declare that I believe him guilty of usurping powers not delegated to him and of violating deliberately the Constitution and the laws of the land. In that he has conspired with the late public enemy and attempted, by the usurpation of the legislative authority, to organize State governments in the late insurgent States, and to restore the late rebel leaders to all the rights and privileges which they forfeited by the rebellion. In that he has corruptly, and in violation of law, used the appointing power. In that he has corruptly used the veto power. In that he has corruptly used the pardoning power. In that he has corruptly disposed of public property of the United States. In that he has corruptly interfered in elections, and committed acts and conspired with others to commit acts which, in contemplation of the Constitution, are high crimes and misdemeanors. Believing that Andrew Johnson is guilty of all this and more, I feel that it is our duty, I think it to be a necessity of our condition, for the safety of the nation and of our institutions, that he should be impeached. I hold that it is necessary, if not for our safety to-day, at least to teach those who shall come after him a lesson; a lesson which shall vindicate the majesty of the law and test the practical working of our matchless Constitution. For these reasons, sir, and others which I might give if I had time, I give my voice and my vote to arraign and put on trial before the high court of the nation, Andrew Johnson, acting President of the United States. The resolution was adopted; yeas, 126; nays, 47, as follows: YEAS-Messrs. Allison, Ames, Anderson, Arneli, Delos R. Ashley, James M. Ashley, Bailey, Baker, Baldwin, Banks, Beaman, Beaty, Benton, Bingham, Blaine, Blair, Boutwell, Broomall, Buckland, Butler, Cake, Churchill, Reader W. Clarke, Sidney Clarke, Cobb, Coburn, Cook, Cornell, Covode, Cullum, Dawes, Dodge, Driggs, Eckley, Eggleston, Eliot, Farnsworth, Ferriss, Ferry, Fields, Gravely, Griswold, Halsey, Harding, Higby, Hill, Hooper, Hopkins, Asahel W. Hubbard, Chester D. Hubbard, Hulburd, Hunter, Ingersoll, Jenckes, Judd, Julian, Kelley, Kelsey, Ketchom, Kitchen, Laflin, George V. Lawrence, William Lawrence, Lincoln, Loan, Logan, Loughridge, Lydch, Mallory Mervin, McCarthy, McClurg, Mercur, Miller, Moore, Moorhead, Morrell Mullins, Myers, Newcomb, Nunn, O'Neil, Orth, Paine, Plants Poland, Polsley, Price, Raum, Robertson, Sauyer, Schenck, Scofield, Selye, Shanks, Smith, Spalding, Starkweather, Aaron F. Stevens, Thaddeus Stevens, Stokes, 'T'affe, Taylor, Trowbridge, Twichell, Upson, Van Aerman, Burt Van Horn, Van Wyck, Ward, Cadwallader C. Washburn, Elihu B. Washburn, William B. Washburn, Welker, Thomas Williams, James F. Wilson, John T. Wilson, Stephen F. Wilson, Windom, Woodbridge, and the Speaker-126. NAYS-Messrs. Adams, Archer, Axtell, Barnes, Barnum, Beck, Boyer, Brooks, Burr, Cary, Chanler, Eldridge, Fos, Getz, Glossbrenner, Golladay, Grover, Haight, Holman, Hotchkiss, Richard D. Hubbard, Humphrey, Johnson, Jones, Kerr, Knott, Marshall, McCormick, McCullough, Morgan, Morrissey, Mungen, Niblack, Nicholson, Phelps, Pruyn, Randall, Ross, Sitgreaves, Stewart, Stone, Taber, Lawrence S. Trimbel, Van Auken, Van Trump, Wood and Woodward -47. NOT VOTING - Messrs. Benjamin, Dixon, Donnelly, Ela, Finney, Garfield, Hawkins, Koontz, Maynard, Pomeroy, Robinson, Shellabarger, Thomas, John Trimble, Robert T. Van Horn, Henry D. Washburn and William Williams-17. SPEECH OF HON. JAMES M. ASHLEY, OF OHIO. DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AMEND THE CONSTITUTION - ABOLISHMENT OF THE OFFICE OF VICE-PRESIDENT - NEITHER CAUCUSES, CONVENTIONS, ELECTORAL COLLEGES, NOR THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO INTERVENE BETWEEN THE PEOPLE AND THEIR CHOICE OF A PRESIDENT. The House being in Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union MR. ASHLEY, of Ohio, said: MR. CHAIRMAN: It is now ten years since I became a member of this House. During that time I have submitted more than once propositions looking to an amendment of the national Constitution, substantially such as I now ask leave to present. Heretofore, when introducing these propositions, I have done so without argument, and they have slept the sleep which knows no waking in the committees to which, under our rules, they must be referred. I now ask the indulgence of the House while I submit to gentlemen present and to the country some of the considerations which have induced me again to bring this subject to public notice. The proposition which I now send to the Clerk's desk to be read, provides that the President of the United States shall be elected for but a single term of four years, and proposes the abolition of the office of Vice-President. If adopted, it also secures the abolition of the present system of appointing presidential electors, as the legislatures of the several States may provide, and makes it impossible for the election of a President to devolve, as now, on the House of Representatives, but provides that in case of death, resignation, or removal of the President from office, that the two Houses in joint convention shall elect to fill the vacancy, each Senator and Representative having one vote. Its adoption will relieve the people of the despotism of party caucuses and party conventions, and thereafter commit the election of President to a direct vote of the people by ballot. The Clerk will please read. The Clerk read as follows: Joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States.* RESOLVED BY THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED (two thirds of both Houses concurring), That the following be proposed as an amendment to said Constitution, which, when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as part of said Constitution, to wit: Amend section three of article one, by striking out clauses four and five, which read: "The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided. "The Senate shall choose their other officers and also a President PRO TEMPORE, in the absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall exercise the office of President of the United States." And insert the following: "The Senate shall choose their own presiding and other officers." In article two, section four, strike out the words "VicePresident." Amend section one, article two, by striking out the words "together with the Vice-President chosen for the same term;" so that it will read: The executive power shall be vested in the President of the United States of America; he shall hold his office during the term of four years, and be elected as follows. *Senator Sumner, of Massachusetts, presented this proposed amendment to the Senate, on the 6th of May, 1872, with two or three verbal changes. 1 1 In lieu of clauses two, three, four and six of article two and of article twelve of the amendments insert the following: The qualified electors shall meet at the usual places of holding elections in their respective States on the first Monday in April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, and on the first Monday in April every four years thereafter, under such rules and regulations as the Congress may by law prescribe, and vote by ballot for a citizen qualified under this Constitution to be President of the United States, and the result of such election in each State shall be certified, sealed, and forwarded to the seat of government of the United States in such manner as the Congress may by law direct. The Congress shall be in session on the third Monday in May after such election, and on the Tuesday next succeeding the third Monday in May, if a quorum of each House shall be present, and if not, immediately on the assemblage of such quorum, the Senators and members of the House of Representatives shall meet in the Representative Chamber in joint convention, and the President of the Senate, in presence of the Senators and Representatives thus assembled, shall open all the returns of said election and declare the result. The person having the greatest number of votes for President shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of votes cast; if no person have such majority, or if the person having such majority decline the office or die before the counting of the vote, then the President of the Senate shall so proclaim; whereupon the joint convention shall order the proceedings to be officially published, stating particularly the number of votes given for each person for President. Another election shall thereupon take place on the second Tuesday of October next succeeding, at which election the duly qualified electors shall again meet at the usual places of holding elections in their respective States and vote for one of the persons then living having the highest number of votes, not exceeding five on the list voted for as President at the preceding election in April, and the result of such election in each State shall be certified, sealed, and forwarded to the seat of the government of the United States as provided by law. On the third Tuesday in December after such second election, or as soon thereafter as a quorum of each House shall be present, the Senators and members of the House of Representatives shall again meet in joint convention, and the President of the Senate, in presence of the Senators and Representatives thus assembled, shall open all the returns of said election and declare the person having the |