The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-11-11

| the Constitution needs amendment; an adj
mission, that is TO say, that the present sys-
tom Of clecting the President and not the
| Vaccinations of those who engineered the
present incumbent into the Office, ought to
| bear the responsibility for such Disgrace.
| 1t is important that the origin and pur-
| poses Of the electoral system should be gon-
orally understood by the people, as neccs-
| sary preliminary To the discussion Of any
substitute which has been or may bc
proposed. Few persons, oven among the
public mon of this generation, who have
not specially studied the subject, are
aware Of the extensive and complex
relations in which the mode OF const-
tuting the Executive Of the United Statcs
had to be- considered by the framers
OF the Constitutions, and consequently very
few are aware tina. these relations, a. they
were finally adjusted in and by the existing
system, remain just what they were when
that system was first established. When
! the subject is closely and historically OK
amincd, 1t will appear with what success
the various necessities Of the case were pro-
vidcd for and rcconcilcd in the plan which
was adopted with great elaboration and
great care.
ihiS Istil VI INV NNHSAiihAl'uf llhf ull
the principal parts OF the structure, uu-
dcrwcnt III the Convention the double
process of report by u Committee of
the Whole. and of n subsequent report
| by a Committee of Detail. When IL had
been asccrtaincd that in order to effect
the construction of great republican
| government, there must be n chief OK
ccutivc magistrate. that the Office must be
elective and not hcrcdi tary. and that there
must To- u fixed period Of Office, IL was first
settled In Committee Of the Whole that the
| Executive should consist Of n single person,
To he chosen by the national Legislature for
n period OF seven years, and to be Ineligible
n second time. The reason that chiefly led
! the Convention at first to adopt the plan of
! having the Executive chosen 10y n Legislative
branch Of the Government was, that II thu
elections were To be coniidcd To n direct vote
of the people of the several States, the
right Of suffrage in the different states
was 80 differently regulated. TINT there
must either be n uniform rule OF SUI
fragc established in voting for the Exocu-
tive of the United States. or the rule
of suffrage in each separate State must he
adopted for this Office.
This difficulty, which really involved the
degree Of influence which each state was
to have in the choice of Chief Mags-
tratc FOR the Union, whether in proper
zion to the number Of their inhabitants
or only in proportion to their qualified
voters. induced the Committee of the Whole
to recommend an election by the national
Legislature; but To escape the influence Of
the Legislature over the President in Office
they proposed To make him ineligible Il
second time. But this was n mode OF en-
countcrng one difficulty by another, be-
cause there might BE- such n successful
disc harsc Of the duties of the office, that
il would be- desirable to continue the incum-
bent 10y a second choice. The Convention
therefore struck out the inoligibility from
the plan proposed by the Committee of the
| Whole leaving, however, the election by
the Legislature TO stand as proposed.
In order to countoract the evils Of an
election by the Legislature Of a Magistrate
who was ia be rctlgihlc To the office. various
propositions were made concerning the
length of the term, some being in favor Of n
longer or a shorter term, and some propos-
ing that the term be during good be-
havior. But in Consequence Of the difficulty
Of agreeing on the length Of the official
A'lIlf ibl an l4N'tullNf lllhl WIS W ~ 'llNSfH
by the national Legislature majority of
the States in convention went back again to
the plan Of making the incumbent ineligible
a second time, which implied that some dci-
mite and liked term OF Office would have 10
be adopted This again obliged them to con-
slider in what other mode the Executive
could be appointed, so rs To escape from sub
jectng the office TO the unrcstrained infu-
ence of the Legislature, and so as to enable
them 10 remove the restriction Of Ineligible
ity TO q second term.
The substitution OF electors in the place
of the national Legislature was plan that
would Obl late some of these difficulties, be-
cause il would afford the means of deter
mining the precise weight in the election of
a President that ought to be given to each
state, without prescribing uniform rule
OF suffrage in the primary elections, and
without being obliged to settle discrepan-
cics IN the State rules Of suffrage. Tho In
torpOsitiOn OF IA body OF electors, TO be APP
pointed in each State in n certain fixed pro-
portion, while it would, rs they thought,
remove the ultimate appointment from
a direct popular vote, and vest ii in
bodies of men who could exercise n
choice among the eminent persons pro-
posed for the Office, would still leave the
popular will to operate in determining the
choice of the STATE, providing the appoint
mcnt OF the electors should be conlldcd to
tho qualified voters of the state, or even il
it should be conlided 10 their Legislatures
But the mode Of choosing the President, a.
between "A choice by the national Legislature
and n choice by special bodies of electors
was complicated with the other question
Of Reliability and especially with the qurs
ton Of impeachment If appointed by oicc-
tors, there would DO danger Of their being
corrupted by the President in Office if he
were eligible second time. Hence The
neccssity for making the President impcach
able. Ii chosen by the national Legislature
the ne 'cssity for making the President incl
gible a second tlmo was apparent but whoth
cI he ought to be subject TO Impeachment
ana if 80 by what tribunal, was Il matter on
which there were great differences of opln
ion, but it was at length settled that h'