Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-01-04
TEN ELECTIONS.
How Congress Put Off Re-
form of the Electoral Count.
FROM QUINCY ADAMS TO LINCOLN

The 1ay-Jackson- A dams-CraWfor Puzzie.
Willie P. Mangum Lays Down the Law.
The House Is Indepondent-Henry Clay
Elects President - Serious Questions
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 congressional caucus broke down,
and the "easy succession" by which the
president chose for secretary of state the
man who was to succeed him, faile1 The
old political division between Federalsts
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 electing 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 at all questionable now,
that he was the choice of the majority of the
people as against any other one man; but as
there were four candidates, the electoral vote
stood: jackson, 90; Adams, 81; Crawford Al,
and Clay. 81. John G. Calhoun received 1872
for vice president and was declared elected.
And now was clearly manifested curious il
not dangerous anomaly in the constitution.
That instrument simply provides for election
by the house and that each state there shall
vote as unit the vote Of the state being de-
cided by a majority Of the members thereof
present. But the election is necessarily by q
house which is going out of existence. Prac-
tically, therefore, the constitution gives to a
retiring power the right to cboo 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 obliga-
tions upon the house2 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 a head upon the coming party
Must the members from any state cast the
vote Of that state as the people have voted at
the last election or at the election of two
years before or the election of four years
beforea 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 state? Or must
each member represent the sentiment of his
individual district Or does the house of
representatives become in fact an INDEPENDENT
electoral body, at moral liberty to choose
from the three presented without regard to
the will of the people as expressed at the pre-
cedinG electionf
In 1925 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
Ii use, to the thirty-six members from New
York, and the four together were equal to
the l03 members of New York, Pennsylvania,
Virginia and North Carolina, and this when
only l3l votes would have been required to
make majority in the electoral college,
Nay, more, the forty-six congressman from
thirteen small states, or rather the ma jorty Of
forty-six, could have beaten the 1866 from the
eleven large states, and as twenty-eight would
have been an effective majority in this case
it follows that that small number could
have imposed president on five times their
number of congressman, and thus one-fifth OF
one-eight of the people would practically
have chosen the president, even against the
combined opposition of the four-fifths OF
seven-eighths Here was beautiful opening
for intrigue, and of course intrigue was ac
tive; here was an opportunity fQr bitter
political struggle, and congress did not fai
to embrace it,
The house OF representatives, as soon as the
result of the popular election was known
anticipated its duty of choosing the presi
dent, and on the Goth Of January, 1925, begal
debate which lasted almost without inter
mission until heb. y. 1t was uominally on
motion to exclude the public from the gal
leries while the vote was being taken, to pre-
vent undue pressure or disorder but reall,
turned upon the whole morality of members
rights and duties The debate was heated
and acrimonious, the principal speakers being
Mr.. Mclean, Of Delaware; Mr. Mangum, ia
miliarly known among the politicians of tina
day as William 2. Mangum, of North Caro-
lima, and Mr.. McDuffie, of South Carolina
and while the vote on the resolution did no
show, as the wording did not admit of it, the
sentiments of members on the issue raised
yet there are indications that the weight o.
sentiment favored the position maintained by
Air. Mangum, namely, that members ar,
under no moral obligations to go 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 i
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 wee.;s pre-
ceding the final settlement; solicited on al
sides, secretly urged to remember that b
would receive promotion from either candi
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 stat
was peculiarly painful, and that Of Mr. Johi
G. Scott, who represented the state of Mis-
souri,, was most painful of all. As his vot
was equivalent to New Yorks 80 or Penn
sylvanla's 2S, there was a very fierce struggl
on the part of Mr. Adams and Gen. Jack
sons friends to enlighten his understanding
Hl,.Nf g . a l. T.