Part 6 (1/2)

The rock upon which the Convention barely escaped early dissolution, was the basis of representation in the Congress created under the great co-ordinate legislative department The model for our Senate and House of Representatives was unquestionably the British Parliahty qualifications; for hereditary or ecclesiastical representation, as in the House of Lords, is wholly unknown in our systenificant resemblance is that of our Lower House to the British Commons In these respective chambers, the people, as such, have representation

The earnest, at times violent, contention of the smaller States, in our historic Convention, was for equal representation in both branches of the proposed national legislature This was strenuously resisted by the larger States under the powerful leadershi+p of Madison of Virginia, and Wilson of Pennsylvania Their equally earnest, and by no ical contention was for popular representation in each House, as outlined in the Virginia plan which had been taken as the fra views appeared wholly irreconcilable, and for a ti of the ways seemed to have been reached Threats of dissolution were not uncommon in the Chamber, and for many days the spirit of despair brooded over the Convention A delegate froe of dissolution, scarcely held together by the strength of a hair”

Well has it been said: ”In even the contemplation of the fearful consequence of such a calahast”

At the crucial moment mentioned, Sherman and Ellsworth presented upon behalf of Connecticut the first and reat compromises of the Constitution The Connecticut plan was in brief to the effect that in fixing the ratio of representation there should be recognition alike of the federal and of the national feature in government, in a word, that in the Lower House the national, and in the upper the federal principle should have full recognition This was a departure froinia plan to the extent that it in effect proposed the establishment of a federal republic,--in the concrete, that the House should be composed of representatives chosen directly by the people from districts of equal population; while representation in the Senate should be that of the States, each, regardless of population, to have two meislatures

After heated debate, this compromise was carried by a bare majority, and the provision for popular representation in the House, and equal State representation in the Senate, becarafted upon our Federal Constitution This feature, an en writer has declared, ”is the chief American contribution to the common treasures of political civilization” The eminent writer, De Tocqueville, has well said: ”The principle of the independence of the States triunty of the nation in the composition of the House of Representatives”

The success of the Connecticut plan made possible that of other essential compromises which followed; and the result was, as the sublime consummation of wise deliberation and patriotic concession, the establishment of the Government of the United States

It is the proud boast of the Briton, that ”the British Constitution has no single date froin of English law is as undiscoverable as that of the Nile” Our Government, buttressed upon a written Constitution of enuinning upon that ton took solemn oath of office as our first President

The Senate of the United States has been truly declared ”the greatest deliberative body known to men” By Constitutional provision it consists of two islature thereof, for the teral qualification for Senator ”unless he shall have attained the age of thirty years, be an inhabitant of the State for which he is chosen, and have been nine years a citizen of the United States”

No State, without its consent, can ever be deprived, even by Constitutional amendment, of its equal representation in the Senate

Nevada with a population of less than forty thousand has her equal voice with New York with a population exceeding seven million

This anoer to the smaller States in the Convention of 1787, a concession which made possible the establishment of the federal Union

One essential difference between the House of Representatives and the Senate is that to the latter ”the previous question” is unknown; nodebate, other than by unanimous consent Here, unlimited discussion and amendment can have their perfect work Within the last three or four decades many fruitless attempts have been made to introduce a modified ”previous question” or _cloture,_ by which the Senate could be brought to an iht seem desirable, but experience has demonstrated the wisdom of the method to which there has been such steady adherence It secures time for consideration and full discussion upon every question In the end the vote will be taken Debate is rarely prolonged beyond reasonable limit Not infrequently the public welfare is iislation

It was the belief of Jefferson that government should touch the citizen at the fewest possible points The quaint lines of the old English poet have lost nothing of their significance:

”How small, of all that hus can cause or cure!”

The House of Representatives has in large degree ceased to be a deliberative body Under the iron rule of the ”previous question”

measures of importance are hurriedly passed without the possibility of discussion or ahts of the minority are at times but as the dust in the balance

Unlike the House of Lords, the Senate is in reality an iislation As is well known in recent years, government in Great Britain is virtually that of the House of Coh a cabinet practically of its own appointure-head, and the House of Lords is alle for existence The end would probably come by serious attempt upon its part to thwart the popular will as expressed through the House of Commons The power of Edward the Seventh is but a shadow of that exercised almost without let or hindrance by the predecessors of Queen Victoria

The veto power, so potent an instrumentality in the hands of the American President, is to all intents a dead letter in the mythical British Constitution For a century and a half it has remained in practical abeyance It is believed that its attempted exercise at this day would produce revolution; possibly endanger the existence of the throne

By means of what is known as a suspension of the rules, under the operation of the ”previous question,” islation is enacted in our House of Representatives, without the e of debate, or a of the pending”River and Harbor Bill,” with its enor object lesson of the vicious character of such ested, the wisdom displayed in the establishislative schely apparent At the time of its creation, it had no counterpart in any of the Governments of continental Europe Its only prototype, in so far as it was such, was the British House of Lords as already indicated

Save only in the right to originate revenue bills, the power of the Senate is concurrent with that of the House in all islation; and these are wisely subject to a officer of the Senate is the Vice-President of the United States, and in his absence a Senator chosen as President _pro tempore_

In the event of a failure on the part of the people to elect a President or a Vice-President of the United States, through electors duly appointed at the stated time, the duty of such election devolves upon the House and the Senate acting independently of each other

The choice of President is lihest nues The deter by States In such event the vote of Nevada would again count equally with that of New York In the contingency mentioned, of a failure to elect a Vice-President, the election devolves upon the Senate, each Senator having a personal vote; and the person chosen must by Constitutional requirehest number of electoral votes In 1836, Mr

Van Buren of New York received a majority of the electoral votes for President; but no person receiving a majority for the second office, Colonel Richard M Johnson, of Kentucky, one of the two persons eligible, was chosen by the Senate No similar instance has occurred in our history

In the Presidential election of 1800, and in that of 1824, the ultimate determination was by the House of Representatives In the former, Jefferson and Burr each received seventy-three electoral votes, without specification as to whether intended for the first or second office The protracted struggle which followed resulted in the choice of Jefferson for the higher office This fortunate terh the influence of Alexander Hamilton, and was the initial step in the bitter personal strife which eventuated in his early death at the hands of Burr In the light of events, we may well believe that not the least of the public services of Hamilton was his unselfish interposition at the critical ain arising in the election of the President was soon thereafter obviated by the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution

Seldoreat na which characterized the administration of Monroe found sudden termination in the rival candidacy of two members of his cabinet, for the succession--Mr Adams, Secretary of State, and Mr Crawford, of the Treasury The other aspirants were Clay, the brilliant Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Jackson, with laurels yet fresh fro the smallest number of electoral votes, and no candidate the ain devolved upon the House, resulting eventually in the choice of John Quincy Adams

In the two Presidential contests last mentioned, the Senate had no part in the final adjustment An occasion, however, arose nearly a half-century later, involving the succession to the Presidency, in which the Senate, equally with the House, was an important factor in the final determination The country has kno periods of profounder anxiety to thoughtful overn the Presidential contest of 1876 The shadow cast by the Hayes-Tilden contest even yet, in a ress at the tiravity of the situation In the instances first mentioned it was the mere question of the failure of any candidate to receive a majority of the electoral votes The framers of the Constitution had wisely provided for such contingency by action of the House in manner indicated The farwas, For whom had the disputed States of Florida and Louisiana cast their votes? The settlement of this question virtually deterurated President Conflicting certificates froovernnated by law as the custodian of the electoral returns froency which had now arisen was one for which there was no provision

The sole function of the joint session of the Senate and the House was ”to open all the certificates and count the votes” This was ”the be all and end all” of its authority Upon the arising of any question de a vote, or even deliberation, the members of the joint session could only return to their separate chambers