Norwich bulletin., 1921-09-06
ODD INCIDENTS IN AMERICAN
 HISTORY
HOW OUR EARLY PRESIDENTS
 wERE SEI ECTED

Under the Federal Constitution, as originally adopted by the convention of l7S9, electors were selected by the States 'in such manner as The Leg islatures thereof may direct. who cast their votes for two persons of whom one, at least, shall not be an inhab- itant of the same State with them selves.
 The candidate receiving the highest number of votes thus cast was de- cfared to be President, and he who received the next highest, Vice Presi- dent Each State was entitled to "a number of electors equal to the whole number Of Senators and Representa- tives to which the State may be en- titled in the Congress- but it was ! the original intention of the farmers of the Constitution that these electors should be chosen among the best, the wisest and the most respected citizens, whose free and untramuleled choice should prevail in the selection they were thus to make.
 It was in this manner that the lect- ors were chosen in 17S9 and the votes | they cast (only ten Of the original States participating in the election) showed that by a general consensus of opinion George Washington was the unanimous choice of the entire country 1 for President, receiving the entire six | ty-nine votes cast by the various elec- toral colleges, while John Adams, who received the next highest number of votes, and hence became Vice Presi- l dent, received only thirty-four, with 1 the other thirty five scatteringly di- ! vided among nine other candidates. l While party divisions date back to l the convention which adopted the Con stitution, this first administration was practically non -partisan-or to be
 more accurate, bipartisan. Alexander 1 Hamilton, who was the first exponent of the Federal party, as well as 1 Thomas Jefferson, the founder of the l Democratic party. were both members of the Presidents Cabinet-the for mer as Secretary of the Treasury and l the latter as Secretary of State.
 At the time of the second presiden- tiaI election all of the original thir- teen States had ratified the Constitu- ton, and the new States of Vermont and Kentucky had been admitted lnte the Union. The electors were choSer as in the first electon, and George 1 Washington again receIVei tue unan- imous vote for President, 132 while
 John Adams received v, against 5(
 cast for George Clinton, of New York four for Thomas Jefferson, of Nir-
 g.nia, and one for Aaron Bur-, of New
 York, John Adams ther 9foIe. was re.
 elected Vice President.
 The third election found the mum.
 Der of State increased to sixteen b1
 the admission of Tennessee into tho Union. The Vice President, Joh1 Adams, prominent among the leading Federalists, and Thomas Jefferson, pre-
 eminently the founder and eracue O.
 the Democratic Republican party be
 came, by common consent, the opposing eminently the founder and oracle o ington. There was no attempt mad
 to pledge the electors to the choici of either, and the result of the electiol
 was that 71 votes were cast for Adam
 ss for Jefferson, 5e for Pinckney, 30 fo Aaron Burr and a few votes each fo
 nine other candidates
 John Adams was therefore elected
 President and Thomas Jefferson Vic President, they having received tn highest and the next highest numbe
 of votes, respectively.
 ] During the summer of 1900 the frs formal nominations for President ant 7 Vice President were made by a caucu
 of the Democratic Republican mem
 bers of Congress, which met in Phila . delphia, then the seat of the Fedora Government. They nominated Thoma Jefferson for President and Aarol
 Burr for Vice President. A simila
 caucus for Federahst members of Con and Charles c. Pinchney for the Vic , nominated John Adams for reelection gross, also meeting in Philadelphia Presidency,
 By these limitations the electors be
 came bound in their choice to the eau
 GUS nominees of their respective par : ties, and the original scheme of tn } Electoral College was thus permanent 5 ly set aside and defeated, never agail { to be instituted.
 The result was the election of lief
 ferson for President and of Burr fe 1 Vice President, both having receive , seventy three electoral votes. Thi being the case, the election had to b determined by the House of Repre- | sentatiEes voting by States, and Jeffer T son was the choice for first place. Tn