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ble together in congress. Art. I., sec. 4, § 2, provides: "The congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint a different day."1 The president can, however (art. II., sec. 3, § 2), "on extraordinary occasions convene both houses or either of them.":

In congress itself different views have been maintained with great vigor on the question as to whether the congress comes into life of and by itself by virtue of the meeting of the members of both houses, or whether the congress first exists when both houses have completed their organization. The question, at bottom, however, has only an academic interest, as the co-operative action of both houses as a congress unquestionably is possible. only after their formal organization is effected. Touching the senate, however, such an organization can be spoken of only in a very limited sense, since "the vice-president of the United States shall be president of the senate" (art. I., sec. 3, §4). "The senate shall choose their other officers and also a president pro tempore in [case of] the absence of the vice-president, or when he shall exercise the office

1 By virtue of the authority granted by the last clause, this provision was enlarged by the act of January 22, 1867, to the extent that congress should also meet upon the day its lawful existence begins, to wit, on March 4 of the odd-numbered years, and that every congress should thus have three regular sessions. This law, however, remained in force only for the three legislative periods of the 40th, 41st and 42d congresses.

2 The clause proceeds: "And in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper." This power has never yet been used. It is, however, to be observed, that this right of adjournment by the president accrues only in the one particular case.

3 See my Constitutional History, V., 212, 218.

of president of the United States." The house of representatives, on the other hand, in addition to its other officers, has to elect its permanent chairman, who bears the title of speaker (art. I, sec. 2, § 5). As he has to appoint the standing committees which, so far as the house is concerned, as a rule practically shape all legislation, the election of the speaker is an act of pre-eminent political importance. In times of great political excitement, when neither party has an absolute majority, the organization of the house is apt to become a very serious question. The other factors of government have no power to enforce it. In other words, the majority of the memberselect have the power to deprive the Union for the legislative two-year period of its law-making functions by preventing the organization of the house. On the other hand, neither of the two houscs by itself can close a session after congress has once met either by virtue of the constitutional provisions or upon the call of the president. "Neither house, during the session of congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting" (art. I., sec. 5, § 4).

$25. THE EXECUTIVE POWER. "The executive power shall be vested in a president of the United States of America" (art. II., sec. 1, § 1). The vice-president has no share in the executive power. His sole task, as long as the president acts as such, is that of presiding over the senate. Even though the executive authority is far removed from independence of the other factors of govern

1 Shortly before the close of each session, the vice-president gives the senate an opportunity to choose a president pro tempore, so that it shall not be without a presiding officer, if before the next session of congress the vice-president die or assume the office of president.

2 See the sketch of the two-months campaign over the speakership in the 34th congress in my Constitutional History, V., 203-219. The house of representatives has no permanent vice-chairman.

ment, it is nevertheless singularly simple. The president is dependent in manifold ways upon the other factors, but he alone is the sole possessor of what the constitution describes as the executive power. The law may confer upon the so-called secretaries or members of the "cabinet," as well as upon other executive officers, independent functions, but the constitution recognizes no representative of the president, no one upon whom either the law or the free will of the president can temporarily confer even the slightest of the privileges and duties which the constitution grants to and imposes upon the bearer of the executive power. "In case of the removal of the president from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the vice-president, and the congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation or inability, both of the president and vice-president, declaring what officer shall then act as president, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed or a president shall be elected." Art. II., sec. 1, § 5. The constitution thus creates in the person of the vice-president an official who in a given case is to take the place of the president. It commits to congress the task of providing for all cases in which he cannot discharge the duties of the office. But in every case the rights and duties of the place pass fully and wholly over to the designated person, either until the expiration of the term of office or temporarily. Any separation of these rights and duties, or of the responsibility imposed by them, is under all circumstances absolutely excluded.1

1 By virtue of the authority conferred in the second clause of the paragraph cited above, congress has already provided, by the act of March 1, 1792, for the case of the inability of both the president and vice-president to act. After the vice-president, the president pro

As the president and vice-president are elected at and for the same time, the right to be chosen to both offices is dependent upon the same conditions (12th amendment). To be eligible, it is necessary to be a native-born citizen of the United States, to be at least thirty-five years of age,

tempore of the senate, and after him the speaker of the house, takes the office. Whether these, like the vice-president, are to exercise the office of president until the expiration of the presidential term depends upon how near that is. As soon as the dual vacancy occurs, the secretary of state must notify the governor of every state. If this notification is issued less than two months before the first Wednesday in December, and the presidential term ends on the third day of March following, then the president pro tempore of the senate (or the speaker) performs the duties of the executive authority until the inauguration of the new president. If this be not the case, then the notification directs the choice or the appointment of electors. This is to take place thirty-four days before the first Wednesday in December, if at least two months intervene between this date and the proclamation. Otherwise it is to take place thirty-four days prior to the first Wednesday in December of the following year. The election by the electors is to take place on the first Wednesday of December. Neither the constitution nor the laws provide for vacancies occurring by reason of the impossibility of electing either a president or vice-president. If the house of representatives has to elect the president and does not do so before the 4th of March, when the new presidential term begins, then "the vice-president shall act as president" (12th amendment). Even so there is nothing determined as to who should act as president when, according to the act of March 1, 1792, the speaker ought to do so, and the vacancy occurs between the expiration of the legislative period and the organization of the new congress, so that there is no speaker. Hitherto by the death of the president the presidency has four times devolved upon the vice-president: John Tyler in place of W. H. Harrison, April 6, 1841; Millard Fillmore in place of Zachary Taylor, July 9, 1850: Andrew Johnson in place of Abraham Lincoln, April 15, 1865; Chester A. Arthur in place of James A. Garfield, September 20, 1881. A double vacancy has, however, never yet occurred.

2 The exception in favor of those who at the time of the adoption of the constitution were citizens of the United States of course no longer applies.

and to have had a domicile in the United States for at least fourteen years. Art. II., sec. 1, § 4. As to the eligibility of electors, the constitution contains only the negative provision that no senator, representative or official of the United States shall be an elector. Article II., § 1. The election is an indirect one. The constitution provides that every state shall have as many electors as it has senators and representatives in congress, but leaves it wholly to the legislatures to determine how they shall be chosen. Although they are elected at present in all the states by the people, yet so far as the federal constitution is concerned, this is solely a matter of fact. Every state is still authorized to do as South Carolina did for a long time,— have the electors appointed by the legislature. Or they can be chosen in any other manner whatsoever. The time when the election takes place is to be fixed by congress. By act of January 23, 1845, it fixed the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of every fourth year. This law leaves it to the states to take proper legal measures to fill by substitutes any vacancies at the meeting of the electoral college.

THE MODE OF ELECTION. The legislatures determine for their respective states the place of the election, but it is the duty of congress to fix the time, and it must be the same day for all of the states. By act of March 1, 1792, the election takes place on the first Wednesday in December. The electors must vote on separate ballots for one person for president, and for another as vice-president.2

1 The constitution does not prohibit the selection of the president and vice-president from the same state, but the electors must vote, so far as one of the two offices is concerned, for a person who does not belong to their own state (12th amendment).

2 According to the original scheme of the constitution, each elector simply placed two names on his ballot. Whoever received the greatest number of votes was to be president, and whoever had the next

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