Evening star., 1924-08-03

he possibility tndt the next
Preside mt of the United States
will be chosen by the House
of Representatives Is center
ing a great deal of popular interest
these days on the twelfth amendment
to the Constitution, which deals with
the choice of the chief executive,
and incidentally it recalls the inter-
esting and tempestuous period in this
countrys history which led to the
adoption of that amendment.
Historians have often pointed out
that IL the trainers of the Constitution
were brought back to earth and allowed
to witness the present-day election Of
President, they would Immediately
summon an angel Gabriel, or who
ever happened to be their custodian.
and demand a quick and expeditions
return to the grave. For the cleo
ton of today differs widely from what
they thought or intended it would be.
But it was only a few years after the
adoption of the Constitution that the
lack of foresight on the part of the
founders regarding the choice OF u
President came near plunging their
youthful republic in what might have
been a disastrous civil war. The IN
eident was a deadlock which threw
the election into the House of Rep
resentatives, and which served, few
years afterward, to bring about the
adoption of the twelfth amendment,
under which presidential elections
are now held.
Electors Voted for Two.
The original article of the Consti-
oh nf a H.
dent provided that the electors should
vote for two persons, and that the
one receiving the highest number of
| votes-provided he obtained ma
| jerity-should become President, and
the person receiving the next highest
should be Vice President. The found
ers did not realize that so long as
each presidential elector voted for
| two persons for President there was
danger that the man who received the
| second highest number of votes, ana
thereby became Vice President. would
| be of a different party from the Pres
| ident, and that in case OF the latter
| death. the minority party would come
| into control. By an additional and q
| stranger overnight, the Constitution did
not provide for the possible failure OF
the House to elect a President.
| The twelfth amendment, adopted after
the bitter campaign of 1900, whicn
| resulted in the election of Thomas
Jefferson remedied the two errors OF
omission by providing that each
elector vote for one person as Presl-
| dent and for one person as vice
| President. In case the House was un-
able to choose os,ass fbss'ofn' 1bss the Vice iee
President. chosen by the Senate,
shall become the Executive.
Defeated Hamilten's Scheme.
| When George Washington an
nounced his intention to retire from
public life at the close of his second
administration, leaving the field
clear for the election of John Adams
as his successor, Alexander Hamli-
ton hoped to bring about Adams de-
feat by combining Adams with a
popular southern candidate, nomi-
nally selected for the vice presidency.
Then, after the choice of the Federal
electors he hoped to prevail upon
| those of the North to vote equally
for the two. Could the second candi-
date obtain a scattered vote in his
own southern section, he would come
in first and become President, Adams
remaining Vice President. But the
popularity of Thomas Jefferson,
|
lican party, defeated this scheme, and
Adams, a Federalist. was elected
President, with Jefferson, the mi
| nority's candidate, his Vice Presi-
| dent The weakness of the constitu-
| tional provisions were seen at this
| time by some, who predicted that
| president and Vice President will
now jostle four years like two sons
in the meridian, and then the Vice
will be first"
Four years later the lines were
! closely drawn for an exciting presi-
| Dental struggle between the two
dominant political parties, the Fed
| eralists and the Republicans. Ham,
| ilton was leader of the group of Fed
| eralists who hoped for Adams defeat,
| but-who feared 20 ceme-out in the
| open and fight for it because of the
| danger of running his party and see
| ing his arch enemy, Jefferson, elected.
| His only expedient was to try what
| had failed in the last election. and
manage to have the electoral vote for
| the two undesignated candidates go
| to the man nominally selected as Vice
| President. Charles c. Pinckney of
South Carolina was chosen as Adams
| running mate, while Republican