History of the Origin, Formation, and Adoption of the Constitution of the United States, Vol. 2: With Notices of Its Principle FramersCurtis, George Ticknor
History
History of the Origin, Formation, and Adoption of the Constitution of the United States, Vol. 2: With Notices of Its Principle Framers
Curtis, George Ticknor
Constitutional history -- United States
The substitution of electors would obviate these difficulties, by
affording the means of determining the precise weight in the election
that should be allotted to each State, without attempting to prescribe
a uniform rule of suffrage in the primary elections, and without being
obliged to settle the discrepancies between the election laws of the
States. They furnished, also, the means of removing the election from
the direct action of the people, by confiding the ultimate selection
to a body of men, to be chosen for the express purpose of exercising a
real choice among the eminent individuals who might be thought fit for
the station. But the mode of choice was complicated with the other
questions of re-eligibility, and especially with that of impeachment.
If appointed by electors, there would be danger of their being
corrupted by the person in office, if he were eligible a second time,
or by a candidate who had not filled the station. Hence there would be
a propriety in making the executive subject to impeachment while in
office. If chosen by the legislature, it seemed to be generally
agreed, that the executive ought not to be eligible a second time; but
whether he ought to be subject to impeachment, and by what tribunal,
was a subject on which there were great differences of opinion.
The consequence of this great diversity of views was, that the plan
embraced in the ninth resolution of the committee of the whole was
retained and sent to the committee of detail.
With respect to the judiciary, several important changes were made in
the plan of the committee of the whole. The prohibition against any
increase of salary of the individuals holding the office was stricken
out, and the restriction was made applicable only to a diminution of
the salary. The cognizance of impeachments of national officers was
taken from their jurisdiction, and the principle was adopted which
extended that jurisdiction to "all cases arising under the national
laws, and to such other questions as may involve the national peace
and harmony." The power to appoint inferior tribunals was confirmed to
the national legislature.
The fourteenth resolution, providing for the admission of new States,
was unanimously agreed to.
The fifteenth resolution, providing for the continuance of Congress
and for the completion of their engagements, was rejected.
The principle of the sixteenth resolution, which provided a guaranty
by the United States of the institutions of the States, was
essentially modified. In the place of a guaranty applicable both to a
republican constitution and the "existing laws" of a State, the
declaration was adopted, "that a republican form of government shall
be guaranteed to each State, and that each State shall be protected
against foreign and domestic violence."[116]
The seventeenth resolution, that provision ought to be made for future
amendments, was adopted without debate.[117]
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