Counting the Electoral Votes
| Preis: | 11.95 EUR* (inkl. MWST zzgl. Versand - Preis kann jetzt höher sein!) |
| Versand: | 0.00 EUR Versandkostenfrei innerhalb von Deutschland |
| Partner: | buecher.de |
| Hersteller: | Forgotten Books (Freeman, Chapman) |
| Stand: | 2015-08-04 03:50:33 |
Produktbeschreibung
Excerpt from Counting the Electoral Votes: Speech of Hon. Chapman Freeman, of Pennsylvania, in the House of Representatives, January 25, 1877 But "the Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors and the day on which they shall give their vote, which day shall be the same throughout the United States." As this power is not in dispute and does not touch the merits of the question as at present presented, it is hardly necessary to dwell upon it. Any right Congress would have upon the subject is to be looked for, if anywhere, in the constitutional power given. But it would but go to the formality of the vote and not to its substance; and in the only case, that of Wisconsin in 1857, in which the question arose of the power of Congress to control the count, when it appeared on the face of the certificate that the electoral vote had been cast on the day succeeding the one prescribed by law, the vote was recorded and so stands to-day. It was a case much argued by some of the ablest men of that day; but the action then taken remains a record to this hour. The only argument adverse to the claim of counting the vote of that State was practically founded upon the express constitutional provision followed by the act of Congress itself. Having thus seen that the manner of appointment is entirely and absolutely vested in the State Legislatures, we come to Article 12 of the Constitution, before referred to, which expressly directs - who? Not Congress, or either House thereof, but the electors themselves how they shall proceed until they are finally directed to certify and transmit sealed, not to Congress, or the Senate, or House separately, or to the President of the Senate, but to the seat of Government of the United States, directed to The President Of The Senate. Now, Just here let me ask who is the President of the Senate? For an answer we turn to clause 4, section 3 of article 1 of the Constitution, and we find that - The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote unless they be equally divided. It is therefore in his capacity as Vice-President, or, in the case of a Presidency pro tempore, by his relation to that high office, that the electors are directed to act. As President pro tempore alone he could not act. There is no authority for it in the Constitution. But as President pro tempore, acting Vice-President, he can, for as acting Vice-President he becomes technically President of the Senate under the Constitution. And this marks the constitutional distinction between the President of the Senate as such under the Constitution, and as the mere presiding officer or organ of that body. The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted. And this raises the question with regard to which hasty partisanship has tilled the air with its thousand evil tongues, and sought, by devices well learned through long years of assuming power, to breathe into loyal hearts the thoughts of another scene of blood and ruin such as these same imbittered spirits conjured up into all the horrors of reality scarcely sixteen years ago. Why, sir, one is led to think we have already entered unconsciously into the first dread step of war. We pause to seek for the existence of a supreme court to expound the supreme law of the land and for an executive whose duty it is to enforce it. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
* Preis kann jetzt höher sein. Den aktuellen Stand und Informationen zu den Versandkosten finden sie auf der Homepage unseres Partners.
Folgende Produkte könnten dir ebenso gefallen
