The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-07-27

How tho President OF the United States
is Eiected-Not by tho People-Tho
Popular md tho Electoral Votc.
All the powers of sovereignty in the
United States rest with the sovereign
people. and yet they do not elect their
President or Vioe-President. They think
they do, but the nearest approach the
people can make under the Constitution
to an election of these ofIlonrs 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
which should determine the choice of
their President and Vice President, wo
see that it is only in the chapter Of acoi-
dents that these officers are in reality the
choice OF the people-that mon may
by the electoral colleges be elected Presi.
dent with heavy majority of the popu-
lar vote OF the Union against him, and
that, worse yet, O man may be constitu-
tionally chosen President by the electors
for whom not one solitary vote has been
cast by the people.
The National Constitution provides, in
tho election Of President and Vice. Presi-
dent: First, that each State, us the LIE
gislatnre may direct, shall appoint q
number OF electors equal to the whole
number OF Senators aud Representatives
to which such State is entitled in Con-
gress; second, that these electors shall
meet III their respective States, (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 number of
votes for each. and transmit said lists,
signed and certified, to the President of
the United States Sonat,; fourth, that
this presiding officer, in the presence of
both Houses of Congress, shall open
these certificates, and tnat 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 mujority of all the votes cast,
shall be President. Otherwise, from the
three highest persons voted for by the
electoral colleges. the House of Repre-
sentatlves, by ballot, shall elect the Pre-.
sident, each State in these elections
being limited to one vote. A quorum
for this purpose shall consist of mem
Der or members from two-thirds of the
States, and ma jority 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 following, (and under exist
ing arrangements. these elections come
before the House about the 18th of Feb
ruary,) then the Vice-P 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
electoral colleges having the largest num-
Der OF votes Tor Vice. President shall be
the Vice President, if his vote be O ma
lority of the whole vote for this officer
cast by the electoral colleges. Other
wise, from the two highest persons on
the list from said colleges the Senate
shall choose the Vice President. A QUO
'nm for this purpose shall consist of two
thirds OF the whole number of Senators,
I'D majority of the whole number
hall be necessary 10 choice.
These are the existing provisions Of
the Constitution III reference to the elec.
tion OF President and Vice. President.
Originally the ordinance was substan-
tally that by each party in the Presi-
dental election as represented in the
electoral colleges. two persons for Presl-
dent should be voted for, and that the
person having the highest number of
votes from the electors should be Presi-
dent and the next highest Vice-Pres
dent. But in the Presidential election
OF 1900. this plan resulted in q difficulty
80 serious and threatening that. to avoid
its recurrence, it WIS deemed necessary
at once to amend the Constitution on
this subject. Hence the amendment
providing that the President and Vice.
President shall be each distinctly voted
for by the electors. The difficulty re-
ferred to was this: The two Federal Pre-
sidential candidates in the election OF
1900 were Adams and Pinckney; the two
Republican candidnt were Jefferson
and Burr. In counting the returns of
the electors, it appeared that Jefferson
and Burr had cach 70 votes for Presi-
dent, Adams IS. Pinckney 64. and John
Jay one. There being tie between the
two ighest-Jefferson and Burr-the
election of President was carried into
the House, and then followed a struggle
in that body, 80 sharply contested ana
30 exciting rs to threaten the Govern.
ment itself. But on the sixth day OF
this contest in the House, aud on the
thirty-sixth ballot, several of the mem
1 INx.- vtr~ IL. L.