CONGRESS. (THE PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION.) 



231 



reminded that he owed his position to the 

 people ; that he was under obligation to the 

 people for it, and responsible to the people for 

 the proper discharge of his duties ; and any 

 legislation which tends to widen the space be- 

 tween the President and the people is, I sub- 

 mit, unwise legislation. And this bill, which 

 provides for the holding of the office of Presi- 

 dent for a full presidential term by a man who 

 had not been elected and may only be a mem- 

 ber of an Administration which may have been 

 defeated, repudiated, and dead, is in express 

 violation of the Constitution, and this was the 

 opinion of the Senate Judiciary Committee of 

 1856." 



An amendment, proposed by the minority 

 of the select Committee on an Election of Presi- 

 dent and Vice-President, to insert in the first 

 section the clause " or whenever the offices of 

 President and Vice-President of the United 

 States become vacant," was rejected ; an 

 amendment submitted by Mr. Adams, of Illinois, 

 to repeal only sections 146 and 150 of the Re- 

 vised Statutes was also rejected by a vote of 

 113 yeas to 153 nays. Mr. Cooper, of Ohio, 

 moved to amend by striking out all of section 

 3 and inserting the following : 



In the event of the death or constitutional inability 

 of the President-elect, or failure to assume his office, 

 the Vice-President shall act as President the same as 

 if such death or inability had occurred after his in- 

 auguration. 



This amendment was likewise rejected. Mr. 

 McKinley, of Ohio, offered the following sub- 

 stitute, which was rejected by 108 to 159 : 



Be it enacted by the Senate and Home of Representa- 

 tives of the United States <f America in Congress as- 

 sembled, In case of removal, death, resignation, or in- 

 ability of both the President and Vice-President of the 

 United States, the President of the Senate, or, if there 

 is none, then the Speaker of the House of Representa- 

 tives, for the time being, shall act as President until 

 the disability is removed or a President elected. And 

 for the purpose of having a Speaker of the House of 

 Representatives in office continuously, the Congress 

 shall convene at 12 o'clock M. on the 4th day of 

 March next succeeding the election of Representatives 

 in Congress ; and whenever a vacancy exists either in 

 the offics of the President pro tempore of the Senate 

 or Speaker of the House, the President shall convene 

 the ilou-e in which the vacancy exists for the pur- 

 pose of electing a presiding officer. 



SECTION 2. Whenever the offices of President and 

 Vice-President both become vacant, the Secretary of 

 State shall forthwith cause a notification thereof to 

 be made to the Executive of every State, and shall 

 also cause the same to be published in at lea&t one of 

 the newspapers printed in each State. 



SEC. 3. The notification shall specify that electors 

 of a President and Vice-President of the United 

 States shall be appointed or chosen in the several 

 States as follows : 



First. If there shall be the space of two months yet 

 to ensue between the date of such notification and the 

 first Wednesday in December then next ensuing, such 

 notification shall specify that the electors shall be ap- 

 pointed or chosen within thirty-four days preceding 

 such first Wednesday in December. 



Second. If there 'shall not be the space of two 

 months between the date of such notification and 

 such first Wednesday in December, and if the term 

 for which the Presfdent and Vice-President last in 



office were elected will not expire on the 3d day of 

 March next ensuing, the notification shall specify that 

 the electors shall be appointed or chosen within thir- 

 ty-four days preceding the first Wednesday in De- 

 cember in the year next ensuing. But if there shall 

 not be the space of two months between the date of 

 such notification and the first Wednesday in Decem- 

 ber then next ensuing, and if the term for which the 

 President and Vice-President last in office were elect- 

 ed will expire on the 3d day of March next ensuing, 

 the notification shall not specify that electors are to 

 be appointed or chosen. 



SEC. 4. Electors appointed or chosen upon the noti- 

 fication prescribed by the preceding section shall 

 meet and give their votes upon the first Wednesday 

 of December specified in the notification. 



SEC. 5. The provisions of this title, relating to the 

 quadrennial election of President and Vice-President 

 shall apply with respect to any election to fill vacan- 

 cies in the offices of President and Vice-President, 

 held upon a notification given when both offices be- 

 come vacant. 



SEC. 6. The only evidence of a refusal to accept, or 

 of a resignation of the office of President or Vice- 

 President, shall be an instrument in writing, declar- 

 ing the same, and subscribed by the person refusing 

 to accept or resign, as the case may be, and delivered 

 into the office of the Secretary of State. 



The yeas and nays on this amendment were 

 as follow : 



YEAS G. E. Adams, C. H. Allen, J. A. Ander- 

 son, Atkinson, Bavne, Bennett, Bound, Boutelle, 

 Brady, T. M. Browne, C. E. Brown, W. W. Brown, 

 Buchanan, Bunnell, Burrows, Butterworth, J. M. 

 Campbell, Cannon, Casvrell, Conger, Cooper, Cutch- 

 eon, Davis, Dingley, Dorsey, Everhart, Farquhar, 

 Felton, Fleeger, Fuller, Funston, Gallinger. Gimllan, 

 Grosvenor, Grout, Guentherj Hayden, Havnes, Hie- 

 stand, Hepburn, Herman, Hires, Hitt, Holmes, Hop- 

 kins, Houk, Jackson, F. A. Johnson, J. T. Johnston, 

 Ketcham, La Follette, Lehlbach, Libbey, Lindsley, 

 Little, Long, Loutitt, Lyman, Markham, McComas, 

 McKenna, McKinley, Millard, Milliken, Merrill, 

 Morrow, Negley, Nelson, O'Donnell. Charles O'Neill, 

 Osborne, Owen, Parker, Perkins, Peters, Pettibone, 

 Plumb, Price, Ranney, Rice, Rockwell, Romeis, Row- 

 ell, Ryan, Sawyer, Scranton, Smalls, Spooner, Steele, 

 Stephenson, J. W. Stewart, E. F. Stone, Strait, 

 Swinburne, Symes.E. B. Taylor, I. H. Taylor, Zach- 

 ary Taylor, J. R. Thomas, O. B. Thomas, Thomp- 

 son, Van Schaick, Wade, Wakefield, A. J. Weaver, 

 Weber, A. C. White, Milo White 108. 



NAYS C. M. Anderson, Arnot, Baker, Barbour, 

 Barksdale, Barnes, Barry, Beach, Blanchard, Bland, 

 Bliss, Blount, Boyle, C. R. Breckinridge, W. C. P. 

 Breckinridge, Buck, Bynum, Cabell, Caldwell, J. E. 

 Campbell, T. J. Campbell, Candler, Catehings, 

 Clardy, Clements, Cobb, Cole, Collins, Comstock, 

 Cowles, Cox, Crisp, Croxton, Culberson. Curtin, 

 Daniel, R. H. M. Davidson, Dawson, Dibble, Dock- 

 ery, Dougherty, Dowdney, Dunn, Eden, Eldredge, 

 Ellsberry, Ely, Ermentrout, Fisher, Foran, Ford, 

 Forney, Frederick, Gay, Geddes, C. H. Gibson, 

 Glass. R. S. Green, W. J. Green, Hahn, Hale, Hall, 

 Halsell, Hammond, Harris, Hatch, Heard, Hemphill, 

 J. S. Henderson, Herbert, Hill, Hiscock, Holman, 

 Howard, Hutton, Irion, James, T. D. Johnston, J. 

 H. Jones, J. T. Jones, King, Kleiner, Lanham, Le 

 Fevre, Levering, Lowry, Manoney. Martin, Matson, 

 McAdoo, McCreary, McMillin, McRae, Merriman, 

 Miller, Mills, Mitchell, Moffat, Morgan, Morrison, 

 Murphy, Neal, Neece, Norwood, Gates, O'Ferrall, 

 Outhwaite, Payne, Peel, Perry, Pidcock, Pindar, 

 Reagan, J. W. Reid, Reese, Richardson, Riggs, Rob- 

 ertson, Rogers, Sadler, Sayers, Scott, Seney, Sey- 

 mour, Shaw, Singleton, Sowden, Springs, Springer, 

 Stahlnecker, Charles Stewart, St. Martin, W. J 

 Stone, of Kentucky, W. J. Stone, of Missouri, Stru- 

 ble, Swope, Taulbee, J. M. Taylor, Tillman, Town- 



