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


from New Jersey, eight from Pennsyl-
vania, and five from Virginia; John Jay
had Delaware, five of New Jerseys six,
and one from Virginia /; Robert II. Har-
rison had Maryland John Rutledge
had six of South Cardinals seven John
Hancock had two from Pennsylvania,
one from Virginia, and one from South
Carolina; George Clinton had three
from Virginia Samuel Huntington had
two from Connecticut, and Edward Tel
fair and Benjamin Lincoln each one
from Georgia. If New York had voted
she would have named Clinton, and
there would have been no choice for
Vice-P President.
REGULATING THE SELECTION OF ELECT
ORs.
To reduce the business of choosing
electors to something like order, the act
of March 1, 1892, was passed and is still
in force. 1t provided that the electors
should be chosen within thirty -four days
Immediately preceding the first Wednes-
day in December of each year preceding
the end of Presidential term; that the
electors should meet and vote by ballot
on the first Wednesday in December,
and sign three certificates of the result,
one to be sent to the President of the
Senate by mail, one to be sent to him by
q messenger, and one to be deposited
with the United States Judge of the par
ticular district. The second section pro-
vides that Congress shall be in session
on the second Wednesday in February
succeeding every meeting of electors
G. fo~ kla Of l.
claring the VOTE" Should there be no
President of the Senate, the votes are to
be in care of the Secretary Of State. The
same act made provision that in case of
vacancy of both President and Vice Pres
ident the President of the Senate pro
tempore should act as President; and if
there should be no such officer chosen
by the Senate, then the Speaker of the
House should act.
In 1892 Washington was unanimously
re- e-elected, all the old thirteen and the
new States of Vermont, Georgia and
Kentucky voting. On this occasion q
Joint committee was raised to determine
upon the forms to be observed in count
ing the votes, and that practice yet con-
tinues. This committee reported, and it
was ordered that the two houses should
meet in the Senate chamber at noon of
the day fixed by the act of Congress;
that the Senate should previously appoint
one and the House two tellers to set
down the votes as declared; that they
should deliver the result to the President
of the Senate, who should announce the
state of the vote and declare the persons
elected to both houses then assembled,
(Which shall be deemed declaration of
the persons elected President and Vice
President" which declaration, together
with the list of votes, should be entered
on the journals of the two houses.
There was nothing worthy of note in the
counting on the second Wednesday of
February, 1898; Washington had the
entire 1872 votes; Adams bad II, Clinton
30, Jefferson 4, and Aaron Burr l.
In 1896 John Adams was chosen
President, having oil the votes of the
New England States, with New York,
New Jersey and Delaware, and ten scat
tering from other States. He had
barely enough-seventy-one out 140
votes, only one majority. Jefferson,
having the next highest, was the Vice
President. There was a peculiar Incl
dent about the announcement of this re-
suit that is worth noticing. The Presi-
dent of the Senate was Muhlenberg, the
same who presided in 1889. After de-
claring the result, and proclaiming that
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were
duly elected, ETC., ETC., for the term of
four years, he added "And may the
Sovereign of the Universe, the Ordainer
of civil government on earth for the
preservation of liberty, justice and peace
among men enable both to discharge the
duties of their offices confcrmably to
the constitution of the United States,
with conscientious diligence, punctuality
and perseverance,"
The first action suggesting that Con-
gress ought to have anything to say
about the casting or the receiving of the
electoral votes, beyond the purely minis
terial act of counting and declaring, was
in the Senate, in January, 1900, when
committee was raised to report what
regulations should be made for deciding
disputed elections of Presidents and for
determining the legality or illegality of
votes for President and Vice President
in the different States. A bill was re-
ported in February, when Charles Pinck-
ney strenuously opposed it, taking the
ground that neither house ought by the
slightest suspicion of an act to exercise
control or even revisal over the franchise.
The bill passed, 16 to IA, but did not go
through the House, and appears to have
been dropped altogether.
THE FIRST SERIOUS DIFFICULTY-AN ELEC-
ToRAL TIE.
About the close of the year 1900 it
was known that there vas likely to be a
tie vote for President between Jefferson
and Burr. So, about week before the
day for opening the returns, the usual
Joint committee brought in rule, which
was adopted, that if no person should
have a constitutional majority of the
electoral votes, the Speaker and the
members of the House should at once
return to their chamber and immedi-
ately proceed, without debate, to vote
for President, and should not adjourn
until they had made selection. The
counting, on the 11th of February,
resulted as anticipated = Jefferson
and Burr had each seventy-three
votes. AS soon as the presiding officer
made the announcement, the House re-
turned to their chamber and began tc