[Hinds' Precedents, Volume 1]
[Chapter 1- The Meeting of Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
THE MEETING OF CONGRESS.
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1. Provisions of Constitution and Statutes. Sections 1 and 2.
2. Assembling of the First Congress as fixing beginning of
terms. Section 3.\1\
3. Time of assembling as governed by proclamation, law, and
Constitution. Sections 4-13.
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1. The Constitution provides for the annual meeting of Congress.--
Section 4, Article I of the Constitution, 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.
Also, in section 3 of Article II, the further provision is made that
the President of the United States ``may, on extraordinary occasions,
convene both Houses, or either of them.'' \2\
2. In certain exigencies the President may convene Congress at a
place other than the seat of government.
The District of Columbia is the seat of government.
Section 34 of the Revised Statutes, reenacting the law of April 3,
1794 (1 Stat. L., p. 353), provides:
Whenever Congress is about to convene and from the prevalence of
contagious sickness or the existence of other circumstances, it would,
in the opinion of the President, be hazardous to the lives or health of
the Members to meet at the seat of government, the President is
authorized, by proclamation, to convene Congress at such other place as
he may judge proper.\3\
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\1\ The term of the Member must be coincident with the term of the
Congress (see sec. 388 of this volume); but in the earlier practice
this was not necessarily so as to a Delegate from a Territory (see sec.
403 of this volume).
\2\ Congress has frequently met on a day other than the first Monday
in December, being convened sometimes by a law and sometimes by the
President. (See Journals of the House for the First, Second, Fifth,
Eighth, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Thirteenth, Twenty-fifth, Twenty-
seventh, Thirty-fourth, Thirty-seventh, Fortieth, Forty-first,
Fortysecond, Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, Fifty-third, and Fifty-fifth
Congresses.) Sometimes Congress, having been convened before the first
Monday in December, has continued its session to and beyond that day,
and having adjourned sine die has not, if it was a first session,
convened again until the first Monday of the next December. (See
Journals of the House for the Second, Eighth, Tenth, Eleventh, and
Twelfth Congresses.) A Congress expires on March 3 of the odd year, and
its successor may be convened on the next day, March 4 (See Journal of
House for Fortieth Congress), although by the Constitution it would
naturally not meet until the first Monday of the succeeding December.
\3\ The act of July 16, 1790 (1 Stat. L., p. 130) had provided that
the seat of government should be transferred to the District of
Columbia by the first Monday of December, 1800.
Sec. 3
3. By resolution of the Continental Congress the First Congress under
the Constitution met on March 4, 1789.
The term of a Congress begins on the fourth of March of the odd-
numbered years, and extends through two years.
A Member elected to fill a vacanty serves no longer time than the
remainder of the term of the Member whose place he takes.
The House sometimes appoints a committee to act with a similar
committee from the Senate in relation to some question of moment.
On April 30, 1790,\1\ the House agreed to the following:
Resolved, That a committee of this House be appointed, to join with a
committee to be appointed by the Senate, to consider and report their
opinion on the question when, according to the Constitution, the terms
for which the President, Vice-President, Senators, and Representatives
have been respectively chosen, shall be deemed to have commenced.
Messrs. Egbert Benson, of New York; George Clymer, of Pennsylvania;
Benjamin Huntingdon, of Connecticut; Andrew Moore, of Virginia, and
Daniel Carroll, of Maryland, were appointed a committee.
To these the Senate joined \2\ Messrs. Oliver Ellsworth, of
Connecticut; Rufus King, of New York; and Robert Morris, of
Pennsylvania.
On May 18 \3\ the House agreed to report as follows:
That the terms for which the President, Vice-President, Senate, and
House of Representatives of the United States were respectively chosen,
did, according to the Constitution, commence on the fourth of March,
1789. And so the Senators of the first class, and the Representatives,
will not, according to the Constitution, be entitled, by virtue of the
same election by which they hold seats in the present Congress, to
seats in the next Congress, which will be assembled after the third of
March, 1791. And further, that whenever a vacancy shall happen in the
Senate or House of Representatives, and on election to fill such
vacancy, the person elected will not, according to the Constitution, be
entitled, by virtue of such election, to hold a seat beyond the time
for which the Senator or Representative in whose stead such person
shall have been elected, would, if the vacancy had not happened, have
been entitled to hold a seat.
The committee recommended the passage of a law regulating the choice
of electors, etc.
This report had been previously agreed to in the Senate.\4\
The first session of the First Congress assembled, as shown by the
Journal of the House--
on Wednesday, the fourth of March, 1789, pursuant to a resolution of
the late Congress, made in conformity to the resolutions of the Federal
Convention of the 17th of September, 1787.
The late Congress, which was the Continental Congress, it being
ascertained that the required number of States had ratified the
Constitution, had on September 13, 1788-- \5\
Resolved, That the first Wednesday in January next be the day for
appointing electors in the several States, which, before the said day,
shall have ratified the said Constitution; that the first Wednesday in
February next be the day for the electors to assemble in their
respective States and vote for a President, and that the first
Wednesday in March next be the time and the present seat of Congress
the place for commencing proceedings under the said Constitution.
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\1\ Second session First Congress. Journal, p. 207 (Gales & Seaton,
ed.); Annals, p. 1603.
\2\ Annals, p. 1006.
\3\ Journal, p. 218 (Gales & Seaton, ed.); Annals, p. 1638.
\4\ Journal, p. 216 (Gales & Seaton, ed.); Annals, p. 1010.
\5\ Journal of Continental Congress, edition of 1823, Vol. IV, p.
866.
Sec. 4
4. It being desirable that the hour of the first meeting of a
Congress should be later than 12 m., the purpose was effected by a
joint resolution.-- In 1869 a law provided that the next Congress
should, as had the current Congress, meet on the 4th day of March. As
the 4th day of March, 1869, would be the day of the inauguration,
Congress passed a joint resolution providing that the time for the
regular meeting of the House of Representatives should be postponed
from 12 o'clock meridian on March 4, 1869, to the hour of 3 o'clock in
the afternoon of the same day.\1\
5. The First Congress by law appointed for its second meeting a day
later than the day fixed by the Constitution.
The First Congress having met once in each of its two years of
existence, a doubt existed as to whether or not it would legally meet
again on the day appointed by the Constitution.
Instance wherein Congress in adjourning fixed by resolution the time
of meeting of the next session on the constitutional day.
Instances of laws fixing the time of annual meeting of Congress.
The First Congress met on March 4, 1789,\2\ in accordance with the
terms of a resolution of the Continental Congress.\3\ This session
continued until September 29, 1789. Before adjourning the following law
was enacted, being approved September 29, 1789:
That after the adjournment of the present session, the next meeting
of Congress shall be on the first Monday in January next.\4\
Thus it will be observed that the law fixed a date later than the
first Monday in December specified by the Constitution. The second
session extended from January 4, 1790, until August 12, 1790.\5\ The
third session began on the constitutional day, the first Monday of
December, 1790, but apparently some doubt existed as to whether the
Constitution would require a meeting on that day, for, on August 10,\6\
near the close of the second session, the House Journal has this entry:
A message from the Senate by Mr. Otis, their Secretary:
Mr. Speaker: The Senate have come to a resolution that the resolution
of the 6th instant, authorizing the Speaker of the House of
Representatives and President of the Senate to close the present
session by adjourning their respective Houses on this day be repealed,
and that instead thereof they be authorized to adjourn their respective
Houses on the 12th instant, to meet again on the first Monday in
December next; to which they desire the concurrence of this House.
And then he withdrew.
The House proceeded to consider the said resolution, and, the same
being read, was agreed to.
The journal of December 6, 1790,\7\ the first day of the third
session, has these introductory words in reference to the date: ``On
which day, being the day appointed by adjournment of the two Houses for
the meeting of the present session.''
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\1\ Third session, Fortieth Congress, Journal, pp. 404, 405, 486;
Globe, pp. 1425, 1582.
\2\ First session, First Congress, Journal, p. 3 (Gales & Seaton
ed.).
\3\ Journal of Continental Congress, edition of 1823, Vol. IV, p.
866.
\4\ 1 Stat. L., p. 96.
\5\ Journal, pp. 134, 298.
\6\ Journal, pp. 296, 297.
\7\ Journal, p. 330.
Sec. 6
6. Early Congresses, having by law met on a day earlier than the
constitutional day, remained in continuous session to a time beyond
that day.
In 1797 the Congress assembled on the day constitutionally provided
by law, although it had already held a session that year.
The early laws fixing the time for the meeting of Congress specified
the day but not, the hour.
At the last session of the First Congress the following law was
enacted, being approved March 2, 1791: \1\
That after the third day of March next, the first annual meeting of
Congress shall be on the fourth Monday of October next.
Accordingly the first session of the Second Congress met October 24,
1791,\2\ and it continued in session until May 8, 1792. No attention
was paid to Monday, December 5, 1791 (the day appointed for the
assembling of Congress ordinarily), the sessions of the House
proceeding uninterruptedly over that period.
At this first session of the Second Congress this law \3\ was
enacted, being approved May 5, 1792:
That after the adjournment of the present session, the next annual
meeting of Congress shall be on the first Monday in November next.
Accordingly the second session met on November 5, 1792,\4\ and
continued in session through Monday, December 3, 1792, the day
prescribed by the Constitution.
7. The first session of the Third Congress met on the constitutional
day, December 2, 1793,\5\ but it was provided by law that the second
session should meet on the first Monday in November.\6\ So accordingly
it met on November 3, 1794\7\ and continued in session without
interruption through Monday, December 1, the constitutional day.
Both sessions of the Fourth Congress met on the days appointed by the
Constitution.\8\
The act of March 3, 1797,\9\ provided that the next meeting of
Congress should be on ``the [first?] Monday of November in the present
year;'' but the President convened the Fifth Congress in extraordinary
session on May 15, 1797.\10\ This session lasted until July 10. Then,
on Monday, November 13, 1797,\11\ the ``day appointed by law,'' as the
Journal says, the regular session began. This continued through Monday,
December 4, the constitutional day, without interruption.
The third session of the Fifth Congress met on the day appointed by
the Constitution.
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\1\ Stat. L., p. 198.
\2\ First session Second Congress, Journal, p. 433 (Gales & Seaton
ed.).
\3\ 1 Stat. L., p. 267.
\4\ Second session Second Congress, Journal, p. 609.
\5\ First session Third Congress, Journal, p. 3.
\6\ 1 Stat. L., p. 370.
\7\ Second session Third Congress, Journal, p. 223.
\8\ Journal, pp. 364, 606.
\9\ 1 Stat. L., p. 507.
\10\ First session Fifth Congress, Journal, p. 3.
\11\ The statute says first Monday, but the House met November 13,
which was the second Monday.
Sec. 8
8. The first session of the Sixth Congress met on the day appointed
by law; but the act of May 13, 1800,\1\ convened the second session on
the third Monday of November, 1800. It met on that day and continued in
session through Monday, December 1, 1800,\2\ the day appointed by the
Constitution.
The second sessions of both the Tenth and Eleventh Congresses were
convened by law; but in neither of these laws nor in any of the
previous laws convening Congress was the hour of meeting specified in
the law.
9. On May 22, 1809,\3\ the day appointed by law \4\ for the meeting
of the session, the first session of the Eleventh Congress convened,
and remained in session until June 28, 1809. At this session the
following law \5\ was passed:
That after the adjournment of the present session, the next meeting
of Congress shall be on the fourth Monday of November next.
On November 27, 1809,\6\ in accordance with the law, the Congress met
in its second session, and continued in session until May 1, 1810. When
the first Monday in December, 1809, arrived (the day prescribed by the
Constitution for the meeting of Congress ordinarily) the House
continued its session without any recognition of the day.\7\
The second sessions of both the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Congresses
were convened by law on a day earlier than the constitutional day, and
remained in sessions through that day. Neither of these laws specified
the hour of meeting.
10. Early Congresses, convened either by proclamation or law on a day
earlier than the constitutional day, remained in continuous session to
a time beyond that day.
In the later but not the earlier practice the fact that Congress has
met once within the year does not make uncertain the constitutional
mandate to meet on the first Monday of December.
Instances wherein Congress has been convened by proclamation or by
law.
Instance wherein a law convening Congress specified the hour as well
as the day.
At the second session of the Seventh Congress, by the act approved
March 3, 1803,\8\ it was provided:
That after the adjournment of the present session, the next meeting
of Congress shall be on the first Monday of November next.
But by proclamation of the President the Eighth Congress was convened
on October 17, 1803,\9\ and remained in session until March 27, 1804.
The session
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\1\ 2 Stat. L., p. 85.
\2\ Second session Sixth Congress, Journal, p. 733.
\3\ First session Eleventh Congress, Journal, pp. 3, 102 (Gales &
Seaton ed.).
\4\ 2 Stat. L., p. 514. This law, passed by the Tenth Congress,
provided: ``That after the adjournment of the present session, the next
meeting of Congress shall be on the fourth Monday of May next.''
\5\ 2 Stat. L., p. 549.
\6\ Second session Eleventh Congress, Journal, pp. 105, 428.
\7\ See also journals of the First, Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth,
Eighth, and Tenth Congresses, when sessions were convened before the
arrival of the constitutional day.
\8\ 2 Stat. L., p. 242.
\9\ First session Eighth Congress, Journal, p. 401.
Sec. 11
continued without break through Monday, November 7,\1\ the day
appointed by law, and through Monday, December 5,\2\ the day appointed
by the Constitution.
The second session of the Eighth Congress met November 5, 1804,\3\ in
accordance with a law approved March 26, 1804,\4\ and continued in
session through and beyond Monday, December 3, 1804, the day appointed
by the Constitution.
No law changed the constitutional date for the first meeting of the
Tenth Congress, but it was convened by proclamation of the President on
October 26, 1807,\5\ and remained in session until April 2, 1808,
without any break for the constitutional day of meeting, Monday,
December 7.\6\
A law approved April 22, 1808,\7\ provided that the second session of
the Tenth Congress should meet November 7, 1808, and it did so meet and
continued in session through Monday, December 5,\8\ the day appointed
by the Constitution.
The first session of the Twelfth Congress was convened by
proclamation of the President on November 4, 1811,\9\ and continued in
session until July 6, 1812, no change in the ordinary proceedings
occurring on Monday, December 2, 1811,\10\ the day appointed by the
Constitution for the assembling of Congress ordinarily.
By act approved July 6, 1812,\11\ the time for the meeting of the
next session was fixed on ``as the first Monday of November next,'' and
on that day the House assembled and continued in session through
Monday, December 7, 1812, the day appointed by the Constitution.\11\
The first and second sessions of the Thirteenth Congress were called
by law, the second session adjourning on April 18, 1814. At this second
session a law was passed and approved April 18, 1814,\12\ fixing ``the
last Monday in October next'' for the next meeting of Congress. But the
President, by proclamation, convened the session before that day, on
September 19, 1814,\13\ and it continued in session through Monday,
October 21, the day appointed by law, and Monday, December 5, the day
appointed by the Constitution.\14\
11. The first session of the Thirteenth Congress met, in accordance
with law,\15\ on May 24, 1813, and ended August 2, 1813. At this
session the following law was passed, being approved on July 27, 1813:
\16\
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\1\ Journal, p. 438.
\2\ Journal, p. 467; Annals, p. 641. Nathaniel Macon, of North
Carolina, was Speaker.
\3\ Second session Eighth Congress, Journal, pp. 3, 29.
\4\ 2 Stat. L., p. 293.
\5\ First session Tenth Congress, Journal, p. 4.
\6\ Journal, p. 66: Annals, p. 1058. Joseph B. Varnum of
Massachusetts, was Speaker.
\7\ 2 Stat. L., p. 490.
\8\ Second session Tenth Congress, Journal, p. 374.
\9\ First session Twelfth Congress, Journal, pp. 3, 49. Henry Clay,
of Kentucky, was Speaker.
\10\ First session Twelfth Congress, Annals, p. 395.
\11\ 2 Stat. L., pp. 781, 782; second session Twelfth Congress,
Journal, pp. 537, 575.
\12\ 3 Stat. L., p. 128.
\13\ Third session Thirteenth Congress, Annals, p. 750.
\14\ Journal, third session, pp. 447, 509, 562. Langdon Cheves, of
South Carolina, Speaker.
\15\ 2 Stat. L., p. 804.
\16\ 3 Stat. L., p. 48.
Sec. 12
That after the adjournment of the present session, the next meeting
of Congress shall be on the first Monday of December next.
When the second session assembled on Monday, December 6, 1813, the
Journal records that it was ``the day appointed by law,'' rather than
the day appointed by the Constitution.\1\
In the Twenty-fifth, Twenty-seventh, Thirty-fourth, Thirty-seventh,
Forty-sixth, Fifty-third, and Fifty-fifth Congresses special sessions
were called by the President; but in no case was it thought necessary
by law to fix the next meeting after the special session, but the
provision of the Constitution was left to operate.\2\
The Fortieth, Forty-first, and Forty-second Congresses were convened
in accordance with the terms of the following law, approved January 22,
1867:\3\
That in addition to the present regular times of meeting of Congress,
there shall be a meeting of the Fortieth Congress of the United States,
and of each succeeding Congress thereafter, at twelve o'clock
meridian,\4\ on the fourth day of March, the day on which the term
begins for which the Congress is elected, except that when the fourth
day of March occurs on Sunday, then the meeting shall take place at the
same hour on the next succeeding day.\5\
At no one of the special sessions called by this law was it thought
necessary to provide by law for the next session to begin on the
constitutional day (the first Monday of December), but the Congress
convened that day in obedience to the Constitution.
12. One Congress having by law provided a time for the meeting of the
next Congress, that Congress nevertheless met at an earlier day on call
of the President.
Early sessions of Congress convened by law.
An early instance wherein the proclamation of the President convening
Congress was not printed in the Journal.
On March 3, 1797,\6\ the President approved the following law:
That after the end of the present session, the next meeting of
Congress shall be on the first Monday of November, in the present year.
But on the 25th of March, 1797, the President (John Adams) by
proclamation convened Congress to meet on May 15, 1797, to consider
``divers weighty matters.'' \7\
Some question arose in the House as to the effect this extra session
would have on the session provided for by law, and a conference with
the Senate on the subject was proposed by the House, but declined by
the Senate.\8\
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\1\ Second session Thirteenth Congress, Journal, p. 159.
\2\ See Statutes at Large, vols. 5, 11, 12, 21, 28, and 30.
\3\ 14 Stat. L., p. 378.
\4\ This is the first time that the hour of meeting is specified in a
law providing for a meeting of Congress.
\5\ Repealed by law of the Forty-second Congress.
\6\ Second session Fourth Congress, 1 Stat. L., p. 587. The following
sessions were, as to date of beginning, fixed by law: Those beginning
on first Mondays of January, 1790, of October, 1791, of November, 1792,
of November, 1794, of November, 1797. See I Stat. L., pp. 96, 198, 267,
370, 507.
\7\ First session Fifth Congress; Annals, p. 50. This proclamation
does not appear in the House Journal.
\8\ First session Fifth Congress, Journal, pp. 50, 52 (Gales & Seaton
ed.); Annals, pp. 28, 377.
Sec. 13
On the first Monday of November the regular session met as provided
by law.\1\
13. The statutes provide that in case of the removal, death,
resignation, or inability of both President and Vice President during a
recess of
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\1\ On January 29, 1904 (second session Fifty-eighth Congress,
Record, pp. 1401, 1402), the urgent deficiency appropriation bill was
under consideration in Committee of the Whole House on the state of the
Union, and the committee were considering the question of the mileage
of Members and the constitutional question involved therein.
In the course of the debate Mr. Allan L. McDermott, of New Jersey,
raised an incidental question:
``My understanding of the Constitution is that there are two kinds of
sessions of Congress. One what might be called the President's session,
the other the constitutional session. The constitutional session has
this provision in the Constitution, that neither House shall adjourn
for more than three days without the consent of the other. Now, the
session of Congress which I may designate as the Presidential session
is under the control of the Executive. I call the gentleman's attention
to page 23, section 3, of the book that he has in his hand.
``On extraordinary occasion on which the President may convene both
Houses in case of disagreement between them in respect to the time of
adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper.
Now, if there has not been in its relation to the Executive any change
in the session--in other words, if it is not another sitting as
contemplated by the Constitution--then the President can adjourn
Congress to-day to such time as he think fit, if there be a
disagreement.
``* * * The President has no power to intervene unless the session is
an extraordinary one. In other words, the President's session is to be
held until they agree to adjourn, or until he tells them to adjourn.
The question can not arise at a regular session. The President of the
United States can not adjourn Congress as it is now constituted. We can
remain in session for two years, from one session to another, and he
can not adjourn it. Therefore the session which is called by the
President of the United States has a constitutional distinction from
that session which is called by the Constitution Itself.'' (Mr.
McDermott later elaborated his discussion of this question. See
Appendix of Record, p. 72.)
On January 30 (Record, pp. 1411, 1412), the debate continuing, Mr.
Charles E. Littlefield, of Maine, said:
``I wish to say just a word with reference to the suggestion very
pertinently and forcefully made last evening by the distinguished
gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. McDermott], and that is with reference
to the question as to whether the clause providing that the President
may adjourn Congress from time to time is limited in its operations to
a special or extraordinary or Presidential session, so called. If so
limited, beyond any question it would create a constitutional
distinction between the two sessions, which undoubtedly would settle
the question pending.
``Since the adjournment last evening I have taken occasion to examine
Madison's Journal of the Constitutional Convention, and the Federalist,
upon that precise point, for the purpose of ascertaining what light, if
any, might be derived from that source, and I should be glad to give
the committee the benefit of the investigation.
``I find in the report of the committee on detail, made on August 6,
1787, that the clause in question appears in Article X, section 2,
which reads as follows:
`` `Sec. 2. He shall from time to time give information to the
Legislature of the state of the Union. He may recommend to their
consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.
He may convene them on extraordinary occasions. In cases of
disagreement between the two Houses with regard to the time of
adjournment he may adjourn them to such time as he thinks proper. He
shall take care that the laws of the United States be duly and
faithfully executed. He shall commission all the officers of the United
States, and shall appoint officers in all cases not otherwise provided
for by this Constitution. He shall receive ambassadors, and may
correspond with the supreme executive of the several States. He shall
have power to grant reprieves and pardons, but his pardons shall not be
pleadable in bar of an impeachment. He shall be Commander in Chief of
the Army and Navy of the United States and of the militia of the
several States.
`` `He shall, at stated times, receive for his services a
compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during
his continuance in office. Before he shall enter on the duties of his
Department he shall take the following oath or affirmation: ``I, ------
, solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office
of President of the United States of America.'' He shall be removed
from his
Sec. 13
Congress, the Secretary who acts as President shall convene Congress in
extraordinary session.
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office on impeachment by the House of Representatives, and conviction
in the Supreme Court of treason, bribery, or corruption. In case of his
removal, as aforesaid, death, resignation, or disability to discharge
the powers and duties of his office, the President of the Senate shall
exercise those powers and duties until another President of the United
States be chosen, or until the disability of the President be removed
(Journal of Constitutional Convention (Madison). Scott, Forseman & Co.,
editors, vol. 11, p. 457.)'
``This is the first time the clause appears in the proceedings of the
convention. It appears in a section defining the powers and duties of
the President with the clause authorizing the convening of Congress in
an extraordinary session, where they would naturally be expected to
appear. It will be observed that the two propositions are found in
separate and distinct sentences. One sentence reads:
`` `He may convene them on extraordinary occasions.'
``And the other--
`` `In case of disagreement between the two Houses with regard to the
time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he thinks
proper.'
``In this section the argument of juxtaposition as a reason why the
clause in question is a limitation upon the so-called `Presidential
session' clearly fails.
``In the report on the committee on style, which had no power to
change any substantive provision of the Constitution and only had the
power to perfect the language and arrangement, made on September 12,
1787, these two independent sentences are grouped together, making two
clauses of one sentence in Article II, section 3 (ibid., 709), reading
as follows:
`` `He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or
either of them, 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, etc.'--
``transposing the first sentence and slightly varying the second.
Article X, section 2, down to and including the clause `He shall
commission all officers of the United States,' in the report of the
committee on detail, appears in the report of the committee on style,
in Article II, as section 3. The substance of the remainder of section
2, considerably transposed and with considerable change of verbiage, is
found in sections 1 and 2 of Article II, in the report of the committee
on style.
``Under these conditions the argument of juxtaposition seems entitled
to but little weight. There is nothing said, so far as I can find in
the debates in the convention, upon the construction of this clause--
simply the report of the committee on detail, and later on the report
of the committee on style.
``In the Federalist, in No. 68, written by Mr. Alexander Hamilton,
who was also a member of the committee on style, reporting the
Constitution in the language in which it now stands, this clause is
referred to and construed. This is the great paper in which Mr.
Hamilton is defining the powers and the limitations upon the power of
the President of the United States, and with reference to this specific
point he says:
`` `Fourthly. The President can only adjourn the National Legislature
in the single case of disagreement about the time of the adjournment,'
``I ask the Chair to note this. If this clause is limited to a
special session, it is a very important and significant limitation. Mr.
Hamilton is undertaking to define in this paper the limitations upon
the Presidential power, and he fails to cite this important and
significant limitation. Therefore it is a fair inference that in his
judgment--he having made the report or taken a part in the report of
the committee on style, and responsible for the language as it now
stands--it was not limited in its operation to a special session, but
applied generally. His first illustration of an analogous power is that
`the British monarch may prorogue or even dissolve Parliament.' This
illustration, of course, can not be confined to special sessions, but
applies to all sessions. Further, by way of illustration, he says:
`` `The governor of New York may also prorogue the legislature of
this State for a limited time; a power which, in certain situations,
may be employed to very important purposes,--
``Applicable, apparently, to every session.
``Of course it is not conclusive, but it is significant, and if the
Chair please, I point to the fact that while Hamilton elaborates the
proposition, he in no sense intimates that it is confined in its
application to a special session of Congress. If it is true that this
clause is confined to special sessions, it is a most important
limitation, and should have been emphasized rather than omitted by
Hamilton. To hold that Hamilton omitted it is to impeach either his
intelligence or candor, neither of which can be done successfully.''
Sec. 13
The act of January 19, 1886,\1\ provides that ``in case of removal,
death, resignation, or inability of both the President and Vice-
President of the United States,'' then the Secretary of State, or if
there be none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or
inability, then the Secretary of the Treasury, and so on to the
Secretary of War, the Attorney-General, the Postmaster-General, the
Secretaries of the Navy and Interior, shall act as President if they be
eligible and not under impeachment; and it is further provided--
That whenever the powers and duties of the office of President of the
United States shall devolve upon any of the persons named herein, if
Congress be not then in session, or if it would not meet in accordance
with law within twenty days thereafter, it shall be the duty of the
person upon whom said powers and duties shall devolve to issue a
proclamation convening Congress in extraordinary session, giving twenty
days' notice of the time of meeting.
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\1\ 24 Stat. L., p. 1.