WASHINGTON, _January 23, 1868_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I have received the following preamble and resolution, adopted by the
Senate on the 8th instant:
Whereas Senate bill No. 141, and entitled "An act for the further
security of equal rights in the District of Columbia," having at this
present session passed both Houses of Congress, was afterwards, on the
11th day of December, 1867, duly presented to the President of the
United States for his approval and signature; and
Whereas more than ten days, exclusive of Sundays, have since elapsed in
this session without said bill having been returned, either approved or
disapproved: Therefore,
_Resolved_, That the President of the United States be requested to
inform the Senate whether said bill has been delivered to and received
by the Secretary of State, as provided by the second section of the act
of the 27th day of July, 1789.
As the act which the resolution mentions has no relevancy to the subject
under inquiry, it is presumed that it was the intention of the Senate to
refer to the law of the 15th September, 1789, the second section of
which prescribes--
That whenever a bill, order, resolution, or vote of the Senate and
House of Representatives, having been approved and signed by the
President of the United States, or not having been returned by him with
his objections, shall become a law or take effect, it shall forthwith
thereafter be received by the said Secretary from the President; and
whenever a bill, order, resolution, or vote shall be returned by the
President with his objections, and shall, on being reconsidered, be
agreed to be passed, and be approved by two-thirds of both Houses of
Congress, and thereby become a law or take effect, it shall in such
case be received by the said Secretary from the President of the Senate
or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, in whichsoever House it
shall last have been so approved.
Inasmuch as the bill "for the further security of equal rights in the
District of Columbia" has not become a law in either of the modes
designated in the section above quoted, it has not been delivered to
the Secretary of State for record and promulgation. The Constitution
expressly declares that--
If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days
(Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the
same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless
the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case
it shall not be a law.
As stated in the preamble to the resolution, the bill to which it refers
was presented for my approval on the 11th day of December, 1867. On the
20th of same month, and before the expiration of the ten days after the
presentation of the bill to the President, the two Houses, in accordance
with a concurrent resolution adopted on the 3d [13th] of December,
adjourned until the 6th of January, 1868. Congress by their adjournment
thus prevented the return of the bill within the time prescribed by the
Constitution, and it was therefore left in the precise condition in
which that instrument positively declares a bill "shall not be a law."
If the adjournment in December did not cause the failure of this bill,
because not such an adjournment as is contemplated by the Constitution
in the clause which I have cited, it must follow that such was the
nature of the adjournments during the past year, on the 30th day of
March until the first Wednesday of July and from the 20th of July until
the 21st of November. Other bills will therefore be affected by the
decision which may be rendered in this case, among them one having the
same title as that named in the resolution, and containing similar
provisions, which, passed by both Houses in the month of July last,
failed to become a law by reason of the adjournment of Congress before
ten days for its consideration had been allowed the Executive.