The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-05-23
(Rv T. ". Liphtcr.l

the presidency of the United States
and the election OF presidents have
been a history of drama and tragedy
almost as impressive as the drama
and tragedy that have attended the
rise II fall of kings and the victories
and defeats of barons in old feudal
days. The complete stories of them
have never been written and Y
will be, for the reason that in all of
II affairs the abstract and chronicle
of the passing momcnt is eNanescent,
Il tale of the passing day. not to be
viewed in its minor aspects as n part
of wonderful history.
We in our democratic government
have had no Samuel Pepys, active in
many admisintrations, taking notes
for more THAI forty years of events
all of which he say and a great part
Of which he was" none of which notes
could he used during the life Of tho
notetaker. MANY of the notes being in
II cipher which was translated hy a
friend who alone knew the secret Of
the, cryptic letters.
How many of those who cast their
eyes over this little sketch know that
for nan q good Year after the or
ganization of the republican form Of
government there We're no national
conventions for the nomination of can
didates for the presidency?
Electors were chosen by legislatures
which were successors 10 colonial
councils. and for several presidential
terms tn" candidate having the high
est numher of votes. or a majority of
all the electors. was considered to he
the president, and the man having the
ncXt highest was considered to be the
vice president.
I First Popular Vote.
n first recorded popular vote for
electors was in 1924. There was a re-
publican party in those days. but Diff
fering as day from night from the
republican party of this day. Andrew
jackson. Henry Clay and William II.
Crawford ran as republicans and John
choice was made and the election was
thrown into the house of representa-
tives. with the result thai Adams was
elected on the first ballot. Previous
TO that time Washington had been
elected in 1888 and again in 1892 us
q federalist. Then came John Adams
In 1896. and in 1900 there was a tie
vote between Thomas Jefferson and
Aaron Burr, the latter one of the most
cunning politicians of his own or any
other day. and whose trial for high
treason is one of the thrilling events
of our history. Election devolvcd on
the house Of representatives and tllir-
ty-siX ballots We're taken. Jefferson
being elected as a republican and
Burr of the same party chosen for
vice president.
Jefferson vas again elected in 1904,
and Their came two terms for James
Madison, also a republican. James
Monroe. republican, had w terms
In 1915 and 1920. and in 1924 occur
red tn" bitter contest referred to when
the first popular vote was cast, and
that for jackson. the highest by 50.-
600 VAS 155.s72: Compare that. Il
You please. with the vote today Of
many millions.
Although General Andy was de.
feated in the house. running as q
democrat. the first time the word hao
neen used as a party cognomen. he
came to the front in 1925 as n dem
"crat against Adams. who this time
ran as a national republican" and
with II popular vote of 641.2S1 had
lis electors to So for Adams, John
G. Calhoun being chosen vice riresi'
dent. Those were bitter campaigns.
in m of which the beautiful and bril-
liant Peggy 0'Neil was prominent,
she having been married by a men,
Der of the Jackson cabinet, and pro-
noted from the social atmosphere of
q small tavern. kept hv her father.
to the center of Il political social cir
Gle which rejected her. jackson roy
ally supported his friend and adviser.
and the social battle came near being
a Very bloody one. the cabinet being
disrupted by it. but Jackson won n
second term despite the socio-political
war. with Martin Van Buren, as vice
president, an office which he made a
stepping stone to the presidency in
1886 as a democrat.
The Augmented Vote.
But behold the augmentation of the
popular vote when in 1910 General
William Henry Harrison, wing. de-
feated Van Buren, for a second term,
John Tyler being chosen to h vice
presidency! That was the ever me-
morable "log cabin campaign" one of
the most exciting in the history of
political contests. On account of his
victory over THE prophet" a brother
of the famous Chief Tecumseh, at
T~ippecanoe. Harrison was dubbed
"Old ~Tippecanoe." and '~1ippecanoe
and Tyler too" was a refrain Of many
of the songs of the campaign. stump
speaking came into e n Harri-
son made many speeches throughout
the states then constituting the union.
Miniature log cabins. with coo
illustrative Of the frontier life of the
candidate We're hauled about on floats.
n hard cider was so much the cam
paign beverage hat it was called the
hard cidcr campaign"
1t is memorable also that Harrison
was nominated by the whig conven
ton at Harrisburg in 1899. and that
for the first time the unit rule for
state delegations was adopted. Har-
rison received 234 electoral votes to
so for Van Buren,. and the popular
vote totaled nearly $500 900 One Of
the MANY humors of the campaign was
the preliminary state vote in Maine.
when Governor Kent was elected as
q whig. and when the news %percolated
by the slow methods Of that day there
travelled with it the doggerel:
Have you heard the ews from Maine ?
How she went
He'll bent
For Governor Kent
And T~ippecanoe
And Tyler, too?
Harrison lived only a short time,
and when he died at his hotel the
story went abroad. and vas generally
believed at the time. and still has
credence to an extent. that he vas
poisoned by political enemies: but the
more Intelligent thought and the more
cheerful is that he died of ptomaine
poisoning. which was then not so we'll
understood as it is now.
Henry Clay. the former a democrat
and the latter a whig. In 1S4S Zach
airy Taylor. whig. almost literally rode
into Office by strength of his brilliant
generalship in the Mexican war, de-
featin" Lewis Cass. democrat. Tay-
Tor lived little more than a year, and
his death made Millard Fillmore presi-