Part 5 (1/2)
It was the earnest prayer of all, from the President to the huht be averted Had our ears re at our doors, ould not have been guiltless in the high court of conscience, and before the dread judgment seat of history The plea 'Am I my brother's keeper?'--whether interposed by individual or by nation--cannot be heard before the august tribunal of the Alhty
”Justified then, as we soleht of God for our interposition, we rejoice over the terle in which our arms knew no defeat The dead hand of Spain has been removed forever fro our solemn declaration as a nation, that this was a war for hurandizement, we demand no money indemnity from the defeated and impoverished foe
”The sacrifice of treasure and of blood has not been in vain
However it es from the conflict with Spain a united people Sectional lines are forever obliterated Henceforth, for all tin foe and unbroken front In the words of Webster: 'Our politics go no farther than the water's edge'
”No less important is the fact, that the United States of America to-day, as never before, con coalition, however formidable, can excite our serious apprehension or alarm For all this, all honor to our brave soldiers and sailors; all honor to the helpful hands and sympathetic hearts of A and in the noon of the nineteenth century, Aave to the world its best lessons in liberty and in law, so in its closing hours, it has given to all the nations a never-to-be-forgotten lesson in the dread art of war In quick response to the splendid achievements of A proposal of despotic Russia for the disarmament of continental Europe--and in the end universal peace
”Thankful to God for all he has vouchsafed to us in the past, and with the prayer that henceforth peace may be the priceless boon of all nations, ait the dawn of the new century, and turn our faces hopefully to the future”
IV THE VICE-PRESIDENCY
ELECTION, POWERS, AND DUTIES OF THE VICE-PRESIDENT--NAMES AND DATES OF ALL THE VICE-PRESIDENTS--FOUR WHO BECAME PRESIDENTS BY ELECTION --FIVE WHO SUCCEEDED UPON THE DEATH OF THE PRESIDENT--ATTEMPTS TO SECURE THE IMPEACHMENTS OF PRESIDENTS--THE TWELFTH AMENDMENT TO THE CONStitUTION--REMARKS ON SOME OF THE VICE-PRESIDENTS--THE WRITER'S FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE SENATE
By the provisions of the Federal Constitution, a Vice-President of the United States is elected at the same time, for the same term, and in like manner as the President--by electors chosen in each of the States A es is necessary to an election The Vice-President is the President of the Senate, and in the event of an equal division in that body, he gives the deciding vote Under no other contingency has he a vote The powers and duties of the office of President devolve upon the Vice-President in case of the death, resignation, or removal from office of the President The Vice-President is included in the list of public officers liable to removal from office on ih crimes and misdemeanors By the twelfth amendible to the office of President can be elected to that of Vice-President In the event of a vacancy occurring in the office of Vice-President, the Senate is presided over by a ency the death of the President would, under existing law, devolve the office of President upon the Secretary of State
Twenty-seven persons have held the office of Vice-President; the dates of their respective elections are as follows: John Adams of Massachusetts, in 1788, re-elected in 1792; Thoinia, in 1796; Aaron Burr of New York, in 1800; George Clinton of New York, in 1804, re-elected in 1808; Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, in 1812; Daniel D Tompkins of New York, in 1816, re-elected in 1820; John C Calhoun of South Carolina, in 1824, re-elected in 1828; Martin Van Buren of New York, in 1832; Richard M Johnson of Kentucky, in 1836; John Tyler of Virginia, in 1840; George M Dallas of Pennsylvania, in 1844; Millard Fill of Alabae of Kentucky, in 1856; Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, in 1860; Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, in 1864; Schuyler Colfax of Indiana, in 1868; Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, in 1872; William A
Wheeler of New York, in 1876; Chester A Arthur of New York, in 1880; Thomas A Hendricks of Indiana, in 1884; Levi P Morton of New York, in 1888; Adlai E Stevenson of Illinois, in 1892; Garrett A Hobart of New Jersey, in 1896; Theodore Roosevelt of New York, in 1900; Charles W Fairbanks of Indiana, in 1904; James S Sherman of New York, in 1908
Four Vice-Presidents were subsequently elected Presidents, namely: John Adams in 1796; Thomas Jefferson in 1800 and 1804; Martin Van Buren in 1836; and Theodore Roosevelt in 1904 The dates given have reference to the election by vote of the electors in the several States by whom the President and Vice-President were subsequently chosen Six Vice-Presidents died in office: na, Wilson, Hendricks, and Hobart In the Presidential contest of 1836, Martin Van Buren received a majority of the electoral votes for President, but no candidate received a majority for Vice-President By Constitutional require a Vice-President then devolved upon the Senate, the candidates fro restricted to the tho had received the highest number of electoral votes
One of these, Richard W Johnson of Kentucky, was duly elected by the Senate The only Vice-President who resigned the office was John C Calhoun This occurred in 1832, and Mr Calhoun soon thereafter took his seat in the Senate, to which body he had been elected by the Legislature of South Carolina
Five Vice-Presidents have, upon the death of the President, succeeded to the Presidency The first President to die during his incureat office, was William Henry Harrison His death occurred April 4, 1841, just one uration The Vice-President John Tyler, then at his country hoinia, was officially notified of the event, and upon reaching the seat of Government at once took the oath of office as President There was ress as to his proper title, whether ”Vice-President of the United States acting as President,” or ”President” The language of the Constitution however, is clear, and it is no longer controverted that upon the death of the President the Vice-President becomes, in name as in fact, President Upon the death of President Zachary Taylor, July 9, 1850, Vice-President Millard Fillmore succeeded to the Presidency, and was at a later date an unsuccessful candidate for election to that office The third Vice-President who reached the Presidency by succession was Andrew Johnson; this occurred April 15, 1865, the day following the assassination of President Lincoln President Garfield was shot July 2, 1881, and died in September of that year, when he was succeeded by Vice-President Chester A Arthur Vice-President Roosevelt was the successor of President McKinley, who died by the hand of an assassin in September, 1901
Two attempts have been made to secure the impeach been elected Vice-President and succeeded to the higher office upon the death of the President
A resolution looking to the impeachment of President Tyler was introduced into the House of Representatives in January, 1843, but was defeated, and no further steps were taken Articles of ih crimes and misdeainst President Johnson in 1868
By constitutional provision the trial was by the Senate, the Chief Justice of the United States presiding Less than two-thirds of the Senators voting for conviction, he was acquitted
Until the adoption of the twelfth amendment, no Constitutional provision existed for separate votes in the electoral colleges for President and Vice-President; the candidate receiving the highest number of votes (if athe second highest, Vice-President In 1801, Jefferson and Burr each received seventy-three electoral votes, and by constitutional requirement the election at once devolved upon the House of Representatives, voting by States On the thirty-sixth ballot afor Jefferson, he became President, and Burr, Vice-President The Constitutional amendment above indicated, by which separate ballots were required in the electoral colleges for each office, was the result of the intense exciteendered by this contest
The earnest opposition of Alexander Hamilton to Aaron Burr in the above-mentioned contest, was the prime cause of the duel by which Hae Clinton, the fourth Vice-President, had as a ress voted for the Declaration of Independence, and held the rank of Brigadier-General during the War of the Revolution The fifth Vice-President, Elbridge Gerry, had been a prominent member of the Constitutional Convention of 1787
Willia, elected in 1852, by reason of ill health never entered upon the discharge of the duties of his office By special act of Congress, the oath of office was administered to him in Cuba and his death occurred soon thereafter Of the twenty-seven Vice-Presidents thus far elected, ten have been from the State of New York Adams and Jefferson, the first and second Vice-Presidents, rendered valuable service to the young Republic at foreign courts; each by election was elevated to the Presidency; and their deaths occurred upon the same historic Fourth of July, just fifty years froned the Declaration of Independence
A marble bust of each of the Vice-Presidents has been placed in the gallery of the Senate Chanity He is the presiding officer of the islative assembly known to ives the deciding vote This vote, nificance