The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-10-12
run ELECr0UAL coLLEGE-

Ahhhf AtAt't' .'tahit N.'.'tia''A''
II has become geurally accepted that
the trainers of the federal constitution
intended in creating the electoral coll
lege TO take from the people the choice
of president aud vice president and
lodge their selection i'm the electoral
college to the end that selection
of these important officials should
not be by the mob but by the
wise and patriotic voice of selec-
ted men. But Charles c. Mott, chief
Justice Of the United states Court of
Claims in a recent most interesting ar
ticle on THE Immutabiity of the Con-
Btitution" denies this in toto, and main
tains with convincing argument that
the trainers Of the constitution never
intended anything different than has
actually worked ont in experience. 1t
was simply an ingenious device to eX-
press the will of The people and yet
meet the objection drawn from the
different sizes of the states. He says:
'The idea that it was ever intended
that the electors should nominate the
candidate for whom they themselves
should vote is a myth which is general
ly believed and which has been un-
thinkingly reiterated by most eminent
writers, but which does not rest upon
a single fact There was no one thing
which perplexed the convention more
than the subject of the Executive Plan
after plan was weighed and found
wanting, The electoral system was
late in coming to the front, and was
the solvent Of many difficulties Madi-
son, later, said that the option before
the convention lay between an appoint
ment by electors chosen by the people
and an immediate appointment by the
people;' and he at the same time said
that the electors would be chosen for
the occasion, would meet at once and
proceed Immediately to an appoint
ment 1t was as well understood then
as it is now that they would but regis
ter the decree of the political power
which appointed them. The internal
evidence of intent is even more conclu-
sive. He who supposes that the franz
ers intended that thirteen different
bodies should convene in thirteen differ
ent places at one time for one object
and for one day, and that object the
selection of the Executive Of a nation,
confesses a most superficial knowledge
of the greatest constructive statesmen
of their century and Of the great work
which they deliberately planned and
built"
As to the evidence on this point Chief
Justice Mott says: "The trainers of the
constitution never supposed that the
electors would disregard the political
pledges upon which they were chosen,
or that the American people, either di-
rectly or through their state legisla-
lures, would blindly choose electors to
evolve a president our of their inner
consciousness. on the contrary, they
contemplated the successful candidates
receiving the votes of a majority of
the whole number of electors, and they
required the electors to vote in their
respective states and to vote on the
same day. If they had framed a pro-
vision requiring all of the electors to
convene at the seat of the government
in one body, and there in their own way
and time proceed to choose a President,
there would be some reason for saying
that actual elaboration was intended;
but they did not give the electors one
single power or attribute by virtue of
which they could deliberate. That very
thing was attempted and the attempt
failed. The question before the con-
Vention was, in effect Where shall the
deliberative power to choose the presi-
dent be vested when the formal casting
and counting of the electoral vote fails
to elect?' The answering propositions
were, In the Senate, or In the House
of Representative. Then Spaight
of North Carolina said that he would
prefer their (the electors) meeting all
together and deciding finally and he
moved that the electors meet at the
seat of the general government and
all the States except North Carolina
voted against it. The evidence is there
fore both negative and positive. The
convention did not invest the electors
with the necessary powers and means
for elaboration, and positively refused
to do So"