The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1885-06-06

our history four DISPUTED Presidential
elections. In most of these cases the
election has been thrown into the House
of Representatives and the Congress
men voting by States have elected the
President. Each State has one vote,
and the Constitution originally required
Congress to choose from the two high
est candidates on the list. By the
twelfth amendment to the Constitution
they may now choose from the three
highest. Tho first disputed election
was that of 1900, in which Jefferson
had tie vote of seventy-three each.
Both of the candidates were Democrats,
and the House was Federalist. The
Federalists, however, really wanted
Burr, as he was New York man and
would be more favorable to the COM
mercal interests of New England and
the North. They held caucus and
determined to vote for him, but one of
their number went back on the caucus
at just the wrong time, and this elected
Jefferson. In this vote Bayard, of
Delaware, an ancestral relative of Tom
Bayard, was one of the members, and
it is said that he decided to vote for
Jefferson in certain emergencies rather
than have protracted election. The
law provides that while voting on such
subject the House shall not adjourn
without coming to a decision. At this
Presidential election it sat for seven
days though it took numerous recesses.
The election of 1924 was also settled
in the House. The contest was between
John Quincy Adams, then Monroe's
Secretary of State; Henry Clay, Speaker
of the House; William H. Crawford,
Secretary of the Treasury, and Andrew
Jackson, who had been Senator, but
was now private citizen of Tennessee.
Clay was the fourth in the list, and was
consequently ineligible to election.
His vote, however, was such, however,
that the throwing of it to either
Adams or Jackson would have secured
the election of either. Clay gave
his vote to Adams and made him
President. Adams appointed him his
Secretary of State, and straightway the
cry arose that this Office had been
given him as a price of his Electoral
votes. Andrew jackson believed it,
and | don't think the impression was
ever quite removed from his mind.
John Randolph accused Clay of it on
the floor of the Senate, saying that his
combination with Adams was ga COM
bination of Blitil and Black Georgia
combination of the Puritan and black
leg" For this it was that Clay chal-
lenged Randolph to that noted duel
which was fought on Virginia soil near
| Washington, without material injury to
either.
In the third great Electoral dispute,
the question was the choice, of Vice
President. This was settled by the
Senate. Richard NJ. Johnson was
chosen to act as Vice-President with
Martin Van Buren, as President The
fourth Electoral trouble, that of Hayes
and Tilden, is too well-known to need
mention. 1t is enough to say that our
whole Electoral system is of such a
nature that it needs reformation. Con-
gress has been proposing legislation in
regard to it ever since 1900, and we
have periodical discussions in regard
to it. These will probably continue
until some radical wrong is done by
its present action, and then the trouble
will be remedied.
There have been number of curious
things in the Electoral votes of the
past. In the election of 1889 three
States did not vote at all. Rhode
Island and North Carolina had not yet
ratified the Constitution, and the pol
iticians of New York could not agree
upon their Electors. Up until
1924 the Legislatures of nearly all the
States chose their Electors. In Massa.
chusetts the people of each Con.
gressional District nominated three
Electors, of which the Legislature
was required to choose one. In
some of these cases one House of the
Legislature would be of one party and
one of the other. Thus in 1900 the
Assembly of Pennsylvania was Demo
cratic and the Senate Federalist. Or
joint ballot the Assembly could, o.
course, show a majority, and it pro
posed this manner of choosing the
, Electors, which would have made Penn
, sylvania's whole vote Democratic. Tit
} Federalist Senate, however, objected tC
this, claimed seven out of the fifteeI
Electors and got them. 1t was thu
same in South Carolina at the samt
: time, at least, the division of the diff
ferent parties in the Legislature wa
? doubtful. The Democrats offered t.
: compromise on Jefferson and Pinck
: ney, and had they done so Pinckne,
: would have been Vice-President in
: stead of Burr. But the Federalist
5 would not consent and they lost tn
= whole thing. At Jefferson's first cleo
ton he was President of the Senate
7 and he counted Georgia for himself
S though there was no certificate presen
1 stating that the State had so voted
John Adams also counted his ow
e Electoral votes. In 1916 three Electo1
: failed to vote; in 1920 Pennsylvania
e Tennessee and Mississippi each lost a
a Elector by death. Monroe would hay
e been unanimously elected had not
: New Hampshire member of the Elet
n toral College voted for John Qunc
e Adams, on the ground that he did NJ
: want any man but Washington to hay
. the honor of a unanimous election. ]
t 1869 the votes of Mississippi, Texf
n and Virginia were not receive,
: Louisiana was counted, Nevada W;
# objected to, but counted, and Georg
: was also the ground of a great deal
# discussion. In 1873 the first set
!, double returns were received The.