shall be entitled to choose three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three."3 The second section of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution alters this provision as follows: "Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State." This provision for the reduction of representation has never been enforced although there have been many instances where other requirements than those of being a male citizen twenty-one years of age have been placed upon voters.* The Constitution left the qualification for voters for representatives to Congress entirely in the hands United States Constitution, Arti cle I, Section 2, Clause 3. These restrictions have not been confined to the Southern States; Rohde Island until recently had a property qualification for voting, and Massachusetts still has an educational test. 995 of the States; "the electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature.' A penalty for restricting the suffrage was imposed by the fourteenth amendment as above stated and the fifteenth went one step further, and provided that: "the right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Subject to these restrictions, each State indirectly has the power to fix the qualifications of those entitled to vote for Congressmen in that State; a State, for example, could establish educational tests as a requisite for voting, as is the case in Massachusetts; a property qualification, as recently existed in Rhode Island; or could grant the suffrage to women, as has been done in Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming and Utah. "When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the Executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies." A representative in Congress must be at least twenty-five years of age, have been for seven years a citizen of the United States, and be an inhabitant of the State in which he is chosen." The House of Representatives choose their Speaker and other officers.8 SECTION 22. THE SENATE. The Senate consists of two Senators from each State, chosen by the legislature thereof, for the period • United States Constitution, Arti cle I, Section 2, Clause 1. • United States Constitution, Article I, Section 2, Clause 4. United States Constitution, Article I, Section 2, Clause 2. • United States Constitution, Article I, Section 2, Clause 5. of six years, and each Senator has one vote. A Senator must be at least thirty years of age.10 This has not been held to mean that he must be thirty at the time he is elected or even at the time his term of office begins. In case a person is elected to the office of Senator who is not yet thirty years of age, but who will reach the age before the expiration of the term for which he is elected, there will be a vacancy in the office until the Senator elect arrives at the age of thirty, when he may take his seat. This principle would apply in case of a person elected a Representative before reaching the age of twenty-five. A Senator must also be a resident of the State from which he is chosen, and must have been for nine years a citizen of the United States.11 It was also provided that immediately after the senators should have assembled in consequence of the first election, they should be divided as equally as possible into three classes. The term of the Senators of the first class expired at the end of two years, of the second, at the end of four years, and of the third, at the end of six years, so that thereafter one-third of the senators have been elected every two years. 12 The second clause of the third section of the first article, closes with an ambiguous provision which has since been the occasion of much controversy: "and if vacancies happen, by resignation, or otherwise, during the recess of the legislature of any state, the Executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the legislature, which shall then fill such vacancy." Under this clause, the question has arisen several times, whether when the legislature is in session when the vacancy occurs, and then • United States Constitution, Article I, Section 3, Clause 1. 10 United States Constitution, Article I, Section 3, Clause 3. 11 United States Constitution, Arti- adjourns without electing a senator, the Governor may fill the vacancy. The intention of the Constitutional Convention on this point can be readily seen by an examination of the first draft of the Constitution as reported to the Convention by the Committee on Detail on August 6th. In this draft, Article V, Section IV, read as follows: "The Senate of the United States shall be chosen by the legislature of the several States. Each legislature shall choose two members. Vacancies may be supplied by the Executive until the next meeting of the legislature. Each member shall have one vote." 13 Here is an unequivocal grant to the Executive of the several States of the right to fill vacancies in the Senate, no matter when occurring. This grant of power was never thereafter changed by the vote of the Convention, and never intentionally changed at all. The ambiguity arose from the language adopted by the Committee on Style, in their final draft of the Constitution. This was a finishing committee appointed by the Convention to correct the style and form of the Constitution, without any power to alter its substance. It is thus clear from the study of the history of the Constitutional Convention, that the executive authority of the State should have the power to fill a vacancy in the Senate, even when the same arises from the failure of the legislature to elect; the Senate, however, upon every occasion when the question has come before them, has refused to seat the member thus appointed. It must, therefore, be taken as a settled law, that the Governor of a State cannot fill a vacancy in the Senate which existed while the legislature was in session. "Madison's Journal of the Federal Convention, under date of August 6th. The Vice-President of the United States is President of the Senate, but has no vote except when the Senate is equally divided. The Senate chooses its other officers including a President pro tempore, who presides in the absence of the Vice-President, or when he exercises the office of President of the United States.14 The laws of the United States 15 provide that the legislature chosen next preceding the expiration of the term of office of any Senator shall elect a senator on the second Tuesday after its meeting and organization. In case of a vacancy, the election shall be held on the second Tuesday after the legislature shall be organized and have notice thereof.18 In either case, at least one ballot a day must be taken by the legislature, until the end of the session, unless the Senator be chosen sooner.17 SECTION 23. CONTROL OF CONGRESS OVER THE ELECTION OF ITS MEMBERS, AND RULES AND REGULATIONS OF EACH HOUSE. "The times, places, and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the legislature thereof, but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations except as to the places of choosing senators.' The exception as to the place of electing Senators is inserted because Senators are elected by the State legislatures which meet at the State Capitols. This power here granted to Congress has been little exercised except during the reconstruction period. The Constitution makes each house the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its members 14 United States Constitution, Article I, Section 3, Clause 5. 15 Rev. Stat. U. S., Section 14. 16 Rev. Stat. U. S., Section 17. 17 Rev. Stat. U. S.. Section 15. |