Twenty-six States took part in the election. Arkansas had been admitted on the 15th of June, 1836. Michigan, which had applied for admission as early as 1833, chose electors, and their votes were counted, as we shall see, in the same manner as were those of Missouri in 1821. The State was formally admitted on the 26th of January, 1837, so that she was a State at the time the electoral count took place. All the States except South Carolina, whose electors were appointed by the legislature, chose them by a popular vote and by general ticket. Since 1832 no State has chosen them by the separate vote of districts. The popular vote was as follows:

The usual resolution for the appointment of a committee to report upon the manner of conducting the count of votes was introduced in the Senate on the 26th of January, 1837. An amendment offered by Mr. Clay, and adopted by the Senate, directed the committee also "to inquire into the expediency of ascertaining whether any votes were given at the recent election contrary to the prohibition contained in the second section of the second article of the Constitution; and, if such votes were given, what ought to be done with them; and whether any, and what, provision ought to be made for securing the faithful observance, in future, of that section of the Constitution." The House having assented to the resolution as thus amended, the committee reported to the Senate on the 4th of February. After remarking that the shortness of the time allowed had prevented a proper investigation of the matters referred to the committee, the report proceeds:

The correspondence which has taken place between the chairman of the committee and the heads of the different departments of the executive branch of the government accompanies this report, from which it appears that Isaac Waldron, who was an elector in New Hampshire, was, at the time of his appointment as elector, president of a deposit bank at Portsmouth, and was appointed and acting as pension agent, without compensation, under the authority of the United States; that in two cases persons of the same names with the individuals who were appointed and voted as electors in the State of North Carolina held the offices of deputy-postmasters under the general government. It also appears that in New Hampshire there is one case, in Connecticut there is one case, in North Carolina there is one case, in which, from the report of the Postmaster-General, it is probable that, at the time of the appointment of electors in these States, respectively, the electors, or persons of the same name, were deputy-postmasters. The committee have not ascertained whether the electors are the same individuals who held, or are presumed to have held, the offices of deputypostmasters at the time when the appointment of electors was

made; and this is the less to be regretted as it is confidently believed that no change in the result of the election of either the President or Vice-President would be affected by the ascertainment of the fact in either way, as five or six votes only would in any event be abstracted from the whole number; for the committee cannot adopt the opinion entertained by some that a single illegal vote would vitiate the whole electoral vote of the college of electors in which it was given, particularly in cases where the vote of the whole college has been given to the same persons.

The committee are of opinion that the second section of the second article of the Constitution, which declares that no senator or representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector, ought to be carried in its whole spirit into rigid execution in order to prevent officers of the general government from bringing their official power to influence the elections of President and Vice-President of the United States. This provision of the Constitution, it is believed, excludes and disqualifies deputy-postmasters from the appointment of electors; and the disqualification relates to the time of the appointment, and that a resignation of the office of deputy-postmaster after his appointment as elector would not entitle him to vote as elector under the Constitution.

Should a case occur in which it became necessary to ascertain and determine upon the qualification of electors of President and Vice-President of the United States, the important question would be presented, What tribunal would, under the Constitution, be competent to decide? Whether the respective colleges of electors in the different States should decide upon the qualifications of their own members, or Congress should exercise the power, is a question which the committee are of opinion ought to be settled by a permanent provision upon the subject.

The committee reported no bill or resolution on the subject; but it appended to the usual resolution for counting the votes a second resolution, exactly like that which had been adopted in 1821 in regard to the votes of Missouri, to cover the new case of Michigan. This latter provoked some discussion, certain senators contending that Michigan was, and others that it was not, a State in the Union for the purposes of election, but the resolution

was finally carried by a vote of 34 to 9. In the course of this debate a senator asked Mr. Grundy of Tennessee, who

had reported the resolutions, as chairman of the joint tommittee, what course would have been pursued if the

vote of Michigan had varied the result? Mr. Grundy replied that the gentleman could not expect him "to answer a question which the wisest of their predecessors had purposely left undetermined. What might be done under the circumstances adverted to, should they ever occur, the wisdom of the day must decide."

The official count of the electoral votes is given on the preceding page.

The result was announced in the alternative form provided for by the joint resolution, concluding with the declaration that, whether the votes of Michigan were counted or not counted, Martin Van Buren was elected President, and that no person had a majority of votes for Vice-President; that an election to that office had not been effected; that Richard M. Johnson of Kentucky, and Francis Granger of New York, were the two highest on the lists of electoral votes, and that it devolved on the Senate to choose a Vice-President from these persons.

On returning to its own chamber, the Senate adopted a resolution prescribing the manner in which an election should be made. The names of the senators were to be called in alphabetical order, and they were to vote viva voce. On the first trial, Richard M. Johnson of Kentucky was chosen by a vote of 33 to 16 for Francis Granger. This was the only occasion in our political history that the choice of the Vice-President has devolved upon the Senate.