Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1893-01-21
ELEcTING THE PRESIDENT
the Electoral College, What 1t Does nt
How Il Works.


If the expectation of John Jay,
James Madison, Roger sherman and
other great men who wrote the Con-
stitution of the United States had
been fulfilled, the election of the
President and VIce-Pres dent would
not occur until the first Monday of
January. These men reasoned that
ii would be wiser to delegate to a
commission. which they called the
electoral college, sitting as separate
body in each State, the responsibility
of choosing for the people their Pres
ident and Vice. President.
From the beginning the people
practically repudiated the electoral
college and at the late election a
great portion of those who voted for
the electors had no clear idea OF the
functions of that BODY
Under the original clause OF the
Constitution there came trouble very
early. In the election of 1900
Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr re-
ceived an equal vote in the college.
If jefferson had received one more
vote he would have been elected Pres
ident. while Burr would have been
Vice President, for in the original
Constitution it was simply provided
that the man who received the largest
number of electoral votes should be
chosen President and the man who
received the next largest, Vice Presi-
dent.
1t was seen that this provision was
going TO make trouble. Later JEFF
ferson was chosen by the House, and
twenty-four years later John Quincy
Adams was also chosen, but in his
case it was because no one had re-
ceived a majority in the electoral col
lege.
In each of these elections there
were charges, which amounted almost
20 scandalous accusations, that the
friends of the successful candidates
had made bargains. In 1924, it was
the scandal of the day, although
many believed it to be an unf0unded
one that Mr.. Adams friends had BAR
gained with those of Henry Clay, the
terms of the bargain being that they
should elect Adams President and
that he should appoint Mr.. Clay Sec
retary of State The accusation was
widely believed, and contemporary
eous politicians of Clay's lifetime al
ways believed that it cost him the
Presidency, and students of political
history are inclined to that opinion
now.
No serious disturbance, so far as
the machinery of Presidential cleo
tions is concerned, occurred until 1876
aud 1877. Then a dangerous crisis,
owing to a dispute over the choice of
electors in several States, was de-
veloped. 1t was claimed by the DEM
ocracv that a sufficient number of
electors had been fairly chosen to
give Samuel ]. Tilden majority in
the electoral college. 1t was adj
versely claimed by the opposing party
that the electors representing it in
these disputed States had been chosen,
but a single vote was really in dis
DulC-UldU 10 w says UliC N0hlNob vas
so close that the claims Of the vic
torious side could only be established
by majority of one electoral vote.
This crisis was decided by a piece
of machinery called the Electoral
Commission, consisting of members
of each house OF Congress and dele
cation from the Supreme Court.
1t was admittedly an ultra-c onsti-
uutional body to which the decision
was left, but the ahlest lawyers united
In agreeing that 1t was not unconsti.
tutional since all the forms of the
Constitution were recognized. Its
decision by one vote was in favor OF
the claim of the Republicans and the
Democratic House of Congress form
ally accepted the decision, although
by resolution declaring still its belief
that Mr. Tilden was fairly elected.
This grave trouble suggested ther
what was suggested in 1900, that the
choice of the President and Vice Pres
ident should be delegated directly tt
the people and the Electoral College
iDDiiohCtii dilu utllo NOulO dOhbulGos
be done were it net for the feeling
that it would give some States toe
great power. One great State cast
ing an enormous majority for the can
didate Of one party might be able tt
overthrow popular will as expressed
IN a dozen or more States Mr.. Conk
ling once, as matter of personal in
terest, made an estimate Of what TIL,
effect of a popular election by the PEG
pc would be. His figures were as
tonishing. They showed that will
two or three exceptions the entire lis
of Presidents since Monroe's tim,
would be different from what it nov
Is. The portraits OF Presidents which
hang in the CorcOran gallery in Wash
lngton would show different face
from those now exhibited.
The men who elect the Presiden
and Vice President OF the United
States are themselves elected in No
vember, and it may he of interest T.
know exactly what these men d.
when they gather as an Electora
College. BY the Constitution ot th
United States they are all required Z
meet on the second Tuesday in Janu
AIRY, In the State capit0lS lr Their
are any vacancies, caused either bl