Gradual encroachments by Congress on the authority of the President of the Senate lead to the present condition in which the votes are canvassed and passed upon by the Houses, they assuming the power to accept or to reject any returns, whereas had Congress passed sufficiently minute general laws relative to the authentification of the returns (as it has power to do), no such questions could ever have arisen, and the counting would have been a mere numerical operation. Electoral Vote. (See Presidential and Vice-Presidential Electoral Vote.) Electors. (See Electoral System.) Emancipation. The Constitution of Vermont, framed in 1777, abolished slavery, but Vermont did not become a State until 1791. Massachusetts abolished slavery in 1780, while acts of gradual emancipation were passed by Pennsylvania in 1780, New Hampshire in 1783, Rhode Island in 1784, Connecticut in 1784, New Jersey in 1804. New York did likewise in 1799, but afterward passed an absolute emancipation act, to take effect July 4, 1827. The remainder of the thirteen colonies allowed slavery, and in the case of new States the question was settled at the time of admission. During the Rebellion laws were successively passed, in 1862, forbidding the return by the army of fugitive slaves, abolishing slavery in the territories, and freeing the escaped slaves of persons in rebellion. In this year, too, slavery was abolished in the District of Columbia, the owners receiving compensation. Then came the Emancipation Proclamation, followed by the Thirteenth Amendment, and slavery was at an end in 1865. Emancipation Proclamation.- The Civil War was fought by the North to maintain the Union, not to free slaves. If proof of this were needed, it is furnished by the disavowal by President Lincoln of proclamations by Generals Fremont and Hunter, abolishing slavery in Missouri and South Carolina, respectively. Such steps as freeing the escaped slaves of rebellious owners were taken as war measures merely. On September 22, 1862, President Lincoln issued a proclamation giving notice to the inhabitants of the States in rebellion that, unless they returned to their allegiance by January 1, 1863, he would declare their slaves forever free. This was followed on January 1, 1863, by the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring free the slaves held in all these States, except in certain districts of Louisiana and Virginia then occupied by United States troops. It enjoined upon the freed slaves to abstain from violence, and offered to receive them into the military and naval services. The proclamation declared that it was issued as an act of military necessity" by the President as Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy. The act was heartily approved by the North, and rendered certain what had already become probable, namely, that slavery could not outlive the war. 66 Embargo.-An embargo is a prohibition by government authority of the departure of ships or merchandise from some or all of its ports. It may be issued as a measure of retaliation to deprive other nations of commodities, or as a war measure as a means of seizing hostile ships in port, or to secure secrecy for an important expedition, or to obtain ships for government use. When the embargo affects communication with one or certain specified nations only, it is termed nonintercourse. Embargo Act.-In May, 1806, Great Britain, which was at that time engaged in a bitter war with France, proclaimed a blockade of the territory bordering on the English Channel and the German Ocean from Brest to the Elbe. Napoleon retaliated in November by his Berlin Decree, declaring a blockade of English ports. A year later England issued her famous Orders in Council, prohibiting commerce with almost every country of Europe. The next month, December, 1807, Napoleon replied with the Milan Decree, forbidding commerce with England or her colonies. These and similar acts, although in violation of the laws of nations, were enforced by France and England so far as they were able, and many American vessels were seized. Moreover, Great Britain revived an old rule prohibiting neutral vessels from trading with the dependencies of any nation with whom she was at war. She also claimed and exercised the right of searching American vessels for those whom she claimed to be her subjects and impressing them into her service. In maintaining this position, the British man-of-war Leopard, in June, 1807, fired on the American frigate Chesapeake. It was in consequence of these events, although news of the Milan Decree had not yet been received, that Congress on December 22, 1807, passed an Embargo Act prohibiting exportations from the United States, hoping to force France and England to recede from their position by showing the importance of our commercial relations. It had some effect on these nations, but a far more ruinous result on our own commerce, the exports for 1808 shrinking to one-fifth of the sum they had reached in the preceding year. It was a measure of the Democratic party, and was approved by the agricultural portions of the United States. The New England States, deeply interested in foreign_commerce, and the Federalists loudly condemned it. Its opponents, spelling the name backward, called it the "O grab me" Act, and threats of secession were heard from New England. As a result, Congress fixed March 4, 1809, for the termination of the embargo. The first embargo in our history was laid in 1794 for a period of sixty days, and other minor acts of a similar nature were passed during the War of 1812. The plan of limiting commercial intercourse by embargo, non-importation and non-intercourse acts was called the "restrictive system. (See Non-importation; Non-intercourse.) Embassadors. (See Foreign Service.) وو Eminent Domain is the supreme right of property possessed by a State over the articles of private ownership. The right of eminent domain is the right to take private property for public uses. In the United States its justification is the common welfare, and the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution provides that just compensation must be made. The right is usually exercised in order to secure land for the construction of railroads, highways and canals. Endicott, William C., was born at Salem, Massachusetts, November 19, 1826. He was graduated from Harvard and was admitted to the bar. He is of the Democratic party. He was for a short time on the bench of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. Although several times nominated, he has never held elective office. President Cleveland, in March, 1885, appointed him to his Cabinet as Secretary of War. Enemies in War, in Peace, Friends.-These words occur in the Declaration of Independence, which was written by Thomas Jefferson: "We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them [the English], as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace, friends." Entangling Alliances.-Jefferson's inaugural address contained the following sentence: "Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none; the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against antirepublican tendencies; the preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet-anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; freedom of religion; freedom of the press; freedom of person under the protection of habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected—these principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation." Envoy Extraordinary. (See Foreign Service.) Equality of States. In the House of Representatives the members are apportioned according to the population of the States, those containing most inhabitants thus obtaining preponderance over the others. To prevent the subjugation and oppression of the smaller States by the larger, the device of a Senate containing two members from every State, regardless of size, was resorted to. That the importance of this provision, as a guarantee of the equality of the States in the Union, was recognized by the framers of the Constitution, is shown by Article 5 of that instrument, which declares that no State, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate." Equal Rights Party. This was the name of the New York faction of the Democratic party that subsequently became known as the Loco-foco party. (See Loco-foco.) In the presidential contest of 1884, Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood was the candidate of an Equal Rights Party (which see) advocating woman suffrage. She had practically no following. Her vote in the United States was less than 2,500 out of a total of over 10,000,000. Era of Good Feeling.-The period from 1817 to 1823 is so called. The Federal party was all but dead; name the administration had done its best to conciliate the minority, and the latter was so well satisfied that the of Federal-Republican was adopted by many to show their sympathy with the party in power. Monroe was reelected in 1821 and received all but one of the After the election of John Quincy electoral votes. Adams in 1825, the Democratic-Republican party gradnally split into two parts, from which the Democratic and Whig parties sprung. Essex Junto, The. In 1781 John Hancock apCounty, Massachusetts, and their followers. The commercial classes were naturally those that desired a strong representatives of that class and foremost among the advocates of the adoption of the Constitution. After the adoption they formed a part of the Federal party, federal and government, and these men were the ablest They thus incurred the opposition of John Adams, who Were more particularly adherents of Hamilton. attempted to make them appear as a "British faction" hostile to France. It was he, also, that revived the name name that had fallen into disuse. Subsequently the of New England, and the troubles in that section during |