9

the report, as if made upon the so-called Confederate States
only, and as a punishment to them, it is in fact made upon
every State in the Union. If ratified by the requisite num-
ber of States, it is to be equally obligatory upon all. Second-
ly, that while its practical operation would diminish very ma-
terially the representation of these States in the House of
Representatives, unless they conferred suffrage upon the col-
ored race, Maiyland and other States, which stood faithfully
by the Government, and met every requisition of the war, are
placed in the same category with the so-called "rebel States,"
and subjected to the same punishment.

Let us now consider the questions involved in the ratifica-
tion of the proposed amendment as presented to the Legisla-
ture of Maryland. And first, has this amendment been pro-
posed in accordance with the requirements of the Constitution
of the United States ?

This is a question of the utmost gravity and importance.
It is not only the right, but the duty of the Legislature to
consider it. The Constitution provides that "the Congress,
whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary,
propose amendments to this Constitution." The joint resolu-
tion says, "Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Repre-
sentatives of the United States of America, in Congress as-
sembled, (two-thirds of both houses concurring,) that the fol-
lowing Article be proposed to the Legislatures of the several
States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United
States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of said Legisla-
tures, shall be valid as part of the Constitution."

The question is, did two-thirds of both houses of the Con-
gress, within the true intent and meaning of the Constitution,
concur in this proposition? The Constitution says, "the
House of Representatives shall be composed of members cho-
sen every second year by the people of the several States; and
the electors in each State shall have the qualifications requi-
site for electors of the most numerous branch of the State
Legislature." "The Senate of the United States shall be
composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the
Legislature thereof," &c.

The Constitution proceeds upon the idea that the direct in-
terest of each State in the proceedings of Congress, will, at all
times, be a sufficient guarantee of its representation therein.
There was no thought of compulsory representation, and cer-
tainly none of forcible exclusion of the representatives of any
State, and least of all upon any such grounds as those con-
tained in the report.

A Congress, within the meaning of the Constitution, con-
sists of the Senators and Representatives of all the States com-
posing the United States, daly elected, returned and quali-
fied, who shall present themselves for the discharge of their,
duties in their respective houses. "A majority of each house
2