Again: "It is certainly true, that the State Leg-
islatures, by forbearing the appointment of Sen-
ators, may destroy the National Government.
But it will not follow, that because they have
the power to do this in one instance, they ought
to have it in every other," He here concedes the
power of the States to a greater extent than I
have been suggesting it might exist under the
Constitution of the United States, I humbly sub-
mit, whether the authority of the gentleman
from Anne Arundel, (Mr. Randall,) does not
exclude the conclusion at which he wished to
arrive.
But if we will go on and examine, we shall
find what has been the. practice under the pro-
visions of the Constitution. I am not express-
ing any opinion against the array of legal and
constitutional knowledge of the distinguished
gentlemen who have spoken on the other side.
But, sir, we will go on and Bee what has been
the practice under this provision of the Consti-
tution of the United States, bearing in mind that
it is identical with the language when speaking
of the representative branch of the Govern-
ment—as the Senate—totidem verbis—except as
to the place of choosing Senators and the addi-
tion as to the age of five years, and two years
additional citizenship more than is required for
a Representative.
What, sir, has been the practice in Mary-
land? and not only in Maryland, but in every
State of the Union? For the purpose of conve-
nience—for the purpose of having the different
interests in the State represented in the national
councils, districts have been erected in this
State, and members of Congress have been
elected from the different localities—for what
purpose? Why, to give a. representation in the
Congress of the United States of the wishes,
views and feelings of the people in a particular
locality. Well, no one has contended that un-
der this provision of the Constitution they had
not the power to do it. And some of the States
have gone further in the exercise of the power
given under the Constitution, and said that Con-
gress had no right to establish this district sys-
tem—to district a State for members of Con-
gress, and some of the States had gone so far
as to make —
Mr. HOWARD. Now let me call the attention
of the gentleman to a, nice turn of this question.
I will ask leave to recall a fact to his memory.
Congress did not exercise that reserved right;
if they had, there would have been no dispute
about the matter. Those three States never
contested the right of Congress to district a
State. But the complaint was, that Congress
had ordered a State to do it. They all agreed
that if a State had been parceled out into dis-
tricts, under the power granted in the Consti-
tution of the United States, no one could say
aught against it. But the objection was, that
Congress had directed the States to divide them-
selves into districts. Three States who elected
by general ticket refused to change this mode,
and continued to send members to the House of
Representatives elected by general ticket; and
when the question was presented there, it was |
passed over in silence, and was given up on the
other side. The point upon which this acqui-
escence rested was, that Congress was not to
direct a State to do that which it could do of
itself. That, I think, was the exact point.
Mr. BLAKISTONE. They meant very much
the same thing so far as the purposes of my ar-
gument are concerned. I was going on to show
what. had been the practice of the different
States under the provisions of the Constitution.,
which gives to each State the power of fixing
the time, the place and the manner of electing
Senators and Representatives. From the earliest
commencement of the Government until
within a few years since, Congress never exer-
cised the power on the subject. Some of the
States had elected by general ticket—the whole
State voting for the number of members to rep-
resent it, in other portions of the country the
district system had been established; and we
preferred that system in Maryland. This is the
first time I have ever heard—indeed I never
heard it contended that the several States of
this Union had not the power to lay off districts
with a view to the public convenience and with
a view to give a fair representation in Congress.
Now, suppose a case. Suppose that when you,
Mr. President, were our candidate from the
first Congressional district, and suppose your
competitor, one of my most distinguished con-
stituents, had been voted for by the people liv-
ing without the district, and by consequence of
which he had received a very large majority
over and above the choice of the district, would
any body undertake to tell me he would have
been the representative in Congress from that
district, and Congress would have recognized
his right? Why not? The constitutional pro-
vision says that he must have attained the age
of twenty-five years—that he must have been a
citizen of the United States for seven years, and
be an inhabitant of the State at the time of his
election, of which he proposes to be the repre-
sentative in Congress, He most surely pos-
sessed all these qualifications, but we interposed
legislative provision in Maryland, requiring the
districting of the State, and say also that within
that particular district the qualified voters shall
select some one to represent them in the Con-
gress of the United States. I never heard it
intimated—I never heard it breathed that a man
was not constitutionally elected because we had
elected him in a district. Then, I say, apply
the principle with regard to the Senate, and
why have we not the power?
I am opposed to the districting principle in re-
gard to this matter, as proposed by the gentleman
from Prince George's, (Mr. Bowie,) to divide the
State into six districts. But, I say, apply the principle
—why have we not. the power so to district
the State for Senators in the Congress of the
United States, so as to say that one shall betaken
from Baltimore, if you choose, with a view to rep-
resent the commercial interests of Maryland; and
the other from the agricultural portion of the
State, with a view to represent that interest.
Have we any power? Why not? I cannot, for
my life, perceive by the language of the Constitu- |
