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tion hereafter mentioned,) shall, within fifteen days after the passing of this act, and those who shall hereafter be appointed, shall, before they enter upon the duties of such appointment, take an oath or affirmation, before one of the justices of the Supreme Court, or one of the judges of a district court of the United States, to support the Constitution of the United States, and also an oath or affirmation, well and faithfully to execute the trust committed to him, which oaths or affirmations, subscribed by such clerk, and certified by the person administering the same, shall be filed in the office of the person employing such clerk.

Approved, 3 March, 1791.

5. 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 cases of vacancies in the offices both of President and Vice President.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That except in case of an election of a President and Vice President of the United States, prior to the ordinary period, as hereinafter specified, electors shall be appointed in each State for the election of a President and Vice President of the United States, within thirty-four days preceding the first Wednesday in December, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, and within thirty-four days preceding the first Wednesday in December in every fourth year succeeding the last election, which electors shall be equal to the number of Senators and Representatives to which the several States may, by law, be entitled at the time when the President and Vice President, thus to be chosen, should come into office. Provided always, That where no apportionment of Representatives shall have been made after any enumeration, at the time of choosing electors, then the number of electors shall be according to the existing apportionment of Senators and Representatives.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the electors shall meet and give their votes on the said first Wednesday in December, at such place, in each State, as shall be directed by the legislature thereof; and the elec tors in each State shall make and sign three certificates of all the votes by them given, and shall seal up the same, certifying, on each, that a list of the votes of such State, for President and Vice President, is contained therein, and shall, by writing, under their hands, or under the hands of a majority of them, appoint a person to take charge of, and deliver to the President of the Senate, at the seat of Government, before the first Wednesday in January then next ensuing, one of the said certificates;

and the said electors shall forthwith forward, by the post-office, to the President of the Senate, at the seat of Government, one other of the said certificates; and shall, forthwith, cause the other of the said certificates to be delivered to the judge of that district in which the said electors shall assemble.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the executive authority of each State shall cause three lists of the names of the electors of such State to be made, and certified, and to be delivered to the electors on or before the said first Wednesday in December; and the said electors shall annex one of the said lists to each of the lists of their votes.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That if a list of votes from any State shall not have been received at the seat of government, on the said first Wednesday in January, that then the Secretary of State shall send a special messenger to the district judge in whose custody such list shall have been lodged, who shall forthwith transmit the same to the seat of Government.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That Congress shall be in session on the second Wednesday in February, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three, and on the second Wednesday in February succeeding every meeting of the electors, and the said certificates, or so many of them as shall have been received, shall then be opened, the votes counted, and the persons who shall fill the offices of President and Vice President ascertained and declared, agreeably to the Constitution.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That, in case there shall be no President of the Senate at the seat of Government on the arrival of the persons intrusted with the lists of the votes of the electors, then such persons shall deliver the lists of votes in their custody into the office of the Secretary of State, to be safely kept and delivered over, as soon as may be, to the President of the Senate.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the persons appointed by the electors to deliver the lists of votes to the President of the Senate, shall be allowed, on the delivery of the said lists, twenty-five cents for every mile of the estimated distance, by the most usual road, from the place of meeting of the electors to the seat of Government of the United States.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That if any person, appointed to deliver the votes of the electors to the President of the Senate, shall, after accepting of his appointment, neglect to perform the services required of him by this act, he shall forfeit the sum of one thousand dollars.

SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That in case of a removal, death, resignation, or inability, both of the President and Vice President of the

United States, the President of the Senate pro tempore, and, in case there shall be no President of the Senate, then the Speaker of the House of Representatives, for the time being, shall act as President of the United States, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.

SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That whenever the offices of President and Vice President shall both become vacant, 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, specifying that electors of the President of the United States shall be appointed or chosen, in the several States, within thirty-four days preceding the first Wednesday in December, then next ensuing: Provided, There shall be the space of two months between the date of such notification and the said first Wednesday in December; but if there shall not be the space of two months between the date of such notification and the first Wednesday in December, and if the term for which the President and Vice President last in office were elected shall not expire on the third day of March next ensuing, then the Secretary of State shall specify in the notification, that the electors shall be appointed or chosen within thirtyfour days preceding the first Wednesday in December in the year next ensuing, within which time the electors shall accordingly be appointed or chosen, and the electors shall meet and give their votes on the said first Wednesday in December, and the proceedings and duties of the said electors, and others, shall be pursuant to the directions prescribed in this act.

SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That the only evidence of a refusal to accept, or of a resignation of, the office of President or Vice President, shall be an instrument in writing, declaring the same, and subscribed by the person refusing to accept, or resigning, as the case may be, and delivered into the office of the Secretary of State.

SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That the term of four years for which a President and Vice President shall be elected, shall, in all cases, commence on the fourth day of March next succeeding the day on which the votes of the electors shall have been given.

Approved, March 1, 1792.

6. AN ACT providing compensation to the President and Vice Presi dent of the United States.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the

third day of March, in the present year, the compensation of the President of the United States shall be at the rate of twenty-five thousand dollars per annum, with the use of the furniture and other effects belonging to the United States, and now in possession of the President: And that of the Vice President, at the rate of five thousand dollars per annum; in full for their respective services; to be paid quarter yearly, at the Treasury.

Approved, February 18, 1793.

7. AN ACT to authorize certain officers and other persons to administer oaths.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, a chairman of a committee of the whole, or a chairman of a select committee of either House, shall be empowered to administer oaths or affirmations to witnesses, in any case under their examination.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That if any person shall wilfully, absolutely, and falsely swear or affirm, touching any matter or thing material to the point in question, whereto he or she shall be thus examined, every person so offending, and being thereof duly convicted, shall be subjected to the pains, penalties, and disabilities, which by law are prescribed for the punishment of the crime of wilful and corrupt per jury. Approved, May 3, 1798.

8. AN ACT supplementary to the act, entitled "An Act to prescribe the mode in which the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings in each State shall be authenticated so as to take effect in every other State.'

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this act, all records and exemplifications of office books, which are or may be kept in any public office of any State, not appertaining to a court, shall be approved or admitted in any other court or office in any other State, by the attestation of the keeper of the said records or books, and the seal of his office thereto annexed, if there be a seal, together with a certificate of the presiding justice of the court of the county or district, as the case may be, in which such office is or may be kept; or of the Governor, the Secretary of State, the Chancellor or the keeper of the great seal of the State, that the said attestation is in due form and by the proper officer; and the said certificate, if given by the presiding

justice of a court, shall be further authenticated by the clerk or protho. notary of the said court, who shall certify under his hand and the seal of his office, that the said presiding justice is duly commissioned and qual. • fied; or if the said certificate be given by the Governor, the Secretary of State, the Chancellor or keeper of the great seal, it shall be under the great seal of the State in which the said certificate is made. And the said records and exemplifications, authenticated as aforesaid, shall have such faith and credit given to them in every court and office within the United States, as they have by law or usage in the courts or offices of the State from whence the same are or shall be taken.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That all the provisions of this act, and the act to which this is a supplement, shall apply as well to the public acts, records, office books, judicial proceedings, courts and offices of the respective territories of the United States, and countries subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, as to the public acts, records, offices' books, judicial proceedings, courts and offices of the several States.

Approved, March 27, 1804.

9. AN ACT to extend the provisions of the act to authorize certain officers and other persons to administer oaths, approved May the 3d, 1798.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the chairman of any standing committee, either of the House of Representatives, or of the Senate of the United States, shall be empowered to administer oaths or affirmations to witnesses in any case under their examination; and any person who shall be guilty of perjury before such committee shall be liable to the pains, penalties, and disabilities, prescribed for the punishment of the crime of wilful and corrupt perjury.

Approved, February 8, 1817.

10. AN ACT to provide for the Publication of the Laws of the United States, and for other purposes.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That, whenever official notice shall have been received, at the Department of State, that any amendment which heretofore has been, or hereafter may be, proposed to the Constitution of the United States, has been adopted, according to the provisions of the Constitution, it shall be the duty of the said Secretary of State, forthwith to cause the said amendment to be published in the said newspapers authorized to promulgate the laws, with his certificate, spe

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