[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 52 (Wednesday, May 4, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 4, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
 AUTHORIZING THE PRINTING OF SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD'S ADDRESSES TO THE 
            SENATE ON THE HISTORY OF ROMAN CONSTITUTIONALISM

  Mr. LEVIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of Senate Concurrent Resolution 
68, a concurrent resolution submitted earlier today by Senator Reid, 
authorizing the printing of Senator Robert Byrd's addresses to the 
Senate on the history of Roman constitutionalism; that the concurrent 
resolution be agreed to; that the motion to reconsider be laid on the 
table; and that any statements thereon appear in the Record at the 
appropriate place as though read.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  So the concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 68) was agreed to, as 
follows:

                             S. Con Res. 68

       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That there shall be printed as a Senate document 
     ``U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd's Addresses to the United 
     States Senate on the History of Roman Constitutionalism'', 
     delivered between May 5, 1993 and October 18, 1993.
       Sec. 2. The document referred to in the first session shall 
     be--
       (1) published under the supervision of the Secretary of the 
     Senate; and
       (2) in such style, form, manner, and binding as directed by 
     the Joint Committee on Printing, after consultation with the 
     Secretary of the Senate.

     The document shall include illustrations.
       Sec. 3. In addition to the usual number of copies of the 
     document, there shall be printed the lesser of--
       (1) 5,000 copies for the use of the Secretary of Senate; or
       (2) such number of copies as does not exceed a total 
     production and printing cost of $47,864.

  Mr. REID. Madam President, 1 year ago, on May 5, 1993, our esteemed 
colleague Robert C. Byrd initiated a series of 14 addresses on the 
subject of the line-item-veto. During the following 5\1/2\ months, he 
delivered each of these speeches--packed with names, dates, and complex 
narratives--entirely from memory and without recourse to notes or 
consultation with staff aides.
  In effect, Senator Byrd had created a 14-week university seminar on 
the constitutional history of separated and shared powers as shaped in 
the republic and empire of ancient Rome. To prepare himself for this 
task, he read extensively in the history of England and ancient Rome. 
He began with the writings of Montesquieu, the 18th-century French 
philosopher who had also studied and thought deeply about the history 
of Rome and the operation of contemporary English governmental 
institutions. Montesquieu's political philosophy had profoundly 
influenced the thinking of those who framed the U.S. Constitution. To 
better understand what the framers had in mind when they created a 
governmental system of divided and shared powers, Senator Byrd 
carefully examined Montesquieu's 1734 essay, ``Considerations on the 
Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline.''
  Senator Byrd reasoned that if,

       The history of the Roman people helped to influence 
     Montesquieu's political theory concerning checks and balances 
     and the separation of powers, and if Montesquieu's political 
     theory influenced our American forbears in their writing of 
     the United States Constitution, then why can it not be said 
     that the history of Rome and the Romans, as well as the 
     history of England and Englishmen, influenced [the 
     Constitution's framers].

  To test this premise, he examined the works of more than 20 
celebrated historians of ancient Rome who wrote from the time of 
Polybius, in the second century before Christ, down through Julius 
Caesar, Plutarch, Tacitus, Suetonius, and concluding with Edward 
Gibbon, in the 18th century.
  In these addresses, Robert C. Byrd describes the development of 
ancient Rome from its founding in 753 B.C. through its evolution to a 
republic with a strong and independent senate and then into its decline 
as the Roman Senate willingly yielded hard-won powers to a succession 
of emperors.
  Senator Byrd sees ample parallels between the willingness of Roman 
Senators to hand over powers of the purse to usurping executives and 
the compliant attitude of United States Senators in responding to 
presidential urging for a similar grant of powers in a line-item veto 
constitutional amendment.
  Taken together, this remarkable 14-part series displays vast 
learning, prodigious memory, and single-minded determination to 
preserve constitutional prerogatives forged over more than two 
millennia of human experience. In my judgment, this work merits the 
widest possible distribution among the students, scholars, and general 
citizenry of this Nation. Accordingly I have submitted a concurrent 
resolution authorizing printing, as a Senate Document, of Senator 
Robert C. Byrd's ``Addresses to the United States Senate on the History 
of Roman Constitutionalism.''

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