The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1876-11-24
THE ELECTORAL COLLEGES.

The discussion on the powers and du-
ties of Congress in the matter of count
ing the electoral votes for President and
Vice President may be ia some degree
enlightened by an account of what has
been done heretofore, beginning at the
commencement of our Government un-
der the existing constitution, 1889. The
manner of electing President and Vice
President engaged the attention of the
convention that framed the constitu-
ton, and the system of electors now in
use was proposed by James Wilson, one
of the delegates from Pennsylvania.
Other plans were proposed, although
none of them contemplated an election
by direct vote of the people, and Will
sons plan was adopted and became
part of the organic law. That plan was
defective in two important particulars !;
IL fixed no time for the choice of electors,
and made no distinction between votes
for President and Vice President, sim
ply providing that the person having the
greatest number of votes, if majority
of all the electors, should be declared
President, and the person having the
next highest should therefore be Vice
President. Another oversight was in
the method of opening and counting the
votes. That important work was to be
done, as now, by Congress in joint ses-
sion, and tho "President of the Sen
ate" was to be the custodian and the
opener of the votes, and he was to de-
clare the result. The manifest impro-
priety of delegating this power to one
who would naturally be candidate for
the highest Office was quickly perceived
In the first Congress, for that body had
not been four weeks in session, and the
electoral votes given in 1888 had not
been opened when the Senate april 6,
1789) proceeded to ballot for the choice
of President "for the sole purpose of
opening and counting the votes for
President of the United States" John
Langdon, OF New Hampshire, was unan-
imously elected, and a message sent to
the House "that quorum of the Sen
ate is formed; that President is elected
for the sole purpose of opening the GER
tificates and counting the votes of the
electors of the several States in the
choice of President and Vice President
of the United States; that the Senate is
now ready, in the Senate Chamber, to
proceed, in the presence of the House,
to the discharge of that duty, and that
the Senate has appointed one of its
members to sit at the Clerks table to
make list of the votes as they shall be
declared, submitting it to the wisdom of
the House to appoint one or more of
their members for the like purpose.
FIRsT COUNTING OF ELECTORAL VOTES.
Immediately upon receiving this in
formation the members of the House,
preceded by the Speaker Frederick A..
Muhlenberg, of Pennsylvania, went to
the Senate Chamber. Mr.. Langdon
took his place and declared the purpose
of the meeting. He then opened and
read the certificates from the States, and
the tellers made the record. When
completed, the presiding officer de-
clared that George Washington had
been unanimously elected President of
the United States for the term ending
with the Sd day of March, 1893 and
that John Adams, having the next high
est vote, and majority of all the elect
ors, was elected Vice President for q
like term. There were sixty-nine votes
sent in from ten States, New York,
Rhode Island, and North Carolina not
voting, because they had not ratified the
constitution in time to do 80. About
the vote foi Vice President there seems
to be some confusion. If there were
sixty nine votes cast, as recorded in the
"History of Congress, then Mr.. Ad.
ANS did not have clear majority. Lam
mans Dictionary of Congress" how.
ever, gives only sixty-seven votes, ig.
noring the two votes from Georgia sci
down in the History" as given for o
Mr.. Milton. Lanman may be presumed
10 be right, as there was no question
raised about Adams election, and YET
he could not have had majority of al
the sixty-nine electors. Everybody
agreed upon Washington but the full
vote for the second place is interesting
as showing that party divisions were al
ready beginning among our people
Adams had but two States complete
New HAMPSHIRE and Massachusetts