Evening star., 1924-08-03
ELECTINC A PRESIDENT
History of Constitutional Provision Under Which
Choice Is Made.
caucus in Washington selected
Thomas Jefferson and Aaron cc-.
BY BEN McKELWAY.

caucus in Washington selected
Thomas Jefferson and Aaron cr--.
squeIched by Pinckney.
An unexpected turn of events in
South Carolina, where Pinckney and
Jefferson were both popular, brought
about a Republican victory. II had
been Hamilton's plan to have the
South Carolina legislature cast its
eight votes for Jefferson and Pinck-
| ney. But Pinckney, who is described
by historians as a man of chivalrous
honor, refused to break faith with
Adams and would not allow his name
to be used with that of Jefferson
South Carolinas votes then went for
Jefferson and Burr. The dropping
out of a single Pinckney ballot i'm
Rhode Island brought about the GER
tain defeat of the Federalist ticket
but accomplished something vastly
more important-a tie between JEFF
ferson and Burr.
The FederaliSts, sure of their own
defeat. now planned to take advan-
tage, in manner they had not ex-
pected, of that fatal clause of the
Constitution, as it then stood, which
allowed each eleCtor to cast his two
ballots without designating which
should be President and which should
be Vice President. Assured of an
election by the House. the Federalists
| was to have the House. controlled BY
Federalists. ballot through the 4th of
March-the constitutional time limit
for the choice of a Pre- resident-with-
out reaching an agreement. Then.
as the Constitution had failed to
| specify who would become President
| If thet House failed to elect. choose
some President pro TEN. of their own
party, who would serve until another
election. This scheme was abandoned
moment a bill for this purpose was
passed the Middle States would rise
| in arms and the country would be in
revolution.
Proposed Deal With Burr.
The second alternative was for the
F'ederalists in the House TO throw
their strength to Burr and elect him
| with the secret understanding with
| him that when he became President
! he would favor certain of their pet
| policies.
| On the 11th of February. 1901. the
| two houses of Congress. both of them
| quartered in the north wing or the
| Capitol. met in the Senate chamber
to count the votes. AS already antic-
| ipated. Jefferson and Burr were tied
| with 73 electoral votes each, Adams
1 had 65, Pinckney 64 and Jay !. AS
presiding officer of the Senate, JET
| ferSon announced that there was a
| tie vote between himself and Burr.
| The House then returned to its own
| chamber to remain in continuous SeS-
| sion until the election of a President
| The first ballot showed the strength
| of the two candidates. The repre-
sentatives of eight States-New YORK,
New Jersey. Pennsylvania, Virginia.
North Carolina, Georgia. kentuckS
and TennesSee-voted for Jefferson.
| Those of six States-New Hampshire,
Massachusetts,, Rhode Island, Con-
necticut, Delaware and South Caro-
| lina-voted for Burr Nine States
votes of Maryland and Vermont wer"
neutralized by an even party division
| of their representatives.
| Deadiocked for a Week.
The balloting continued in this
manner for a week. History tells of
caucuses of both parties. frequently
! called, disbanding through failure to
agree. The proceedings were con-
Quoted with closed doors. Sick mem
bers were brought into the chamber
| on their beds to keep the State del
| egations under control. AS the pat
loting continued, the chance of elect
ing Burr appeared less than the pos
sibility of failing to agree by the
confronted with the failure of need
full legislation. the possibility of an
archy and public disorder and per-
haps the dissolution of the Union.
Ali disinterested citizens. with any
| sense of fairness were leaning to
Jefferson and peace. Finally. after
the 35th ballot. a hasty conference
| of Federalists was called, and on the
36th ballot Jefferson was elected.
His election was accomplished when
| the Federalist delegates from : -
| land and Vermont withdrew, So s,...f
their State votes became Republican.
and when Bayard, the only delegat
| from Delaware, q Federalist put II
| a blank ballot. jefferson was electe"
by the vote of 10 States, and Burr be
came Vice President.
In the end Hamilton had urged hi
friends in Congress not to vote for
| Burr. but to elect jefferson. His op-
position to Burr led to his tragIc
! death.
| In only one other instance has the
| election of a President gone to the
House. This was in 1924. when An
| drew Jackson had 80 electoral votes.
! while ]. @. Adams. Crawford and
Clay divided the remaining 1862 votes
among them. The House chose ]. ..
| Adams by a vote of IS States against
Z for Jack son and 4 for Crawford.