A very interesting question, now happily almost forgotten,
came up at the December session of 1878, and was renewed at
the following March session of 1879.
In 1878 the Democrats had a majority in the House of Representatives,
while the Republicans had the Presidency and the Senate. In
March, 1879, there was a Democratic majority in the Senate
and in the House, but a Republican President. The Democratic
Party chafed exceedingly under the National laws for securing
the purity of elections and for securing impartial juries
in the courts of the United States. In the December session
of 1878, the House inserted a provision repealing these laws.
They insisted, in conference, on keeping in this provision,
and refused to consent to the passage of the Executive, Legislative
and Judicial Appropriation Bill, unless the Senate and the
President would yield to their demand. Mr. Beck of Kentucky,
one of the conferrees on the part of the Senate, representing
what was then the Democratic minority, but what became at
the March session the majority, stated the doctrine of the
House, as announced by their conferrees--adding that he agreed
with it--that unless the States should be allowed to conduct
their own elections in their own way, free from all Federal
interference, they would refuse under their Constitutional
right to make appropriations to carry on the Government.
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