b. What would have been the status of North Caro lina and of Rhode Island if they had not rati fied? Walker, 73, 74; Hart, Formation of the Union, 132, 133. 16. For a good account of the first Presidential election and the inauguration of the new government, see Fiske, Critical Period, 346-350; Schouler, I, 74-86. CHAPTER XIV ORGANIZATION OF THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT section 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Article I, Congress of the United States which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. In the Constitutional Convention Pennsylvania was the only State which objected to the resolution that a legislative body consisting of two houses should be formed. The single house of the Confederation was regarded as a failure. It was believed that one house would form a check upon the other, and that there would thus be less danger of hasty and oppressive legislation. As already noted, the bi-cameral system existed in all of the States, Pennsylvania and Georgia excepted, and the names Senate and House of Representatives were also in common usage. A Congress of two houses. It is somewhat difficult for Americans to remember that members of Congress, although elected by the people or by the State legislatures, are not, in consequence, compelled to receive in- Responsistructions from their constituents. Each member is supposed to members of bility of use his own best judgment on any question, and, like a member of Congress. the English House of Commons, ask : "What is for the good of the Nation?" Personal views are frequently sacrificed, however, for party interests. Judge Cooley says on this question : "Their own immediate constituents have no more right than the rest of the Nation to address them through the press, to appeal to them by petition, or to have their local interests considered by them in legislation. They bring with them their knowledge of Section 2, clause 1. Term of members and qualifications of electors. A Congress. tives elected by the people. local wants, sentiments, and opinions, and may enlighten Congress "* The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several States, and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature. Members of the House of Representatives are chosen for a term of two years, which period also determines the length of a Congress. This election is held, in all but three of the States,† on the first Tuesday in November of even-numbered years, and the term begins legally on March 4th succeeding the time of the election. Except in the case of a special session, the term does not really begin until the first Monday of the following December, thirteen months after the election. When the Constitution was framed, some of the State constitutions required a higher qualification in voters Representa for the upper house of their legislatures than in voters for the lower house. With the object of making the House of Representatives the more popular branch, it was decided to grant the right of voting for a Representative to any person who might be privileged to vote for a member of the lower house of the legislature of his State. The one limitation upon the freedom *Cooley, Principles of Constitutional Law, 41, 42. + Oregon holds its election on the first Monday in June; Vermont on the first Tuesday in September; and Maine on the second Monday in September. The first Congress extended legally from March 4, 1789, to March 4, 1791. 上 of a State to determine what these qualifications are, The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not Amendment be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of This amendment was proposed by Congress in Feb- No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not when elected be an inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen. A great diversity of qualifications for members of the State legislatures existed in the various State constitutions. With such differences of opinion, it was agreed to make the positive qualifications for members of the National legislature few and simple. They pertain to age, citizenship, and inhabitancy, and the opinion prevails that the States may not add others. It has been the belief in the United States that an inhabitant of a State has a deeper concern for the interests and represents the people of his State more completely than a stranger. Hence, a Representative is not only required to be an inhabitant of the State, but custom has decreed that he must also be an actual resident of the district which he represents. May the House refuse to admit a person duly elected and possessing the constitutional qualifications? This question arose in the 56th Congress in the case of Brigham Roberts, of Utah. As the evidence seemed to indicate that he was living in polygamy, thus violating State and National law, he was excluded. XV. Section 2, clause 2. tions of tives. Apportion ment of tives. Amend ment XIV, Section 2. Section 2, Amendment XIV, which became a part of the Constitution July 28, 1868, contains the rule of apportionment which is now in operation. It declares that: Representatives shall be apportioned among the several Representa States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. When the amendment was proposed, the negroes had been granted the right of suffrage in only a few States, and Congress believed that rather than have the number of their Representatives reduced the other States would also be willing to grant them complete political rights. Tennessee was the only Southern State which ratified the amendment, but since Amendment XV became a part of the Constitution before the next apportionment of Representatives was made, this section was not put into practical operation. Each State may still determine for itself who has the right to vote within its limits. Some of the States require a property qualification, and others, as Connecticut, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Mississippi, require an educational qualification for voters. In Louisiana and South Carolina the * See p. 48. |
