The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1877-01-18
THURSDAY, JANUARY 1s, 1877.
VOTE IN l7e6.

fho N'N-N O4N |
eight fol- Thomas Jefferson, electing the
flrmer president and the latter vice presi
4 mt. The validity of the four votes of
Vermont, however, was questioned, and
had they been rejected they would have
reversed the result, making Mir. Jefferson
president, and MIR. Adams vice presidents
unless, indeed, some one had claimed that
o "majouty of the whole number of elect
-" orS appointed meant a majority of ali
the electors that could be appointed, wheth-
or they were appointed or not.
Exactly what the dispute was 40 one
seems to know. James Madison wrote to
Jtfferson, December %, 1896, as follows
" Unless the Vermont election of which
" little has Of late been sid, should con
d" tain some fatal vice in it, MIR. Adams
" may be considered as the president %electi'
and, again, January 6, 1907, he writes
" II the Vermont votes should be valid, At
" is now generally supposed, Mr.. Adams
" will have II aid you GS, Pincknoy being
" in the fclr of both" We have, at diff.
ferent times, made a careful examination
of the Vermont newspapers of that time IN
order to ascertain VIA; the controversy
was about, but have been unable to obtain
any light thereon. But this is not to bt
wondered at. Vermont nc wspapers of that
day seemed to know little and care less OF
what was going On at home, but we're fllec
NTH l.f,,1a Af Et,vAnoan ,ou-a Tho h1ps
of our home newspapers, at the close OF
the last AMI the beginning Of the present
century, might aid one in the study Of
foreign history, but as aids to the undeI-
standing of state or local history, they
might as well have never been printed. A
correspondent Of the New York Tribune,
however, iluds q brief reference to the
matter in the files of the Columbian Cent
mel for December, l79G, from which lie
summariz IS the question which was raised.
as follows: vermont declared its indie
"pendence and adoped a constitution in
"1777; and VIXEN it was admitted into the
Union, IN 1901, that constitution was not
90 changed. In November, 1906, no Law
4" had been passed regulating the mode OF
4" choo, ing electors, ard the house of as
" sembly proceeded to elect them by bal
" lot Some Of the republicans of that day
"tlok the ground thai this was not a valid
election and hat Vermont must lose hei
4" vote which had been cast for Adams.
He a Ids that the federalists claimed tina
the mere act of voting for electors was q
determination by the legislature of th,
manner OF election, as required by the con-
si u ion, and that this was undoubtedly
"rcoe we'd as sound doctrine because dis.
cu'slOn Ceaseu anu the vote or Vernon
was counted without objection.
If the Tribune correspondent has obtain.
cd the correct idea of the question raised,i
will be found even more bsseless than thu
federalists of that day made it,, and will
show that 1t needed no tribunal, either
within or without congress, to decide
Whether or not it contained a "fatal vice
If 1t were true that, in 1876, the people OF
Vermont wcre living under q cons itutiJI
adopted prior 10 the admission of the s'a't
i to The Union, what s,ible difference
could ii MAXI State constitutions are al
ways adopted prior to admission into tic
UllIn. The adoption of a constitution il
absolutely essential to admission into thu
Unon. How many of the then tiAteer
states Of t1e Union were there which had
constitutions I'D ptel after they became
states in the Union With the exception
OF Vermont, not a single one. Vermont,
however, in 1892, after her admission int
the Uni n, proceed. ID to revise and amend
her constitution, and it was ratified and
adopted, de mono, by n convention OF the
people in 1893. To be sure this constitu-
ton was not in strict conformity to that OF
the United States any more than was the
constitution Of III, but neither is the one
OF to day. But in any event, the objection
that the constitution was adopted prior, in
stead Of subsequent to the admission into
the Union was, rot only without force, bul
was untrue in fact.
The constitution Of the United States
provides that the state shall appoint elect
ors ''in such manner as the legislature MAJ
" direct, but even if, in November, 1896,
no ETD had been passed regulating tht
mode of choosing electors, it would no,
have been necessary to adopt the federal
view-a'though it ia undoubtedly correct
that the constitution 'did not require the
" manner to be determined on in advance,
Is and NhoN hu thn wnry ~ 80 -nNfR, e.
" the electors the legislature had fixed the
" manner of their selection" In the first
place we may remark, that the electors in
1906, were not chosen by tho 'house OF
Assembly" alone, but were, as in 1901
elected by the ''grand committee" consist
ing of tho governor and council, and tht
" house Of assembly'-that is by a join
asfe ntly.
A presidential election occurred the very
next year after Vermon.'s admission into th'
Union, and we find in the council records
under da'e of d cember /, 1901, the fol
loving vote "a bill from the House ap
pointing a Committee to in a Commit
tee OF Council to point out the mode OF
"arpo'nir & Electors to elect a President
aud vice President of the United States,
Received, Resolved that Mr.. Arnold join
the said Committee" The commit e
pointed out a mode, and we find that.
on the second day of November, 1892
" His Excellel cy the Governor Sc Council
"joi ell tie House in Grand COMMITTEES
for the plrpo'e of choosing Electors
and that tie 'B Llots being TAKEN" Sam
uel Iii chcock Lltt Hall, Lemuel Chapman
and Paul Brigham ''was declared to be
duly Elected, for the purpose of Electlng
ga President & Vice p. esident of the
- u,itod Stotor Tho eIactors of 1rot