treaty between the United States and the Republic of Hawaii having for its object the annexation of the latter to the former has been ratified by our Senate, the considera tion of the right to acquire territory in this manner is rendered entirely unnecessary in this discussion. It is true that such a treaty was submitted to the Senate by President McKinley on June 16, 1897, during the special session of Congress called to con sider the tariff question; but as it was found impossible to obtain the requisite two-thirds vote for its ratification, no action was taken upon it. It is a self-evident proposition that had this treaty been ratified, the joint resolution above referred to would have been rendered entirely unnecessary; and to say that whenever it is impossible to obtain the requisite two-thirds vote for the ratifica tion of a treaty, Congress, by a mere major ity of each House, can properly pass a joint resolution in its stead, is to introduce a new principle into our constitutional law. As this territory has not been acquired by either of the methods above treated of, the question now arises whether or not the joint resolution by which this was sought to be done was in accordance with the Con stitution; and this leads us to examine the third provision thereof above quoted by which Congress is authorized to admit new States. It is evident that unless this action of Congress can be justified by this clause it has no justification whatever in the Con stitution, as that is the only one under which that body has assumed to annex the Hawai ian Islands to the United States as a Ter ritory. Will-any one seriously contend that the power to admit new States into the Union and the power to acquire foreign territory are identical, and that this clause was intended by the framers of the Constitu tion to confer the latter authority upon Con gress? Hitherto in the history of the coun try no State has ever been admitted into the Union which was not previously a part of the territory belonging to, and under the
jurisdiction of, the Federal Government, with the single exception of Texas which was so admitted on December 29, 1845; nor has any attempt ever been made to acquire territory by a simple act of Congress. Pre vious to and at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, the Federal Government owned, or assumed to own, a large tract of land northwest of the Ohio River, which had been acquired along with our independence from Great Britain. We have since obtained great acquisitions of territory from France, Spain, Mexico, and Russia; from France — the territory known as Louisiana; from Spain — Florida; and from Mexico — Cali fornia, New Mexico, Utah, and extensive districts of country lying along our southern boundary; and from Russia — Alaska. Out of our original territory and these various acquisitions thirty-one States have already been admitted into the Union which was originally composed of only thirteen; and territory still remains out of which a few more may yet be admitted. In the treaty with France which was concluded on April 30, 1803, by which the Louisiana territory was ceded to the United States, it was pro vided that " the inhabitants of the ceded ter ritory shall be incorporated in the Union of the United States and admitted as soon as possible, according to the principles of the Federal Constitution to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages, and immunities of citizens of the United States" (Statutes at Large, Vol. 8, p. 200); and a similar provi sion is contained in each of the other treaties annexing the above-mentioned Territories to this nation. Therefore, as this territory was acquired only for the purpose of forming new States out of it, which were afterwards to be admitted into the Union, it became necessary to incorporate into the Constitu tion a clause which would authorize Con gress to admit them when they should possess sufficient population and should be come in other respects qualified for state hood. But it was not contemplated by its
