Case of Aiken

1 Rep. Cont. El. 194

Opinion

A committee was appointed at the January session, to inquire whether any members of the house held any office under the authority of the United States, incompatible with their holding a seat in the house, with power to send for persons and papers.²

The committee reported, on the third of February, that the member from Dracut, the Rev. Solomon Aiken, had been appointed, by the president, a chaplain in the service of the United States; that he had accepted the appointment, and entered upon the duties of his office ; and that, in their opin ion, such appointment and acceptance were incompatible with his holding a seat in the house.

The report was considered and accepted, and the seat of Mr. Aiken declared vacated;¹ and

It was then ordered, that the committee on the pay roll make up his pay for travel and attendance, as a member, to the third of February, inclusive.

[Mr. Aiken was returned a member the next year, and again excluded, for the same cause, by a vote of 264 to 12.²]

Footnotes

2

Same, 266.

1

35 J. H. 317, 327.

2

See 36 J. H. 10, 26, 38.