Can Missouri Vote for President?

Pandemonium in the House withvone member crying, “Missouri is not a State,” another shouting, “Missouri is a State.”

Continuing The Missouri Compromise,
our selection from The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 16 by James Albert Woodburm published in 1905. The selection is presented in ten easy 5 minute installments. For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Previously in The Missouri Compromise.

Time: 1820

This resolution was adopted only after considerable debate as to the status of Missouri. The Senate also agreed to this plan, but there was still much fear that it would not be successful in keeping the peace, and the fear was realized. The joint meeting of the two Houses on February 14th was one of turbulent excitement. It was frequently interrupted by simultaneous challenges of Missouri’s vote. When the vote of Missouri was announced Mr. Livermore, of New Hampshire, arose and said: “Mr. President and Mr. Speaker, I object to receiving any votes for President and Vice-President from Missouri, as Missouri is not a State of this Union.” This objection was numerously and clamorously seconded. Confusion and tumult followed, till “at last a Senator, with a voice above the wildness of the scene, moved that the Senate withdraw, which was immediately obeyed, and the House was left in sole possession of the field.” Disorder continued in the House after the Senate’s withdrawal, one member crying, “Missouri is not a State,” another shouting, “Missouri is a State.” An hour of wrangling followed. When order was restored, Mr. Floyd, of Virginia, arose and offered the following:

Resolved, That Missouri is one of the States of this Union, and her votes for President and Vice-President of the United States ought to be received and counted.”

Mr. Floyd said that he now considered the House brought to the brink of the precipice. “The votes of other States had been received and counted before their admission had been formally declared. The question of Missouri was now brought fairly to issue. Let us know whether Missouri be a State in the Union or not. If not, let us send her an ambassador, and treat for her admission. Sir, we cannot take another step without hurling this Government into the gulf of destruction. For one, I say I have gone as far as I can go in the way of compromise, and if there is to be a compromise beyond that point it must be at the edge of the sword.”

Mr. Archer, of Maryland, moved the indefinite postponement of Mr. Floyd’s resolution. He was a friend of Missouri, but he could not assert by his vote that she was a member of the Union without the acceptance of her constitution by Congress, as much as he “reprobated the foul combination for her rejection.”

John Randolph, of Virginia, considered that in this resolution Missouri had for the first time presented herself in visible and tangible shape. ” Now comes the question whether we will not merely repel her but repel her with scorn and contumely.” He would have had this question of Missouri at an earlier stage of the proceedings in this concrete shape, as, for instance, the right of her representatives to a seat on the floor. Missouri’s vote was now presented in her own person and Congress had no power to reject. Randolph here laid down the strange doctrine that the electoral college was as independent of Congress as Congress was of the college. The duty of the Houses in counting the vote was purely ministerial; it is to count the votes, not to reject; there was power to receive the return, but no power to pass judgment on the validity of the return. It must count the vote; but it had no power to determine what were votes. “This was the first instance in which Missouri had knocked at the door and demanded her rights. It is now for us to determine whether she shall now be one of our commonwealths. No doubt Congress may drive Missouri into the wilderness, like another son of Hagar, but if we do we drive her at our own peril.”

After this spirited and heated debate, in which Mr. Clay took a prominent part, the resolution of Mr. Floyd was laid on the table, and a message was sent to the Senate that the House was again ready to receive it for the purpose of counting the electoral vote. I quote from the Annals 0f Congress:

The Senate again appeared and took seats in the House as before. The President of the Senate, in the presence of both Houses, proceeded to open the certificates of the electors of the State of Missouri, which he delivered to the tellers, by whom they were read and who registered the same. And the votes of all the States having been thus counted, registered, and the list thereof compared, they were delivered to the president of the Senate, by whom they were read as already printed. The president of the Senate then, in pursuance of the resolution adopted by the two Houses, proceeded to announce the vote as follows:

‘Were the vote of Missouri to be counted, the result would be for James Monroe, of Virginia, for resident of the United States, 231 votes; if not counted, for James Monroe, of Virginia, 228 votes. For Daniel D. Tompkins, of New York, for Vice- President of the United States, 218 votes; if not counted, for Daniel D. Tompkins, of New York, for Vice-President, 215. But in either event, James Monroe, of Virginia, has a majority of the votes of the whole number of electors for President, and Daniel D. Tompkins, of New York, a majority of the whole number of electors for Vice-President of the United States.’

The President of the Senate had proceeded thus far, or nearly thus far, in the proclamation when Mr. Floyd, of Virginia, addressed the Chair and inquired whether the votes of Missouri were or were not counted. Cries of ‘Order! Order!’ were so loud as to drown Mr. Floyd’s voice. The president of the Senate had hesitated in the proclamation on Mr. Floyd’s ad dressing the Chair.”

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