How are the If no person has a majority of the whole number of electors, how is the President chosen? What is the procedure in choosing a President by the House of Representatives? If the House of Representatives, where the selection devolves upon them, does not choose a President before March 4th, who acts as President? How is the ARTICLE XII.*) The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President; and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit, sealed, to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate; the President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted; the person having the greatest number of votes for President shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each State having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President, whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the VicePresident shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President shall be the VicePresident, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of twothirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States †) *) This amendment was proposed to the Legislatures of the several States by the Eighth Congress in 1803, and declared adopted in 1804. †) The electors for each State meet and give their votes upon the second Monday in January next following their election, at such place in each State as the Legislature thereof directs. They send to the seat of government certificates of the votes given by them for President and Vice-President; and on the following second Wednesday in February the certificates are opened in Congress, the votes counted, and the persons elected to fill the offices of President and Vice-President declared. ARTICLE XIII.*) 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. 1. ARTICLE XIV.†) All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. 2.) 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. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of * This amendment was proposed to the Legislatures of the several States by the Thirty-eighth Congress in 1865, and declared adopted the same year. †This amendment was proposed to the Legislatures of the several States by the Thirty-ninth Congress in 1866, and declared adopted in 1868. At the present time (1901) the House of Representatives is composed of 357 members. Each organized Territory may elect a delegate to the House of Representatives, who has the right of debate, but cannot vote. [See note to art. 1, sec. 2, subd. 3, page 59] Is slavery allowed to exist in the United States? Who are citizens of the United States and of the States? Can any State by law abridge the rights of citizens? How are life, liberty or property protected? How are Representatives apportioned among the several States? Who are Can Congress remove such disability? The validity of what public. debts, authorized by law, incurred by the United States, shall not be questioned? What debts, obligations, and claims are declared to be illegal and void? Can the United State, deprive a race, color, or previous condition of servitude? Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave, but all such debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce by appropriate legislation the provisions of this article. ARTICLE XV.*) 1. The right of 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. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. *) This amendment was proposed to the Legislatures of the several States by the Fortieth Congress in 1869, and declared ratified in 1870. NEW YORK STATE GOVERNMENT. LEGISLATURE. The laws of the State of New York are made by the Legislature, composed of a Senate and Assembly, which begins its sessions every year on the first Wednesday of January at Albany, the capital of the State. The Senate consists of fifty members who are elected for two years. The Assembly consists of one hundred and fifty members who are elected for one year. Each member of the legislature receives an annual salary of $1,500. EXECUTIVE. The Governor is the chief executive officer of the State, and is elected by the people for two years. His salary is $10,000 a year, with the use of a furnished executive residence. The Lieutenant-Governor is the next highest officer, and is elected by the people at the same time and for the same term as the Governor. His salary is $5,000 a year. QUALIFICATIONS OF GOVERNOR AND LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR. No person is eligible to the office of Governor or LieutenantGovernor, except a citizen of the United States, of the age of not less than thirty years, and who shall have been five years, next preceding his election, a resident of the State. POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE GOVERNOR. The Governor is the Commander-in-Chief of the military and naval forces of the State. He has power to convene the Legislature, or the Senate only, on extraordinary occasions. At extraordinary sessions no subject can be acted upon except such as he may recommend for consideration. He is required to communicate by message to the Legislature at every session the condition Who makes there? Assemblymen? Who is the By whom Term of office. Who is the Who is eligible for Governor and LieutenantGovernor ? Who is Name some powers and duties of the Governor. If the Governor Who presides over the Senate? If during a vacancy in the office of Governor the LieutenantGovernor is impeached or displaced, who succeeds as Governor ? Describe generally how a bill becomes a law. of the State, and recommend such matters to them as he shall judge expedient. He is also required to transact all necessary business with the officers of government, civil and military, and expedite all such measures as may be resolved upon by the Legislature, and take care that the laws are faithfully executed. The Governor has power to grant reprieves, commutations and pardons after conviction, for all offenses except treason, and cases of impeachment. He must annually communicate to the Legislature each case of reprieve, commutation or pardon granted. WHEN LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR ACTS AS GOVERNOR. In case of the impeachment of the Governor, or his removal from office, death, inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, resignation or absence from the State, the powers and duties of the office devolve upon the Lieutenant-Governor for the residue of the term, or until the disability shall cease. The Lieutenant Governor is the president of the Senate, but has only a casting vote therein. GOVERNORSHIP SUCCESSION. If during a vacancy of the office of Governor, the LieutenantGovernor shall be impeached, displaced, resign, die or become incapable of performing the duties of his office, or be absent from the State, the president of the Senate shall act as Governor until the vacancy be filled or the disability shall cease; and if the president of the Senate, for any of the above causes, shall become incapable of performing the duties pertaining to the office of Governor, the Speaker of the Assembly shall act as Governor until the vacancy be filled, or the disability shall cease. APPROVAL AND VETO POWER OF THE GOVERNOR. Every bill which is passed by the Assembly and Senate must be presented to the Governor before it can become a law. If he approves the bill, he must sign it, but if not, he returns it to the House in which it originated, with his objections thereto. The bill may become a law notwithstanding the objections of the Governor, if both houses, after reconsidering it, pass it over his veto by a vote of two-thirds of the members elected for each House. If any bill is not returned by the Governor within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it has been presented to him, the same becomes a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Legislature, by adjourning, prevents its return, in which case the bill must have the Governor's approval before it becomes a |