continued through thirty-five ballotings; but on the thirty-sixth, as above stated, Jefferson was elected.

This was done under the third clause of Article II. of the Constitution, which has been superseded by Article XII. of the Amendments.

§ 11. The second instance of the election of a President of the United States by the House of Representatives occurred in 1825. Four candidates were voted for on the electoral ticket, neither of whom received a majority of all the votes. These candidates were Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, who received ninety-nine votes ; John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, eighty-four; William H. Crawford of Georgia, forty-one; and Henry Clay of Kentucky, thirty-seven. No one receiving a majority of the electoral votes, the election was thrown into the House; when John Quincy Adams was elected. Mr. Clay's name did not come before the House, as he received the smallest number of electoral votes of the four candidates. For when the election comes into the House, since the Twelfth Article of Amendments was adopted, that body must elect from the persons having the highest numbers, not exceeding three on the list of candidates.

The election of President will be more critically examined when we come to treat of the executive department.

CHAPTER II.

UNITED-STATES SENATE.

ART. I.-HOW COMPOSED.

The Senate is composed of two senators from each State. 8. § 1. The composition of the Senate is the result of compromise between the larger and smaller States represented in the Constitutional Convention. Under the Confederation, it will be remembered, the representative power in Congress was the same in all the States; and that body consisted of but one house. The small State of Rhode Island had one vote, and the great State of Virginia had no

more.

§ 2. The small States were tenacious of this power, and were reluctant to allow any encroachment on their sovereignty. It was inserted in the credentials of the members of the Constitutional Convention from Delaware, that they were prohibited from changing that article in the Confederation establishing an equality of votes among the States.

§ 3. The large States yielded one point in the controversy, and the small States another. The large States consented to equality in the Senate, and the small States to representation in the House in proportion to population. In the Senate, therefore, there is no distinction between the States; and as every bill, before it can become a law, must pass both Houses of Congress, the rights of the smaller States are not likely to be compromised in the legislative depart

ment.

ART. II.-ELIGIBILITY.

1. Must have attained to the age of thirty years.

2. Must have been nine years a citizen of the United States. 3. When elected, shall be an inhabitant of the State for which chosen. 10.

4. No United-States officer shall be a member of either house of Congress. 22. (See appendix to Analysis D.)

§ 1. No difference of opinion prevailed in the Convention in reference to the age named. At thirty, the character of a man has usually become defined and established. He may be presumed, at this age, to have had sufficient experience to give weight and dignity to the public councils, and to have acquired that firmness and independence which will give stability of purpose in the performance of his duties.

§ 2. By reference to the age required for membership of the other house, it will be seen that there is a difference of five years; a man being eligible to a seat in that house at twenty-five. It is considered, that, at least in some respects, the duties of a senator are more responsible than the duties of a member of the House of Rep

resentatives.

1st. There can be but two senators from one State, while the number of representatives will depend on the population. The

State of New York, for instance, can have but two senators; but at present, 1868, has thirty-one members of the other house.

2d. The responsible duty of trying all impeachments devolves on the Senate; and from their decision there is no appeal.

3d. A senator holds for the term of six years; a representative, for but two. If a senator proves incompetent or unfaithful, and fails to give satisfaction, six years' term of office will prove burdensome to his constituency. On the other hand, the representative term is so short, that unfaithfulness or incompetency will cause but comparatively little inconvenience before he must meet his constituency at the ballot-box.

4th. On the Senate rests the grave responsibility of deciding on the fitness of executive nominations to office.

5th. In the Senate is vested, jointly with the executive, the prerogative of treaty-making.

§ 3. Eligibility to the senatorial office requires a United-States citizenship of nine years. This feature was debated in the Convention with great spirit and earnestness. Some members were in favor of requiring but four years, some seven, some nine, some ten, others thirteen, still others fourteen; and a few preferred that American nativity be required. Nearly all seemed averse to admitting strangers to a seat in the Senate. There were a small number of members, however, in favor of requiring no specified period, but simply that the incumbent should be a citizen.

§ 4. No one can regard the condition a hardship that requires a residence and citizenship of sufficient time to enable the party to demonstrate his attachment to our institutions, and form of government, and to give evidence of his determination to make our country his permanent home.

$ 5. The laws of Congress require five years' residence before an alien can become naturalized, and the Constitution nine years' citizenship before he can hold the office of United-States senator; making fourteen years' residence necessary before he is eligible to a seat in that body.

§ 6. That a senator should be an inhabitant of the State for which he is chosen is a condition so reasonable, that it was accepte

by the Convention without debate. It was inserted in every proposed draft of the Constitution; the only alteration being the striking out of the word "resident," and inserting the word “inhabitant.”

§ 7. But it must be observed, that necessity of inhabitancy is limited to the time when chosen. A senator chosen for New York, for instance, does not vacate his seat in the Senate by changing his residence to any other State during the term for which he was elected. It might be in the highest degree proper that he should resign; but that is a matter within his own discretion.

§ 8. A member of Congress must not be encumbered with any office under the government of the United States. If he holds any such office at the time of his election to Congress, he must resign it before he can take his seat. This applies to membership of either house.

§ 9. The senatorial office is not an office under the government of the United States within the meaning of the Constitution. This was decided by the Senate itself at a very early period (1799), when Senator Blount was impeached by the House, and brought before the Senate for trial.

§ 10. The authors of the Constitution considered the duties of any office under the United States as incompatible with the faithful discharge of the duties of senator or representative. In several proposed drafts of the Constitution in the Convention, a clause was inserted, rendering a member of either house ineligible to any office under the United States for several years after the expiration of his legislative term. But it was finally agreed to confine the disability to the period of membership.

ART. III.- TERM.

The senatorial term is six years. 8.

§ 1. The senatorial term was another subject of earnest debate in the Convention, and on which, at first, there was great difference of opinion. The terms of three, four, five, six, seven, and nine years, were severally proposed; and each had its advocates. Several members were in favor of extending the term for life, or during good behavior.

§ 2. All were in favor of a term sufficiently long to insure to the office dignity, stability, and independence. A term of two or three years was believed to be quite too short for a fair trial on any measure of importance on which there might be an almost equal division of opinion.

§ 3. On the other hand, it was contended that a term of eight or ten years, or for life, might lead a senator to forget his home responsibility. He might be persistent in measures known to be adverse to the best interests of the country, merely from pride of opinion, or from the more objectionable spirit of obstinacy. Six years was probably not the choice of half the members of the Convention; but that term was adopted as a compromise of the extremes.

ART. IV. .-BY WHOM CHOSEN.

By the legislatures of the several States. 8.

§ 1. There were several propositions in the Constitutional Convention on the subject of this article. The first was by Edmund Randolph of Virginia, who opened the business of the Convention. He presented an outline of what he thought the new Constitution should contain. In that outline, it was proposed that the senators should be elected by the House of Representatives, on nomination by the legislatures of the several States.

§ 2. A second plan proposed was, that the senators shall be chosen by the people of the several States, by direct vote, in the same manner as the members of the House of Representatives are chosen.

§ 3. A third plan was, that senators shall be appointed by the President of the United States, from nominations made by the legislatures of the several States.

§ 4. A fourth plan proposed to unite several representative districts into a senatorial district, an1 let the people elect the senators by direct vote.

§ 5. A fifth plan was, that the people by direct vote elect senatorial electors, and that these electors should elect the senators.

§ 6. And still another plan was, that United-States senators shall be chosen by the legislatures of the several States. This plan prevailed. The principal reason that led to a decision in favor of this