Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1876-11-18
ELECTORAL COLLEGES.
V0T tbe Votes Of The States for for President and
Vice President arc Couatea.
71nt Meeting of both Brances Of Congress
IA Declare the Result of the Election.
rORMALITIES OBSERVED.
pJU,ER.S OF THE TWO HOUSES.

The discussion on the powers and
d,,ties of Congress in the matter of
counting the electoral votes for Presi-
dent and Vice President may be in
some degree enlightened by an
account of what has been done here
iotore beginning at the commence
ment of our Government under
the existing constitution, in 1883.
The manner of electing President
and Vice President engaged the
attention of the Convention that
framed the constitution, and the sys-
tenn of electors now in use was pro-
nosed 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 Wilson's
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 be-
tween votes for President and Vice
President, simply providing that the
person having the greatest number of
votes, if a 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 session,
and the president of the Senate"
was to be the custodian and the open,
er of the votes, and he was to declare
the result. The manifestimpropriety
of delegating this power to one who
would naturally be candidate for
the highest Office was quickly per-
ceived in the first Congress, for that
body had not been four weeks in ses-
sion and the electoral votes given in
1888 had not been opened when the
Senate april 6, 1882 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 unanimously
elected, and a message sent to the
House " that a quorum CT the Senate
is formed; that president is elected
for the sole purpose of opening the
certificates 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 SEN
ate Chamber to proceed, in the pres
ence 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 tc make a list of
the votes as they shall be declared,
submitting it to the wisdom of the
House to appoint one of more of their
members for the like purpose"
FIRST COUNTING OF ELECTORAL VOTES.
Immediately npon receiving this
information the members of the
House, preceded by the Speaker
Frederick A. Muhlenberg, of Penn
sylvan1a) went to the Senate Cham
Der. Mr.. Langdon took his place
and declared the purpose of the meet
ing. He then opened and read the
certificates from the States and the
telers made the record. When COM
pleted, the presiding Office declared
that George Washington had been
unanimously elected President of the
United States for the term ending
with the Sd day of March, 1898; and
that John Adams, having the next
highest vote, and a majority of all
the electors, was elected Vice Presi-
dent for 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 so. About the vote for
Vice President there seems to be some
confusion. If there were sixty-nine
votes cast, as recorded in the " His
tory of Congress-" then Mr.. Adams
did not have clear majority. Lam
mans Dictionary of Congress, ="
however, gives only sixty-seven votes,
ignoring the two votes from Georgia
set down in the History" as given
for Mr.. Milton. Lanman may be
presumed to he right, as there was no
question raised about Adams election,
and vet he could not have had ma
jority of all the sixty-nine electors.
Everybody agreed upon Washington;
but the full vote for the second place
is interesting as showing that party d.
visions were already beginning among
our people. Adams had but two
States complete - New Hampshire
and Massachusetts; he had five votes
from Connecticut, one from New Jer-
sey, eight from Pennsylvania and five
from Virginia; John jay had Della
ware, five of New Jerseys six and
one from Virginia; Robert H. Harri-
son had Maryland; John Rntledge
had six of South Carolina's seven;
John Hancock had two from Pennsy:-
yania, one from Virginia and one
from South Carolina; George Clinton
had three from Virginia; Samuel
Huntington had two from Connecti-
cut and Edward Telfair and Benja-
min Lincoln each one from Georgia.
1t New York had voted she would
have named Clinton, and there would
have been no choice for Vice Presi-
dent.
REGULATING TIE SELECTION OF ELECTORS.
To reduce the business of choosing
electors to something like order the
act of March 1, 1892, was passed and
is still in force. It provided that the