SPEECH IN THE SENATE, ON A RESOLUTION DECLARING THE CONSTITUTIONAL
QUORUM, JULY 12, 1862.
According to long-continued usage, a quorum of the Senate was a
majority of the whole number of Senators, assuming each State
represented by two Senators. After the withdrawal of the Rebel
Senators, business was often embarrassed from the failure of
what was supposed to be the constitutional quorum. To remove
this difficulty, Mr. Sherman, April 11th, introduced the
following:--
“_Resolved_, That a majority of the Senators duly elected
and entitled to seats in this body is a constitutional
quorum.”