CHAPTER XIX.

COMPOSITION AND ORGANIZATION OF THE SENATE.

ARTICLE I.

Section 3, Clause 1.-The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote.

289. Number, Election, and Term of Senators.Every item of this clause was the subject of controversy in the Convention. When it had been settled that Congress should consist of two branches, and that representation should be equal in the Senate and proportional in the House, there remained the questions: How shall the Senators be chosen? For what term shall they serve? and, How shall they vote? Some said they should be elected by the House of Representatives; some, that the President should appoint them from a list of candidates named by the State Legislatures; some, that they should be elected by the people; while Mr. Hamilton proposed that they be elected by electors chosen by the people of the several States. The rule adopted was the one most consistent with the general character of the Constitution. Four years, six years, seven years, and life, or good behavior, were named as a suitable term. Six years combines both permanency in the Senate and responsibility in the Senator. An equal vote in the Senate is not the same thing as voting by States; the individual vote gives less prominence to the State idea. Nevada, with a population of 45.761, has the same number of Senators as New York, with 5,997,853. And the rule of the Constitution which makes this possible, is the most permanent part of that instrument. (See Art. V.)

Section 3, Clause 2.-Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes. The seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one-third may be chosen every second year; 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 vacancies.

290. Classes of Senators.-On May 15, 1789, the twenty Senators present from the ten States were divided in accordance with this rule. They were first put into three classes, care being taken not to have the two Senators from any State in the same class, and the time for which the classes should serve was then determined by lot. Class one, consisting of seven Senators, should retire in two years; class two, of the same number, in four years; class three, of six, in six years. It was ordered that when additional Senators took their seats, they should be placed by lot in these classes, but in such manner as to keep them as nearly equal in number as possible. Accordingly, the New York Senators were placed in classes three and one; the North Carolina Senators in two and three, and the Rhode Island Senators in one and two.

The years in which the classes retire may be thus exhibited :

The time that a Senator from a newly-admitted State serves depends on the date of the State's admission to the Union, and on the state of the classes at the time. He may serve six years, he may serve but a single day. California was admitted to the Union September 9, 1850. The California Senators fell into classes three and one, and John C. Fremont, who had drawn one (or the short term), served only until March 4, 1851.

291. The Senate a Permanent Body.—A House of Representatives continues two years, and an Executive administration four. But the Senate, like the Old Con

gress, is a perpetual body, and it is the custom to keep up a perfect organization. This fact gives the Senate dignity and adds strength to the Government. One reason for this was to show to the world that the American Government did not come to an end every two or four years. A Senator appointed by a Governor to fill a vacancy holds his seat until the Legislature elects a successor to the former incumbent, or, if it fails sooner to elect, to the end of the session of the Legislature following his appointment. If a Legislature fails to elect, having had an opportunity, the Governor cannot fill the vacancy.1

Section 3, Clause 3.-No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.

292. Senator's Qualifications. The remarks made concerning the qualifications of the Representative are of equal application to the Senator, only the greater diguity and responsibility of the Senator call for a greater age and a longer citizenship. Two men elected to the Senate have been declared disqualified by reason of an insufficient citizenship: Albert Gallatin, of Pennsylvania, in 1798, and James Shields, of Illinois, in 1849.

Section 3, Clause 4.—The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.

293.

Vice-President's Vote.-As the Vice-President is not a member of the Senate, he is not, like the Speaker of the House, entitled to a vote. His casting vote is of no avail unless given in favor of the pending measure; for every question is lost unless it receives a majority. In the early years of the Government, when the Senate was small and equally divided politically, the Vice-President's position was very important. John Adams had an "unusual

1 This point was definitely decided at the first regular session of the Fifty-third Congress, in the cases of Senators appointed under such circumstances by the Governors of Montana, Washington, and Wyoming.

number of opportunities to exercise personal power in important matters. Certainly no other Vice-President has had the like, and probably no officer of the United States has ever been able to do so much by positive acts of individual authority. No less than twenty times during the

life of the First Congress he voted for the Federalists."

Section 3, Clause 5.-The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall exercise the office of President of the United States. 294. Officers of the Senate.-The other officers are the Secretary, Chief Clerk, Executive Clerk, Sergeant-atarms, Door-keeper, and Chaplain. The custom is for the · Vice-President, as soon as convenient after he takes the oath of office, to absent himself from the chair for a day, or longer, in order that the Senate may elect a President pro tempore. This office is held at the pleasure of the Senate. As the President pro tempore is a member of the Senate, he has a vote on all questions. Accordingly, a tie vote when a Senator is in the chair is always lost.

NOTE. -Within the last few years, the proposition to have the Senators elected directly by the people has been received with much favor. The House of Representatives has twice voted by more than a two-thirds majority to submit to the State Legislatures the following as an amendment to the Constitution, but the Senate has not concurred:

"That in lieu of the first paragraph of section 3 of Article I. of the Constitution of the United States, and in lieu of so much of paragraph 2 of the same section as relates to the filling of vacancies, and in lieu of all of paragraph 1 of section 4 of said Article I., in so far as the same relates to any authority in Congress to make or alter regulations as to the times or manner of holding elections for Senators, the following be proposed as an amendment to the Constitution, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the States:

"The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, at large, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature.

"The times, places, and manner of holding elections for Senators shall be as prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof.

"When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the Executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the Legislature of any State may empower the Executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election, as the Legislature may direct.

"This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution."

1 Morse: John Adams, pp. 244, 249, 250.