"*
* "The Nation," March 11, 1888.
During the struggle, an effort was made to bring about this very
reform, under the lead of a Republican Senator, Orville H. Platt
of Connecticut. On April 13,1886, he delivered a carefully
prepared speech, based upon much research, in which he showed
that the rule of secrecy in executive sessions could not claim
the sanction of the founders of the government. It is true that
the Senate originally sat with closed doors for all sorts of
business, but it discontinued the practice after a few years. It
was not until 1800, six years after the practice of public
sessions had been adopted, that any rule of secrecy was applied
to business transacted in executive sessions. Senator Platt's
motion to repeal this rule met with determined opposition on both
sides of the chamber, coupled with an indisposition to discuss
the matter. When it came up for consideration on the 15th of
December, Senator Hoar moved to lay it on the table, which was
done by a vote of thirty-three to twenty-one. Such prominent
Democratic leaders as Gorman of Maryland and Vest of Missouri
voted with Republican leaders like Evarts, Edmunds, Allison, and
Harrison, in favor of Hoar's motion, while Hoar's own colleague,
Senator Dawes, together with such eminent Republicans as Frye of
Maine, Hawley of Connecticut, and Sherman of Ohio voted with
Platt. Thus, any party responsibility for the result was
successfully avoided, and an issue of great constitutional
importance was laid away without any apparent stir of popular
sentiment.
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