The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-12-09
THE ELECTORAL VOTE.
HOW THE PEOPLES WILL IS CAR
RIED OUT EVERY FOUR YEARS.

Electors to Cast Their Ballots the
Second Tuesday in January-History
of the College and Its Responsibility
to the Puolic-Ths Election of 1875
and the Grave Questions Which
Were Decided.
From the Louisville Courier-JournaI.
NRw York. Dec. AT the expectation
man and the other great men who wrote the
constitution Of the United States had been
fulfilled, the election of the President and
Vice President would not occur until the
FIRST Tuesday Of January next These men
reasoned that 1t would be wiser TO
delegate to commission, which
they called the electoral college, sit
ting as separate body In
each state, the responsibility Of choosing
for the people their President and Vice
President The idea that prevailed was
that the citizens of every state would be
likely TO select their ablesr aud wisest men
as members of the electoral college, and that
these men being perhaps better acquainted
with the necessities of government and with
the qualities Of public men, would make a
wiser choice, and one less influenced by
dsmagogic or passionate impulse than the
people voting directly would be likely to do.
The form is still preserved. The Presi-
dent and Vice President Of the United
States are elected on the second Tuesday
In January. The formal declaration OF
she election il made by the Vice Presi-
be none, by the president OF the Senate
In the presence Of congress. Once in
four years the Senate abandons it's
chamber, enters the House Of Represen-
tatiyes In a body, sits with that body,
thus constituting the congress, and In
Its present tellers, who are members Of
the congress. count the vote delivered
In the electoral college. report the count
70 the Vice President, who declares it, and
on the returns makes the announcement of
the election of the President.
From the beginning the people practi-
oally repudiated the electoral college, and
at the late election great portion OF those
who voted for the electors had no clear idea
Of the functions Of that body. The people
subordinated the electoral college at the
first election. The name of Washington
was so pre-eminently in the minds of the
vast majority that when the electoral COL
lege met they simply ratified by formal
vote the popular will Yet there were
some men at that day who believed that
some of the electors might, without incur
ring any great popular indignation, have
voted for John Adams, for instance.
Under the original clause Of the constitu-
tion there came trouble very early. In the
election of 1900 Thomas Jefferson and Aaron
Burr were found to have received an equal
vote In the combined electoral college. II
Jefferson had received one more vote he
would have been declared elected President
while Burr would have been declared chosen
Vice President, for In the original oonstitu-
ton 1t was simply provided that the man
who received the largest number of cleo
torRl votes should be certified to congress as
having been chosen President and the man
who received the next largest as Vice Presi-
dent
IL was seen that this provision was going
to make trouble. 1t would be sure to result
some time In the election of ViceiPresident
Of different political faith from the Presi-
dent-elect, and it also made a constant peril
that there would be no choice In the cleo
toral college, so that congress would be con-
stautly required to choose the President and
Vice President. jefferson was chosen by
the House, and twenty-four years later
John Quincy Adams was also so chosen but
In his case 1t was because no one had re.
oeived q majority in the electoral college.
In each OF these elections there were
charges which amounted almost to scan
dalous accusations that the friends of
the successful candidates had made bar
gains. There was passion as great as
any that has occurred In subsequent cleo
tons when the accusation was made by
Mr.. Burr's friends that through a bar
gain with Alexander Hamilton, the
creator of the Federalist party. Mr.. JEFF
ferson, the creator OF the Democratic
republican party, was chosen President
by the House over MIR. Burr. In 1924
1t was the scandal Of the day, although
many believed it to be an unfounded one,
that Mr.. Adams friends had bargained
with those Of Henry Clay, the terms Of the
bargain being that they should elect Mr.
Adams President and that he should ap-
point Mr. Clay Secretary of State. The ac-
ousation was widely believed, and contem-
poraneous politicians of Clay's life time
always believed that It cost him the presi-
dency, and students OF political history are
inclined to that opinion now.
No serious disturbance, so far as the
machinery Of presidential elections is con-
cerned, occurred until 1876 and 1871 Then
dangerous crisis, owing TO dispute over
the choice Of electors In several states, was
developed. 1t was claimed by the democ-
racy that a sufficient number Of electors
had been fairly chosen to give Samuel J.
Tilden a majority in the electoral college
1t was adversely claimed by the opposing
party that the electors representing it in
these disputed states should have been
chosen, but a single vote was really In dis
pute, that Is to say the contest was so
close that che claims of the victorious side
SSuA0 OhiJ 10 cob0OAbhCo Wy a VI
one electoral vote.
This crisis is so recent that the vast ma
lortty of citizens who voted at the recent
election remember it well, although there
was great body Of voters In 1892 who, of
course, were mere lads in 1875, and who
know by tradition only what the danger,
the perilous excitement and the mighty ten
sion of that time were. Some Of the shrewd-
est Of the statesmen of that day were of
opinion that nothing but the fact that the
country was but fresh from the experience
OF civil war prevented an appeal being
made to arms. Other men, statesmen in
both parties, were of opinion that the
American people would not In any event
have initiated the habit of some of the
South American republics In deciding an
election by military force
1t was decided by a piece of machinery
conceived In the spirit of a compromise and
with something like the idea Of arbitration
at the bottom of It, 1t was admitted by an
characterization body 60 which the decis-
ion was left. but the ablest lawyers united
In agreeing that il was not unconstitu-
ttonal, since all the forms of the oonstitu-
sion were recognized In the formal declara-
ton Of the count. It was called the cleo
toral commission, consisting of members of
each house OF congress and q delegation
from the supreme court. Its decision by