The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1888-12-29
TEN ELECTIONS.
How Congress Put Off Re-
form of the Electoral Count.
FROM QUINCY ADAMS TO LINCOLN

The House Is NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Clay
Elects "A President Serious Question.
Waived and Needed Legislation Post
poned.
By common consent the historians OF
American politics have taken the admins
tration of John Quincy Adams as the era
dividing the old and the new With Monroe
the So called Virginia dynasty ended; the
system of choosing the presidential candi
date by con- ressional caucus broke down
and the easy succession" by which the
president chose for secretary OF state the
man who was to succeed him, failed. The
old political division between Federalists
and Republicans ceased, and the new division
between Wing and Democrat was formed
and most appropriately the administration
was ushered in with heated controversy
over the true method of eectng the presi-
dent
In the election of 1924 Andrew Jackson re-
ceived more popular votes, more electoral
| votes and the vote of more states than any
other candidate. 1t was also plain that he
was the second choice IN several more states
that had voted for Clay, or Crawford, and
| that he was the growing candidate. 1t was
scarcely doubted by any politician of the
period, and is not ut all questionable now,
that he was the choice of the ma iority of the
people as against any other one man; but rs
there were four candidates, the electoral vote
stood: Jackson, %; Adams, ~; Crawford, Al
and Clay, 81 John G. Calhoun received Is.
/ for vice president and was declared elected.
And now was clearly manifested "A curious if
not dangerous anomaly in the constitution
| That instrument simply provides for election
by the house and that each state there shall
vote as "a unit the vote of the state being de
cided by n ma jorty of the members thereof
present. But the election is necessarily by a
house which Is going out of existence Prac
tically, therefore, the constitution gives to q
retiring power the right to choose the head OF
the succeeding administration, even though
the people should have decreed a political
revolution.
1t is self evident that the case presents a
formidable array of questions. Does the late
vote of the people impose any moral obllga
tons upon the houset Has party which has
been repudiated by the people and is in a few
weeks to pass out of power the moral right
to impose head upon the coming party
Must the members from any state cast the
vote of that state as the people have voted al
the last election or at the election of two
years before or the election of four years
before' Again, if the preceding question be
answered in the negative, or if it cannot be
answered at all, must the members endeavor
to vote so as to represent what they conceive
to be the sentiment of their statet Or must
each member represent the sentiment of hi:
individual district! Or does the house OF
IL
electoral body, at moral liberty to choose
from the three presented without regard e
the will of the people as expressed at the pre-
ccling ciecton'
In lS25 there was this additional anomaly
Four states were represented by but one
member each Each of these four was equal
in the method OF voting prescribed for the
h use, to the thirty-Siy members from New
York, and the four together we're equal u
the 1903 members of New York, Pennsylvania
Virginia and North Carolina, and this whel
only Isl votes would have been required t.
make a majority in the electoral college
Nay more the forty-slx congressman from
thirteen small states or rather the majority Of
forty-Si1, could have beaten the l66 from thC
eleven large states, and as twenty 2ht would
have been an effective majority in this cast
it follows that that small number could
have imposed president on five times theiI
number of congressman, and thus one-Ofth oil
one-eight of the people would practically
have chosen the president, even against th'
combined opposition of the four-fifths Of
seven-eghths. Here was beautiful opening
for intrigue and of course intrigue was &C
tive; here was an opportunity tor bitter
political struggle, and congress did not fai
to embrace it.
The house of representatives, as soon as thu
result of the popular election was known
anticipated its duty of choosing the presi
dent, and on the 18th of January, lS25, began
a debate which lasted almost without inter
mission until Feb. 5 1t was uomlnally on {
motion to exclude the public from the gal
leres while the vote was being taken, to pre-
vent undue pressure or disorder, but really
turned upon the whole morality of members
rights and duties. The debate was heateC
and acrimonious, the principal speakers being
Mr. Mclean, of Delaware; Mr.. Mangum, ia
miliarly known among the politicians of tina
day as w illiam p Mangum, of North Caro-
lima, and Mr. McDutlie, of South Carolina
and while the vote on the resolution did no
show. as the wording did not admit of 1t, tn,
sentiments of members on the issue raised
yet there are indications that the weight o
sentiment favored the position maintained by
!, Mr. Mangum, namely, that members ar
under no moral obligations to so with thei
states or even with their districts.
AS Henry Clay had the smallest number o
electoral votes he was excluded from tn
count and Mr. Crawford, having beef
!. stricken by paralysis, sank SO rapidly that
soon became apparent that the real contes
, would be between Adams and jackson
Henry Clay thus became the great centra
figure, for it was evident that his wish woul
, decide the votes of his friends and supporters
1t is not possible to describe the atmospher
in which he lived during the six weeks pre-
ceding the final settlement; solicited on al
sides, secretly urged to remember that b
would receive promotion from either candl
date, Denounced by some and suspected b.
many. But it now appears that from tn
first he designed electing Mr.. Adams In tn
: fury of partisan contest the condition Of tn
, four gentlemen who each represented a stat
was peculiarly painful, and that of MIR. Job
c. Scott, who represented the state OF Mis-
souri,, was most painful of all As his vot
was equivalent to New York's SO or Penn
sylvana's IS, there was a very fierce struggl
; on the part of Mr.. Adams and Gen. Jack