Justices of the Supreme Court. SAMUEL F. MILLER, Iowa. Senators. GEORGE F. EDMUNDS, Vt. OLIVER P. MORTON, Ind. Representatives. JAMES A. GARFIELD, Ohio. On the 31st of January the Commission met and adopted the following rules; RULES OF THE COMMISSION. RULE I. The Committee shall appoint a Secretary, two Assistant Secretaries, a Marshal, and two Deputy Marshals, a Stenographer, and such messengers as shall be needful; to hold during the pleasure of the Commission. RULE II. On any subject submitted to the Commission, a hearing shall be had and counsel shall be allowed to conduct the case on each side. RULE III. Counsel, not exceeding two in number on each side, will be heard by the Commission, on the merits of any case presented to it, not longer than two hours being allowed to each side, unless a longer time and additional counsel shall be specially authorized by the Commission. In the hearing of interlocuting questions, but one counsel shall be heard on each side, and he not longer than fifteen minutes, unless the Commission allow further time and additional counsel; and printed arguments will be received. RULE IV. The objectors to any certificate or vote, may select two of their number to support their objections in oral argument, and to advocate the validity of any certificate or vote, the validity of which they maintain; and in like manner the objectors to any other certificate may select two of their number for a like pose; but, under this rule, not more than four persons shall speak, and neither side shall occupy more than two hours. pur RULE V. Applications for process to compel the attendance of witnesses, or the production of written documentary testimony may be made by counsel on either side, and all process shall be served and executed by the Marshal of the Commission or his deputies. Depositions hereafter taken for use before the Commission shall be sufficiently authenticated if taken before any Commissioner of the Circuit Courts of the United States, or any clerk or deputy clerk of the United States. RULE VI. Admission to the public sittings of the Commission shall be regulated in such manner as the President of the Commission shall direct. RULE VII. The Commission will sit, unless otherwise ordered, in the room of the Supreme Court of the United States, and with open doors (excepting when in consultation), unless otherwise directed. WASHINGTON, D. C., January 31, 1877. The first case requiring the action of the Commission was that of the electoral vote of Florida. There were three certificates presented to the President of the Senate, two of them certifying-though on different grounds-to the election of the Hayes Electors; one of them having been issued by order of the Supreme Court of Florida some weeks after the meeting of the Electoral College, on account of an alleged defect in the count, and the third certifying to the election of the Tilden Electors, but not signed by the requisite authority. There was also a further question regarding the eligibility of F. C. Humphreys, one of the Hayes Electors, who, it was alleged, was a U. S. Shipping Commissioner when chosen an Elector. After a long and able argument on each side, the Commission voted Feb. 9-eight in the affirmative and seven in the negative-" That the four Hayes Electors were duly appointed, and that the votes cast by them are the votes provided for by the Constitution of the United States; that neither the second or the third certificates pre sented were the certificates of votes prescribed by the Constitution, and that the evidence did not show that F. C. Humphreys held the office of a Shipping Com missioner of the U. S. at the time of his election." This decision having been reported to Congress, it was sustained by the Senate: yeas, 44; nays, 24; not voting, 7; and rejected by the House: yeas, 168; nays, 103; not voting, 19; and, according to the Act, was counted, Feb. 10. The Louisiana case was reached and laid before the Commission Feb. 13, where it was debated till Feb. 16, when the Commission decided, by a vote of eight to seven, that the eight Hayes Electors were the lawful electors of the State of Louisiana, and their votes the votes provided by the Constitution of the United States, and should be counted for President and Vice-President. This decision, like that in the Florida case, rested on the basis that the Electoral Commission did not possess any more or greater power than the Congress which had created it, and, therefore, had no power to go behind the legally-authorized report of the Returning Board, Board of Canvassers, or other authority prescribed by the State for this purpose. This decision was reported to Congress on the 16th of February, but was not acted upon until the 19th, when the Senate sustained the decision of the Commission by 41 yeas; nays, 28; not voting, 6. The House rejected it by-yeas, 173; nays, 99; not voting, 18; and the vote was counted Feb. 20. Objection was made to one of the Electors in the Michigan, and one in the Nevada, certificate; but as there was but one certificate in each case, and the objections were evidently invalid, they were not referred to the Commission. The Oregon case was reached Feb. 21, and referred to the Commission, which re assembled Feb. 22. The arguments on both sides were heard, and on Feb. 23 the Commission decided "That W. H. Odell, John C. Cartwright and John W. Watts, the persons named as Electors in certificate No. 1, were the lawful Electors of the State of Oregon, and that their votes are the votes provided for by the Constitution of the United States, and should be counted for. President and Vice-President of the United States." This decision passed by the usual vote of eight yeas and seven nays. The fact of the election of three Hayes Electors in Oregon was not in dispute, but it was claimed that one of theso, J. W. Watts, was a postmaster at the time of his election, and so ineligible; and Gov. Grover had assumed to throw out his name and give the certificate to Messrs. Odell, Cartwright, and E. A. Cronin, who had been Mr. Watts' competitor, but had fallen 1,000 votes short of an election. Thus, while the Secretary of State (the canvassing authority of the State) had certified to the election of Messrs. Odell, Cartwright and Watts, Gov. Grover had certified to the election of Messrs. Odell, Cartwright and Cronin. Mr. Cronin, failing to persuade Messrs. Odell and Cartwright to act with him, had resolved himself into an Electoral College, and had chosen two men who had not been voted for at all, as Electors, and sent-or rather brought in-a third certificate, declaring E. A. Cronin, J. N. T. Miller and John Parker the duly appointed Electors. This certificate was rejected, as was Cronin's appointment, by the entire Commission. the 24th of February the Senate sustained the decision of the Commission byyeas, 40; nays, 24; and 11 did not vote. The House rejected it by yeas, 151; nays, 106; not voting, 33. On the 26th of Feb, objection was made to Electors in the Pennsylvania and Rhode Island Collèges; but as there were only single certifi cates in each case, they were not referred to the Commission, On The case of South Carolina was reached Feb, 26, and Hon. A. G. Thurman having withdrawn on account of illness from the Commission, Hon, Francis Kernan, of N. Y., was chosen in his place The case of South Carolina differed from those which had preceded it in some important particulars. Although there were two certificates, it was not seriously contended that the Hayes Electors had not received a majority of votes, but it was urged that, owing to the failure of the Legislature to provide a system of registration, and to the disorders, irregularities and frauds attending the Presidential election, that election should be declared void, and that the State, being at that time under duress from the United States troops stationed there, was incapable of holding a valid election. The Commission, after hearing the arguments, decided unanimously that the Tilden Electoral ticket should be rejected, and, by a vote of eight to seven, that the Hayes Electors were lawful Electors for the State of South Carolina, and that the State was entitled to have her vote counted. The Senate the same day sustained the action of the Commission by—yeas, 39; nays, 22; not voting, 14; and the House rejected it by— yeas, 190; nays, 72; not voting, 28. To the vote was counted. Objection was made to Electors on the certificates of Vermont and Wisconsin, but these did not come within the provisions of the Commission. On the morning of March 2, the completion of the count of Electors was reached, and at 4:10A. M., of that day, Mr, Allison, one of the Tellers on the part of the Senate, announced the result of the footings as 185 votes for the Republican candidates, and 184 votes for the Democratic candidates, whereupon his Honor Thomas W. Ferry, President of the Senate, declared RUTHERFORD B. HAYES, of Ohio, the duly elected President, and WILLIAM A. WHEELER, of New York, the duly elected Vice-President of the United States for the term of four years, commencing on the 4th of March, 1877. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. WHEN, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the POWERS OF THE EARTH the separate and equal station to which the LAWS OF NATURE and of NATURE'S GOD entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of MANKIND requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created EQUAL; that they are endowed by their CREATOR with certain Unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed: That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the RIGHT of the PEOPLE to alter or abolish it, and to institute NEW GOVERNMENT, laying its foundation on sUCH PRINCIPLES, and organizing its powers in SUCH FORM as to them shall seem most likely to effect their SAFETY AND HAPPINESS. Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of ABUSES and USURPATIONS, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute DESPOTISM, it is their RIGHT, it is their DUTY, to throw off SUCH GOVERNMENT, and to provide new guards for their future SECURITY. Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of Government. The history of the present king of GREAT BRITAIN is a history of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let FACTS be submitted to a candid world. He has refused his assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accomodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature; a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representa tive Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the Rights of the People. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the State remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws of Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pasa others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands. He has obstructed the administration of Justice, by refusing his assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers. He has made Judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our Legisla Jares. He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the Civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of Pretended Legislation:-For quartering large bodies of Armed Troops among us:-For protecting them by a Mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States:-For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:-For imposing Taxes on us without our consent: -For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of TRIAL BY JURY:-For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended Offences:-For abolishing the free system of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary Government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:-For taking away our CHARTERS, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our Governments:-For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his protection, and waging war against us. He has plundered our Seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the lives of our People. He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most BARBAROUS AGES, and totally unworthy the head of a CIVILIZED NATION. He has constrained our fellow-citizens taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. He has excited Domestic Insurrection among us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare is, an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. In every stage of these OPPRESSIONS, we have Petitioned for REDRESS in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a TYRANT, is unfit to be the ruler of a FREE PEOPLE. Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow their usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our SEPARATION, and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in War-in Peace, Friends. We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by authority of the good people of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that as FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES they have full power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this DECLARATION, with a firm reliance on the protection of DIVINE PROVIDENCE, we mutually pledge to each other our LIVES, our FORTUNES, and our sacred ΠΟΝΟΣ, 70 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. WE, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America: ARTICLE I.-Congress. SECTION L-Legislative Powers. 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. SECTION II.-House of Representatives. 1. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several States, and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature. Qualifications of Members.-Apportionment. 2. No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen. 3. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each State shall have at least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania Bight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three. 4. When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies. |