The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1880-12-09
rHE r1E,rn.AL sYsrEM.


The Jefferson mn. ocj'of says "tlie
AUSTIN STATESMAN. objecting to
electing a president by electors, eX-
hibits its ignorance" by saying " the
plan was borrowed from an Euro
pean system by no means repubh-
can Had the STATESMAN desired
to protect Itself against alleged
Ignorance" il would never have
appealed to the Democrat for any in
telligence exceeding that of a pot
house character, i'll which school II
must have secured its share, of
which there is none to spare. When
the Constitution of the United States
was drafted there was but one in
stance of an electoral system at all
like that adopted by our cOnstitu-
tion-makers. This was the German
plan, by which the rulers of the
great German Confederation had so
long been chosen. The princes of
Germany. representing sovereign
ties, and being denominated "elec-
tors" chose the emperor for gen.
erations before the independ-
ence of the American colonies
was declared, and the system
was adhered to until early in the
present century, when the empire
was destroyed. These princes, rep
resenting these states in sovereign
capacity, named an emperor, who
presided over the confederated states
of Germany. When the constitution
of the United States was framed the
fathers looked upon the states of this
Union as Independent sovereignties,
and under the electoral clause, as
originally adopted. the most radical
sovereignty was enforced. State
rights and state independence, ex-
cept in matters of confederation,
were closely adhered to by
these fathers, and the spirit which
then prevailed lived and eliminated
in secession in 1861. The Democrat
displays its intelligence by saying
"the great dread of the statesmen
of 1887 was that of kingly power"
for which these people who have
been living under a republican form
of government so long will thank
the highly informed editor. While
every school child knows what the
Democrat so wisely asserts, some
may not know that the electoral sys-
tenn was purposed, to show that the
states individually were acting in
sovereign capacity in naming pres
ident to preside over the infant
confederation, and this much was
borrowed from the old German
Confederation, representing limited
kingly power, but created by most
kingly power. In support of the
theory. of contederated power, pro-
posed by our early statesmen, the
Democrat gets back somewhat into
the realms of truth and says: "They
adopted the plan of electors to pre-
vent undue excitement, and with
the expectation that these electors,
unrestrained, would select the pres
ident. To elect the president by a
a direct vote of all the people
would be another step towards
Capitalization" The modification
of the electoral plan, by ope-
ration of the twelfth amend
ment to the constitution. shows
some departure from that sovereign
power, proposed to be vested in the
several states, and decline of the
system as an agency in the susie
nance of our proposed form of gov
ernment was thus effected. But it
was not our purpose to discuss the
origin of this system, or to show how
healthy it operated then or now,
but it was simply to show the editor
of the Democrat his error, and if
possible to teach him hereafter to be
civil to cotemporary.