The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1872-12-27
From the Detroit Tribune.
The Practical Working of the Elect
oral Vote Syst6m.

La a recent article we gave brief
summary of the action in the Conven.
tion which framed the Constitution of
the United States in regard to the ques
tion as to how the President should be
chosen, which resulted in the adoption
Of the present system of election by
Presidential electors to be appointed by
each State "in such manner as the Leg.
islature thereof shall direct" 1t will
perhaps be of interest, in connection
with the discussion now going on as to
the advisability of abolishing that sys-
tenn and substituting that of the direct
popular vote, to trace the history of the
electoral system and its practical opera
ton.
The reasons for the adoption of the
present system, instead of that of the
direct popular vote, were two.fold. In
the first place the trainers of the Con.
stitution and their contemporaries were
very much less disposed to trust power
directly to the people than the states
men of our days They were brought
up and educated under a monarchy, and
did not know how far they could ven.
ture in the direction of popular govern
ment Some of them were monarchists
at heart-notably Alexander Hamilton,
who, as much as any other man, iufu.
eneed the construction Of the Constitu-
ton. The Republic was an experiment,
and they did not desire to venture upon
ground which they were not sure Of.
They intended, therefore, to make the
voice of the people an indirect Instead
of direct one. Furthermore, parties
at that time were simply the personal
following Of individual leaders. The
theory was that the masses of the pco.
pie were incompetent to Judge wisely o.
the service or harm any particular lead
er could do the country. Owing to The
meagre and slow methods of dissemina
ting intelligence but few in each loca
community really knew anything Of the
real character and aims of the leading
minds of the Nation, or could obtair
the means of forming a just opinion
Only the superior and leading men o
each State could be expected to know
and discriminate accurately concerning
the ability and patriotism Of the lead
ing minds of the States
In the second place, the theory Of thr
independence of the States occupied I
much larger share Of the attention o
statesmen than it does at present. Tht
several provinces had been independen
of each other, and had conducted tht
war Of independence as separate anC
autonomous powers. Since the war they
had been united as a confederation, no
as nation. And this added force Il
the demand that the choice of Presiden
should be made by representatives, o
the States, and not by the direct voice
of the people of the whole country.
Moved by these considerations, TIN
Constitutional Convention adopted th'
present system. Under it, four diftcren
methods of appointing Presidential elec
tors were practiced. The first was tha
of choosing them upon general STATE
ticket, by the popular vote which bat
become general, and is now in vogue il
every State. The second was the choic
of electors By districts, as Congr2ssmel
are chosen This was adopted b,
Massachusetts and Virginia, but speed
lily discarded because the result was
division of their strength, and a ueu
tralizatlon Of their influence as State
The third was appointment Of elector
by joint ballot Of the State Legis,a
ture, and the fourth was the apportion
ment by a concurrent vote Of the tw
branches of the State Legislature
South Carolina chose her Presidents
electors by the last of these method.
until the war of the rebellion Florida
at the Presidential election Of 1855
appointed her Presidential electors i
the same manner.
At the first and second Presidenta
elections, the electoral vote was ca.
unanimously for George Washiugto
for President. At both elections, job
Adams was elected Vice President, r.
ceiving, at the first election, 81 votes, 3
votes being cast for John Jay, job
Rutledge, John Hancock and other
At the second election Adams receive
for Vice President II votes, Georg
Clinton so, Thomas Jefferson 4, an
Aaron Burr l.
In this second vote for Vice Presider
appears the first drawing of party line
at Presidential election, the two OF
posing parties being the Federalists an
Democrats. This division OF partie
appeared still more distinctly at tn
third election, when John Adams wa
chosen President, having Il of the II
votes, and Thomas Jefferson, Vice Pres
ident, having 6S votes. We shoul
cfoto tbot tbaeo alactiopc oo uo11 a, 81