"_Be it resolved_, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the States mentioned in the preamble to this joint resolution are not entitled to representation in the electoral college for the choice of President and Vice-President of the United States for the term commencing on the 4th day of March, 1864, and no electoral votes shall be received or counted from said States, concerning the choice of President and Vice-President for said term of office." In approving this resolution President Lincoln accompanied it with the following message, parts of which I will italicize: "_To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives:_ "The joint resolution entitled 'joint resolution declaring certain States not entitled to representation in the electoral college,' has been signed by the Executive, in deference to the view of Congress implied in its passage and presentation to him. In his own view, however, _the two Houses of Congress, convened under the twelfth article of the Constitution, have complete power to exclude from counting all electoral votes deemed by them to be illegal_, and it is not competent for the Executive to defeat or obstruct that power by a veto, as would be the case if his action were at all essential in the matter. He disclaims all right of the Executive to interfere in any way in the canvassing or counting electoral votes, and also disclaims that by signing said resolution he has expressed any opinion on the recitals of the preamble, or any judgment of his own upon the subject of the resolution." If this resolution of the two Houses was authorized by the Constitution, there is no ground for maintaining the power of the President of the Senate to decide the question of receiving or rejecting votes. For, if he has the power under the Constitution, he cannot waive it, nor can any action of Congress take it away. The resolution of 1865 had the sanction of each House, was signed by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House, and was approved by the President. It should set the question of the power of the two Houses forever at rest. The joint rule, first adopted in 1865, and continued in force for ten years, asserted the same control. It should not have been adopted if the pretensions now set up for the President of the Senate were of force; and he might at any time have disregarded it as worthless. But he did not disregard it; he did not question it; he obeyed it.