WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1842
427
To THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1 Executive Department, City of Austin, January 12th, 1842. To the Honorable, the House of Representatives: I herewith return to the House of Representatives, (it being the branch of the Congress in which they originated), the follow- ing bills, viz: a bill " to organize a part of the counties of Robert- son and Milam, for judicial and other purposes;" a bill "to or- ganize the southern part of Milam County, for judicial and other purposes;" a bill " to lay out and organize the county of LaBaca ;" a bill "to organize a part of the counties of Jefferson and Jasper for judicial and other purposes;" and a bill "to lay out and organize the county of Guadalupe;" and a bill "to give to the judicial counties of this Republic the same quantity of land· allowed to other counties for school purposes," &c., with my reasons for withholding my official signature from them. I lament as much as the persons interested in the proposed counties can do, the necessity which compels me to interpose a veto between the convenience of a large number of my fellow citizens and the legislative enactments of their representatives. Impelled, however, by an imperious sense of the obligation I have taken upon myself, to ::mpport the constitution of the Republic, I cannot consistently with my interpretation of that instrument give my sanction to bills of the character of those now before me. To those who have be·en observers of my course, whilst a repre- sentative of the people, in Congress, it is needless for me to say that I have, at all times, declared my solemn conviction that such legislation is in direct contravention of the constitution. The 5th section of the 1st article of the constitution provides, in language not subject to misconstruction, that "each county shall be entitled to at least one representative" in the lower branch of the Congress. The bills before me, laying off the terri- tory proposed to be organized into "judicial" counties, denies this right to separate representation in expressed terms. Here then is a direct conflict between the fundamental law of the Republic and a legislative enactment- inasmuch as both cannot stand, I am compelled, although I do it with extreme reluctance, to with- hold my approval. The authority of Congress to donate lands to judicial countie:-, being necessarily dependant upon the power to create such
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