[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 48 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 48

 Expressing the sense of the Congress in reaffirming the United States 
                       of America as a republic.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 6, 2001

   Mr. Paul submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Congress in reaffirming the United States 
                       of America as a republic.

Whereas the form of government secured by the Declaration of Independence, the 
        American Revolution, and the Constitution of the United States is a 
        republic--not a democracy;
Whereas the Nation's founders understood that pure ``democracies have ever been 
        spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found 
        incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have 
        in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in 
        their deaths'' (Federalist No. 10);
Whereas throughout the 224-year history of the United States as an independent 
        and sovereign nation, the people of the United States have never 
        exercised power as a democracy;
Whereas the people of the United States have always acted by and through the 
        Federal Union of the several States, electing Members of Congress from 
        each of the several States and the President and Vice President by 
        electoral votes proportioned to the number of Members of Congress 
        representing each State;
Whereas in the 2000 election for choosing electors for President and Vice 
        President, it appears that the President-elect and Vice President-elect 
        have won a majority of the State electoral vote, but not a plurality of 
        the nationwide popular vote;
Whereas the prospect of electing to office a President and Vice President who 
        did not win the largest number of popular votes has generated proposals 
        calling for a constitutional amendment to provide for the direct popular 
        election of the President and Vice President;
Whereas such a national popular election for President and Vice President 
        disregards the constitutional integrity and inviolability of the 50 
        States as independent and sovereign governments;
Whereas in their foresight and wisdom, the people of the United States, meeting 
        by representation in State conventions, adopted a national Constitution 
        preserving the independence and equal standing of the 50 States;
Whereas the Federal system of equal and independent States is an essential 
        safeguard against shifting wills of the majority overriding the 
        unchanging rights of the minority;
Whereas to preserve the rights of the minority from a tyranny of the majority, 
        the Constitution of the United States struck a principled balance 
        between the people of the most populous States and the people of the 
        least populous States;
Whereas to that end, the Constitution of the United States provides that the 
        legislatures of each of the several States, without interference from 
        Congress or any other branch of the Federal Government or State 
        governments, determine the manner of election of the President and the 
        Vice President by State electors from each State;
Whereas the number of electors is distributed in accordance with each State's 
        representation in the House of Representatives and in accordance with 
        each State's equal standing in the Senate, not by a direct nationwide 
        election in accordance with population alone;
Whereas the constitutionally prescribed system in the 2000 election for choosing 
        electors for President and Vice President continues to function as 
        originally designed, protecting minority and States' rights from the 
        exercise of majority power; and
Whereas the electoral college system thereby preserves the diversity of the 
        American people and maintains the United States as a Federal republic--
        not as a democracy: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of the Congress that the United States is not a 
democracy--but a republic--and that the present constitutionally 
prescribed means by which the President and Vice President are selected 
State by State is essential to preserving the diversity of the 
citizenry of the United States and to maintaining the United States as 
a Federal republic composed of independent and sovereign States.
                                 <all>