The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1872-08-15
How Presidents are Made.

How Presidents are Made.
All the powers of sovereignty in the United
States rest with the sovereign people, and yet
they do not elect their President or Vice-Presl-
dent. They think they do, but the nearest ap-
proach the people can make under the constl-
tuition to an election of these officers is in the
election, State by State, of the agents by whom
said officers are elected and, taking the will
of the majority of the people of the United
States as the test WITCH would determine the
choice of their President and Vice-Presidentt,
we see that it is only in the chapter of acci-
dents that these officers are in reality the choice
of the people-that man may by the electo-
raj colleges be elected President with heavy
majority of the popular vote of the Union
against him, and that, worse yet, man may
be constitutionally chosen President by the
electors for whom not one solitary vote mas
been cast by the people. :,
The national constitution provides, IN the
election of President and Vice-Pfesident
First that each State, as the Legislature may
direct, shall appoint number OF electors equal
to she whole number of senators and represen-
tatives to which such State is entitled in Con-
gress; second, that these electors shall meet IN
their respective States 1.-THE electoral colleges,
and vote by ballot for President and Vice
President; third, that they shall make distinct
lists of the persons voted for and of the num-
ber of votes for each, and transmit said lists,
signed and certified, to the president of the
United States Senate; fourth, that this presid-.
ine officer, in the presence of both houses OF
Congress, shall open these certificates, and that
the electoral votes of the several States for
President shall be counted then and there, and
the person having the largest number OF votes,
if a majority of all the votes cast, shall be
President. Otherwise from the three highest
persons voted for by the electoral colleges the
House of Representatives, BY ballot, shall elect
the President, each State in these elections
being limited to one vote. A quorum for this
purpose shall consist of member or members
from two-thirds of the States, and majority OF
all the States shall be necessary to choice.
Finally, when such election shall devolve upon
the House, and it shall fail to make an election
in the interval to the 4th of March next follow
ing, land under existing arrangements these
elections come before the House about the 18th
of February then the Vice-President shall
act as President, as in the case OF death or
other constitutional disability OF the President
In the next place the person from the electo-
raj colleges having the largest number OF votes
for Vice-President shall be Vice-President, II
his vote be majority of the whole vote tor
this officer cast by the electoral colleges
Otherwise from the two highest persons on the
list from said colleges the Senate shall choose
the Vice-President. A quorum for this pur-
pose shall consist of two-thlrds OF the whole
number of senators, and majority OF the
whole number shall be necessary to choice
Uuder this system of electing Presidential
electors by the popular vote on general tlchet,
we have had some strange results from time to
time since 1920. In the election of 1924, gen.
erally known as our Presidential scrub race
between Jackson, Adams, Crawford and Clay
the electoral vote of the Union was thus divi-
ded upon these mentor Jackson SO, for Ad-
ans 81, for Crawford Al, for Clay 81. There
being no election by the electors, the three
highest persons voted for-Jackson, Adams
and Crawford-went before the House for an
election. The House by States, one vote for
each State, on the first ballot elected Adams,
who secured 13 States, against for Jackson
and 4 for Crawford.
According to the voice of the people jack
son should have been elected, for he had pop
ular majority over Adams of $4,000. The
choice of Adams, however, was fair election
by the House compared with what may be
done in an election of President by that body.
For instance, let US suppose that three candl-
dates, as in 1924, are before the House for an
election of one of them. Jones has one hum
dred any fifty electoral votes, Smith one hun
dred and twenty-five, and Brown forty. Smith
and Jones are beyond the reach Of a compr,oc-
mise, but Brown, of Delaware, with half
dozen of the little States to back him, is ac-
ceptable as last resort to the friends OF Jones
and Smith, of other small States, and SO, with
the votes of Rhode Island, Delaware, Florida
and 80 on, till we make up the nineteen small
est States in population, Brown Is elected,
though the States electing him may represent
less than one-third of the sovereign people OF
the United States.