Page:Men of Mark in America vol 1.djvu/192

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118
AUGUSTUS OCTAVIUS BACON

islands but to give the people thereof their liberty." The vote on this resolution was a tie in the senate and it was defeated by the casting vote of the vice-president — the only occasion in many years upon which a vice-president has voted. Mr. Bacon has made in the senate a number of speeches on constitutional questions which have attracted attention. Among them are those on the power of the president to recognize the independence of a revolting province of a foreign nation; the power of congress by joint resolution and without a treaty to acquire foreign territory; the authority of the senate to require upon its order the production of any and all papers in any one of the departments; the constitutionality of the bill to protect the president of the United States; and the constitutionality of a bill to charter an international bank.

Soon after he began the practice of law he published a "Digest of Decisions of the Supreme Court of Georgia" which is well known in legal literature. He is, and has been for many years, a trustee of the University of Georgia.

Senator Bacon was married in 1864 to Miss Virginia Lamar, of Macon, Georgia.