From Remarks in the U.S. Senate, May 11, 1880

Question

Thirty-seven States with a unanimous vote, cannot deprve the inte State of Delaware of her equal representation in this body. In the face of that grand tribute to the equality and sovereignty of the States, who cares for the taunts of these maden Lilliputians in the science of goverment? Their argument springs from the cheek and not from the brain, and is made for partisan and not for patriotic purposes. The man who can go before the Amencan people and mock at this Constitutional sovereignity of the States mocks at what our fathers made the grandest feature of the system and the only one which the sovereign people bound themselves always to respect and never to change But where, I repeat, does this extraordinary power be-this power that can give a man a title to a seat in this body who was not chosen thermo by the Legislature of his State? We are told that it lies in the Senate! What a paradox is this! It lies in the Senate! Think of The Senate which is the very body organized for the purpose of preserving this right of the States, organized to represent the equality of the States, has power to destroy that right and equality

These sentences are from the last paragraph of the excerpt.

"The Senate, which is the very body organized for the purpose of preserving this right of the States, organized to represent the equality of the States, has power to destroy that right and equality"

Which statement best describes the role of these sentences in the excerpt?

1. They condemn the Serute's past actions as being self-interested and unpatriotic

2. They state that the Senatic alone has the authority to overthrow the Constitution,

They support the speaker's premise that the authors of the policy are minguided

They explain how political power comes from the people and not the government

These sentences are from the last paragraph of the excerpt.

"The Senate, which is the very body organized for the purpose of preserving this right of the States, organized to represent the equality of the States, has power to destroy that right and equality"

Which statement best describes the role of these sentences in the excerpt?

1. They condemn the Serute's past actions as being self-interested and unpatriotic

2. They state that the Senatic alone has the authority to overthrow the Constitution,

They support the speaker's premise that the authors of the policy are minguided

They explain how political power comes from the people and not the government

GPT-4o mini · Answer

The statement that best describes the role of the sentences in the excerpt is:

They condemn the Senate's past actions as being self-interested and unpatriotic.

In these sentences, the speaker is critiquing the Senate for having the power to undermine the very principles it was established to uphold, which is indicative of a self-serving and unpatriotic stance. The emphasis on preserving the rights and equality of the States suggests a condemnation of any actions that may contradict those founding values.