Edward Douglass White

“ That is all that is necessary to constitute a house to do all the business that comes before the House. Among the business that comes before the House is the reconsideration of a bill which has been vetoed by the President; another is a proposed amendment to the Constitution; and the practice is uniform in both cases that if a quorum of the House is present the House is constituted, and two-thirds of those voting are sufficient in order to accomplish the object. ”

“ In consequence of the identity in principle between the rule applicable to amendments to the Constitution and that controlling in passing a bill over a veto, the rule of two-thirds of a quorum has been universally applied as to the two-thirds vote essential to pass a bill over a veto. ”

“ The extent of the vote exacted being certain, the question depends upon the significance of the words 'that house'; that is, whether those words relate to the two houses by which the bill was passed and upon which full legislative power is conferred by the Constitution in case of the presence of a quorum (a majority of the members of each house; section 5, art. 1) ; or whether they refer to a body which must be assumed to embrace, not a majority, but all its members for the purpose of estimating the two-thirds vote required. ”