MESSAGE.

Gentlemen of the Senate, and

Gentlemen of the House of Representatives,

I HAVE now an opportunity of transmitting to Congress, a report of the secretary of state, with a copy of an act of the legislature of the state of Kentucky, consenting to the ratification of the amendment of the constitution of the United States proposed by Congress, in their resolution of the second day of December, 1793, relative to the suability of states. This amendment, having been adopted by three-fourths of the several states, may now be declared to be a part of the constitution of the United States.

Ar the first session of the eighth Congress, the following amendment was proposed by Congress, to the state legislatures.

EIGHTH CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. At the first session, begun and held at the city of Washington, in the territory of Columbia, on Monday, the seventeenth of October, one thousand eight hundred and three.

RESOLVED by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two thirds of both houses concurring, That in lieu of the third paragraph of the first section of the second article of the constitution of the United States, the following be proposed as an amendment to the constitution of the United States, which, when rati

fied by three-fourths of the legislatures of the several states, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said constitution, to wit:

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 dis, tinct 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 lists 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 vice president 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 vice president, 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 two-thirds 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.

JOHN BECKLEY, Clerk to the House of
Representatives of the United States.

SAM. A. OTIS, Secretary to the Senate
of the United States.

Ar the same session, an act passed, of which the following is the first section.

An act supplementary to the act, entitled "An act rela

"tive to the election of a President and Vice Presi"dent of the United States, and declaring the offi"cer who shall act as President, in case of vacancies "in the offices both of President and Vice Presi*"dent."

Be it enacted, by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That whenever the amendment pro

posed during the present session of Congress, to the constitution of the United States, respecting the manner of voting for president and vice president of the United States, shall have been ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states, the secretary of state shall forthwith cause a notification thereof to be made to the executive of every state, and shall also cause the same to be published, in at least one of the newspapers printed in each state, in which the laws of the United States are annually published. The executive authority of each state shall cause a transcript of the said notification to be delivered to the electors appointed for that purpose, who shall first thereafter meet in such state, for the election of a president and vice president of the United States: and whenever the said electors shall have received the said transcript of notification, or whenever they shall meet more than five days subsequent to the publication of the ratification of the above mentioned amendment, in one of the newspapers of the state, by the secretary of state, they shall vote for president and vice president of the United States, respectively, in the manner directed by the above mentioned amendment; and having made and signed three certificates of all the votes given by them, each of which certificates shall contain two distinct lists, one, of the votes given for president, and the other, of the votes given for vice president, they shall seal up the said, certificates, certifying on each, that lists of all the votes of such state given for president, and of all the votes given for vice president, is contained therein, and shall cause the said certificates to be transmitted and disposed of, and in every other respect act in conformity

with the provisions of the act to which this is a supplement. And every other provision of the act to which this is a supplement, and which is not virtually repealed by this act, shall extend and apply to every election of a president and vice president of the United States, made in conformity to the above mentioned amendment to the constitution of the United States.

AND on the 25th of September, 1804, the following notice, in pursuance of the above provision, was issued from the department of state.

BY JAMES MADISON, SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE UNITED STATES.

PUBLICK notice is hereby given, in pursuance of the act of Congress passed on the 26th March last, entitled "An act supplementary to the act entitled "An act relative to the election of a president and vice "president of the United States, and declaring the "officer who shall act as president, in case of vacan"cies in the offices both of president and vice presi"dent"-That the amendment proposed, during the last session of Congress, to the constitution of the United States, respecting the manner of voting for president and vice president of the United States, has been ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states, to wit: by those of Vermont, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, and has thereby become valid as part of the constitution of the United States.

Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this twenty-fifth day of September, 1804. JAMES MADISON.

(Signed)