Wednesday, May 10..... Thursday, April 22. COURT OF IMPEACHMENT. The Senate has sat as a Court of Impeachment in the cases of the following accused officials, with the result stated and for the periods named: WILLIAM BLOUNT, a Senator of the United States from Georgia; charges dismissed for want of jurisdiction; Monday, December 17, 1798, to Monday, January 14, 1799. JOHN PICKERING, Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire; removed from office; Thursday, March 3, 1803, to Monday, March 12, 1804. SAMUEL CHASE, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; acquitted; Friday, November 30, 1804, to March 1, 1805. JAMES H. PECK, Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Missouri; acquitted; Monday, April 26, 1830, to Monday, January 31, 1831. WEST H. HUMPHREYS, Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle, Eastern, and Western Districts of Tennessee; removed from office; Wednesday, May 7, 1862, to Thursday, June 26, 1862. ANDREW JOHNSON, President of the United States; acquitted; Tuesday, February 25, 1868, to Tuesday, May 26, 1868. WILLIAM W. BELKNAP, Secretary of War; acquitted; Friday, March 3, 1876, to Tuesday, August 1, 1876. CHARLES SWAYNE, Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida; acquitted; Wednesday, December 14, 1904, to Monday, February 27, 1905. MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Whatever may have been the indecision of the members of the Constitutional Convention as to the powers and duties to be ascribed to other portions of the governmental machinery they were constructing, there is no reason to suppose that there was any doubt among them as to the powers and prerogatives of the members of the lower House of the legislative body of the new nation. Many, if not most of the delegates, had been members of the Continental Congress and of the legislative body of the short lived Confederation and the members of the Constitutional Convention could well anticipate that they would themselves constitute the bulk of the lower House of the Congress for which they were to provide. The theory upon which the Revolution had been fought was that of the establishment of a government by a representative body. It was the legitimate outcome of the Anglo-Saxon idea represented successively by the primitive folk-mete, the English Parliament, the Colonial town meeting, and the general courts of the governments which had been self-erected by the independent colonies. There was some question and discussion of the powers which the States might confer upon the general assembly, but no question as to the nature of the national assembly itself. As the earlier representative bodies had been composed of delegates from the great body of the people themselves, there was no other provision to be made but that the popular branch of the government should be similarly chosen. The first provision with relation to a member of the House of Representatives of the United States, is that he shall be chosen by electors having the same qualifications as the electors who choose the most numerous branch of the State Legislature. In this provision, bringing the House of Representatives into the closest touch with a people choosing its own government, there is warrant in ranking the member of the House of Representatives as second only to the President in importance in the list of the officers of the Federal organization. While by courtesy divers other officers are given higher rank, the power and importance of the member of the House of Representatives is superior to that of any other official except the Executive, and in some respects it is co-equal with that of the President himself. A member of the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States must have attained to the age of twenty-five years and have been a citizen of the United States for seven years. He must be an inhabitant of the State in which he is chosen, but need not necessarily be a resident of the particular Congressional district he represents, although it is usual to restrict the selection of Representatives to the actual inhabitants of the respective districts. In the original Constitution citizenship of the United States was not considered in the qualifications of the electors of Representatives. There is, however, in the 14th amendment of the Constitution, ratified in 1868, a provision penalizing such States as shall deny the right to vote for Representatives in Congress to citizens of the United States. A reduction in the basis of representation in the House of Representatives, equal to the proportionate number of citizens of the United States so denied the right to vote is provided for, but, it may be added, this provision is not enforced. The basis. of representation, fixing the number of members of the House of Representatives is one Representative for every thirty thou sand, but each State is to have at least one Representative. The whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed, is to be counted in making up the result on this basis. of representation, unless the penalizing clause above stated becomes effective. A census is required by the Constitution to be taken every ten years, and the apportionments under the decennial censuses have been as follows: Where but a single Representative falls to a State, such Representative is elected from the State at large. Where there is more than one Representative the State is divided into Representative districts by action of the State Legislature, and it sometimes occurs that one or more Congressmen at large are elected by the entire body of State electors in States having more than one Representative, this action being due to the failure of the legislature to divide the State into the requisite number of Representative districts. It is generally the purpose of the majority of a State Legislature in creating Representative districts, to afford as far as possible within the limits of public policy, the advantage to the political party dominant in the State at the time of the adjustment of district limits. An excessive distortion of district lines so as to procure political advantage, is called a gerrymander, a term originating in the construction of a Congressional district in Massachusetts, which when mapped out, had the general outlines of a salamander. The name of Elbridge Gerry, who was supposed to have been the moving spirit in the arrangement, was combined with the name of the fabled animal to coin the now celebrated political cognomen. Vacancies occurring in the representation in any State are filled by a special election, and no person has any appointive power with regard to a member of the House of Representatives. The members of the House choose the Speaker and other officers of the House by ballot. The sole power of impeachment lies in the members of the House of Representatives. The President, Vice-President, and all civil officers of the United States may be removed upon impeachment. Treason and bribery are specifically named as ground for impeachment, and other high crimes and misdemeanors are left to definition by the impeaching power. Upon the presentation of charges forming ground for impeachment, the subject is referred to a Committee of the House, and upon a report of the Committee favoring impeachment, the matter is considered by the whole House, which decides upon the manner in which the managers of the impeachment shall be selected. Proceedings having been decided upon, the whole House proceeds in theory |