating it, I should leave the substance of 

 the law to stand exactly where it is now, but 

 I should add to it by providing that the House 

 of Representatives should meet and organ- 

 ize on the 4th day of March, when its term 

 begins, so that the country would have four 

 lives between the execution of its executive 

 office and chaps. That would meet everything 

 except a contingency that would not happen 

 once in a hundred thousand years probably 

 before a new election could be had. That is 

 what I would have, and I would have it upon 

 the solid principle, which I believe in, that it 

 was the intention and the necessary scheme of 

 a government of the people that when a va- 

 cancy occurred in the office of Chief Magis- 

 trate whom the people had elected the repre- 

 sentatives of that people, through its States 

 and through its House of Representatives, 

 should be the guardians of that high political 

 office until the voice of the people could be 

 taken again in the selection of a Chief Magis- 

 trate elected directly, and that it was not their 

 intention and that it was not in accordance 

 with the true philosophy of republican and 

 democratic government that the President of 

 the United States shall be authorized to name 

 the man who in case of his disability shall be 

 President in his stead, and, as this bill has it, 

 it may be for three years eleven months and 

 twenty-nine days. 



u It approaches in its nature to the exertion 

 of a royal prerogative of the king in his will 

 or in some way naming the regent who shall 

 perform the functions of the Executive office 

 in a kingdom during the minority of the heir- 

 apparent. I do not believe in it. And this 

 bill in this respect of continuing the exertion 

 of the presidential power in the hands of the 

 Secretary of State, whoever he may be and 

 of course I am not speaking of persons at all, 

 because I have a very high personal regard 

 and respect for the present Secretary of State 

 but the continuing in his hands, or by an- 

 other accident in the hands of some one of six 

 or seven men, the absolute possession of the 

 Executive office by designation of the Presi- 

 dent and his selection for almost the whole ot 



a term of four years, without any power in the 

 States or the people to change it or to have a 

 new election, is, with great respect to this com- 

 mittee, contrary to my ideas of good and safe 

 republican government." 



Mr. Edmunds moved to amend the bill by 

 striking out so much of the third section as 

 provided for the repeal of sections 147, 148, 

 149, and 150 of the Revised Statutes; so that 

 only section 146, which vested the succession 

 in the President pro tempore of the Senate and 

 the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 

 should be repealed. This amendment was de- 

 feated by the following vote : 



YEAS Aldrich, Blair, Cameron, Cockrcll, Conger, 

 Edmunds, Hawlev, McMillan, Mahone, Manderson, 

 Mitchell of Pennsylvania, Merrill, Palmer, Plumb, 

 Sewell, Sherman, Spooner, Stanford, Teller, Vance, 

 Vest-21. 



NAYS Allison, Beck, Berry, Blackburn, Brown, 

 Butler, Call, Chace, Coke, Colquitt, Cullom, Dolph, 

 Eustis, Evarts, Frye, George, Gibson, Gorman, Gray, 

 Harris, Harrison, Hoar, Ingalls, Jackson, Jones or 

 Arkansas, Logan. Maxey, Mitchell of Oregon, Mor- 

 gan, Platt. Pugh, Eansom, Saulsbury, Voorhees, 

 Walthall, Wilson of Iowa, Wilson of Maryland 37. 



ABSENT Bowen, Camden, Dawes, Fair, Hale, 

 Hampton, Jones of Florida, Jones of Nevada, Kenna, 

 McPnerson, Miller of California, Miller of New York, 

 Payne, Pike, Kiddleberger, Sabin, Sawyer, Van Wyck 

 18. 



The bill was then passed, without a divison, 

 on December 17, 1885. 



On Jan. 12, 1886, the measure was reported 

 to the House from the select committee on the 

 election of President and Vice-President, and 

 Jan. 13 it was read ; Jan. 14 it was debated ; 

 and Jan. 15 it passed the House. The discus- 

 sion in that body was fuller than the discussion 

 in the Senate, because there the subject was 

 new. The great point at issue was the consti- 

 tutionality of a law under which an appointive 

 officer might in certain contingencies become 

 President for four years. Mr. Cooper, of 

 Ohio, put the argument as follows : " If there 

 be no reasonable doubt that the provisions 

 of this bill would apply as well to a President 

 and Vice-President elect as to a President 

 and Vice-President who have been inaugu- 

 rated, then I suggest most serious objections 

 which have occurred to me First, I am pro- 

 foundly doubtful of the constitutionality of 

 a provision which would vest, as this bill, in 

 one contingency, would vest, the presidency 

 for a full term of four years in an officer ap- 

 pointed by an outgoing Administration. Sir, I 

 believe this to be in violation, not only of the 

 letter and spirit of the Constitution, but of the 

 spirit out of which the Constitution arose. 

 The letter of the Constitution is that the Presi- 

 dent shall be ' elected ' ; not that a man who 

 may hold office under the President shall act 

 as President, but that the President shall be 

 elected; and it goes on to provide how ho 

 shall be elected. 



"It was wise in the fathers to provide that 

 the incumbent of this high office for any 

 length of time should ever know and ever be 



