American watchman and Delaware advertiser. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1822-1828, 1826-01-27

i made to depend upon the same principle wnien
now determines The number Of electors; ana
by assigning to each district one vote LOT rresoeh',
and one tor Vice President, the relative weight Of
thr States in this important election remains pre-
eisely as fixed in the present Constitution. The
uniformitu OF this syetem oil election IS perfect
and. therefore, one OF the main objects OF amend
,nent will be accomplished by its adoption. ! NAT
il is the best system which Can be adopted, ID conn
4, ntly believed. No other plan could be proposed
but that of choosing eie tors by general ticket, or
legislative ballot; the first oil which enables the
majority to impress the minority into their service,
puts 1t into the power OF few to govern the cleo
ton. and enables The populous States to consolidate
their vote and to overwhem the mall ones; the Sc
cond takes the election almost entirely out OF the
hands of the People, leaves it 10 pre- existing BODY,
elected for different purpose, and enables the dom
nant party in the Legislature, to bessow the vote
OF the State according TO their own sense OF public
duty or private interest. Both these systems are
liable the gravest objections, ard ave justly con
demned by the public voice; even some Of the
States which retain them, make plea OF the neces
sity which compels hem to counterfeit the same
system in some other State; while the district sys-
tenn which the Committee recommend, possesses
no, only the advantage OF being In itself the best,
but OF being, also, the one which is now IN force ID
majority OF the States, and the one which many
others would gladly adopt, il all others could DC
made to do at the same time. II Is, besdes' the
mode Of election in which, either, electors may be
used, or a direct vote given by the People while
the general ticket and the legislative ballot necessa.
rily exclude the dlrecl vote, and require the agency
OF those intermediate electors which it is part OF
the object of this report to prove to be both useless
and dangerous to the rights OF the People.
The second leading feature in the Committees
plan Of amendment is tho substitution OF direct
vote, oi the indirect one which the people now
give n The election oil President and Vice Presi
dent Il is III this part OF the Constitution. that the
intention Of this inst ument has most completely
Jailed. Every advantage expected to have been de-
rived from the institution OF electors has failed IN
p sclite and multitude OF evils not loreseen, have
sprung up in place of the anticipated good 1t was
The intention OF the Constitution that these electors
should be an indie pendent body OF men, chosen by
The people from among themselves, on accourt Of
their superior dscernment, virtue and information !;
and that this select body should he left 70 make the
election according TO their own will, without The
slightest control from the body oil the people. That
this intention has failed Of is object in every cleo
ton, is a fact of sUth universal notoriety that no
ore dispute it. hat ought 10 have tailed is
equally incontesable Tor Sue independent 10 the
ees tors was wholly paiibe with the safety OF
| the people. Thst il was. in fact, chlmerlcal and
| iiDpracucabt idea IL any community except among
a people sunk IN tina, apathy which precedes the
death OF liberty, Is proposition too clear to need
II usraon The tai ute, then, was as 1t ought to
have been, and obliged to be, complete from
the very first Institution of electors. In the first
election held under the Constitution, the people
looked beyond these agents, fixed upon their own
candidates for President and Vice President, and
took pledges from the electoral candidates TO obey
their will. In every subsequent election, the same
i thing has been done. Electors, therefore have not
answered the design of theft institution. They are
not the independent body and superior cha acters
which they intended to be, They are not
left to the exercise Of heir own Judgment; on the
contrary, they give their VOTE or bind themselve>
TO give H. according 10 the will oil their constituents.
They have degenerated into mere agents, in case
which requires no agency, and where The agent must
be useless, II he is faithful, and dangerous, if he is
not. Instead OF being chosen for the noble quail
ties set forth in the " Federalist,, candidates Tor
electors are now most usually selected for their de-
voon to party, their popular manners and a
supposed talent at eleconeerna which the Trainer S
OF the Constitution would have been ashamed to
possess. In the election by general ticket, the can
didates are presented people In masses equal to
the whole number Of votes which the State has a
right to give. The Tickle. bearing their names is
com posed by some and ire spons5le power,
printed, and sent forth to the people to be voted
Tor by many who know them not, but who are re.
quired TO yield implicit confidence both in the tick.
ct ITSELF and the unseen body which prepared IT.
D discipline and management most usually ensures
e success to this ticket and ;us string Of eecto
!. become possessed Of the votes Of State, without
G being sufficiently known to most OF the voters to
merit their confidence in the smallest particular
and often less known to them than the Presidential
3 candidates themselves When chosen by Legisa.
tive ballot, these ttular electors are still further re-
/" moved from all knowledge and control of the PEG
pe' and act part still more subdued to the purpo
ses OF party. Even in the district mode OF cleo
tion where electors least dangerous, they are
still sufficiently so. to merit rejection from service
d which every individual voter is competent to per
e form in his own person. In the first place, wherev