or inability, then the Postmaster-General, or if there be none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the Secretary of the Navy, or if there be none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the Secretary of the Interior, shall act as President until the disability of the President or Vice-President is removed or a President shall be elected: Provided, That whenever the powers and duties of the office of President of the United States shall devolve upon any of the persons named herein, if Congress be not then in session, or if it should not meet in accordance with law within twenty days thereafter, it shall be the duty of the person upon whom said powers and duties shall devolve to issue a proclamation convening Congress in extraordinary session, giving twenty days' notice of the time of meeting.

SECTION 2. That the preceding section shall only be held to describe and apply to such officers as shall have been appointed by the advice and consent of the Senate to the offices therein named, and such as are eligible to the office of President under the Constitution, and not under impeachment by the House of Representatives of the United States at the time the powers and duties of the office shall devolve upon them respectively.

SECTION 3. That sections one hundred and forty-six, one hundred and forty-seven, one hundred and forty-eight, one hundred and forty-nine, and one hundred and fifty of the Revised Statutes are hereby repealed.1

The "Succession Act" is Chapter 4 of the Acts of the Forty-Ninth Congress, first session.

Passed by the Senate, December 17, 1885, no division.

Taken up by the House, January 12, 1886.

Passed by the following vote:

For: Republicans, 39; Democrats, 146; total, 185. Against: Republicans, 75; Democrats, 2; total, 77. Approved by the President, January 19, 1886.

The Department of Agriculture and Department of Commerce and Labor formed subsequent to the passage of the Presidential Succession Act. By right of implied enactment the respective Secretaries would be eligible as successors to the Secretary of the Interior if the line to and including that official was exhausted.2

1 There has arisen grave doubt of the power of Congress under the Constitution, to legislate on the matter of succession"; on the ground that the Constitution does not give authority to fix the "succession"; that the passage of the Act of 1886 was an assumption of power by Congress it does not possess.

"St. Wapnia" is a mnemonic word that recalls the order of succession. "S," State; "t," treasury, etc. To this can be added letters for further Cabinet offices.

When the President and Vice-President are chosen by the electors they become President and Vice-President elect, and the succession in case of death or disability is the same as if they were in office.

The "swearing in" (March 4) is a detail of function, not a condition of succession; and so is the canvass of the electoral vote by Congress in February.

An interesting "succession" situation was presented in 1901, incident to the sickness of Mr. McKinley, prior to the electoral count of January 14, 1901, as to who would be President on March 4, as Mr. McKinley had not been elected to his second term. The consensus of opinion was the Secretary of State would be acting President, and he would be succeeded by the swearing in of the incoming Vice-President, as Vice-President, followed immediately by the administration to him of the oath of office of the President.

If the Vice-President becomes acting President, he holds for a full term.

The Presidential and Vice-Presidential offices have never both become vacant during a Presidential term.

When the Vice-President succeeds to the Presidency, the duties and powers of President devolve on the Vice-President, but he cannot exercise them until he has taken the Constitutional oath.

Theoretically, there is no hiatus in the incumbency of the Presidential office, but actually there is; for every four years an hour or more elapses between the time of the expiration of the President's term and the swearing in of his successor; that is, the space of time required for the ceremony in the Senate chamber of organizing the new Senate (a function that precedes the inaugural ceremonies on the east front of the Capitol building), the Government is then actually without an official head.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.

POPULAR VOTE.

Accurately speaking, the people do not vote for the President and VicePresident. Consequently, there is no "popular vote" for Presidential candidates.

The use of the term is applied to the vote for Presidential electors. The people vote for electors, the majority of whom elect the President. As a result, a candidate might have an overwhelming "popular" majority

and yet be defeated in the electoral college (see page 222). The "popular vote" has no constitutional influence, but is tabulated to show an ap proximation to the voting strength of political parties.

The "popular vote " first appears in 1824 (see page 200), as prior to this date a record was not kept by all States, thereby rendering a trustworthy compilation impossible; its absence was attributable to most of the State legislatures "appointing" the presidential electors; the people's choice of electors being expressed by people's votes as given for members of the legislature. The Constitution, Article II., Section 1, reads, “Each State shall appoint them (the electors) in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct," which was construed by many States to mean that the electors were to be voted for by the Legislature, the electors to name and vote for the candidates. Legislative action in this direction did not fully cease until the election of 1868 (see page 298 et seq. and page 221).

The electors casting their votes, as is the custom, in bulk for the candidates who have been previously nominated by a National Convention, the President and Vice-President are elected by the people in their State capacity, i.e. the "popular" State vote.

ELECTORAL VOTE.

In the tabulation of the electoral votes prior to 1824 only the aggregate votes for candidates for President and Vice-President are shown. In the elections of 1789, 1792, 1796, and 1800 two candidates for President were voted for by the electors, the one who received the greatest number of electoral votes having been declared President; the candidate who received the next largest number of votes declared Vice-President. In 1804, under the Constitutional Amendment XII., all electors voted for a President and a Vice-President, instead of for two candidates for President, as formerly.

The electoral system (see page 220) has never met with a strong movement toward substitution by a popular vote, as it would require an amendment to the Constitution, an action that would have to enlist a three-fourths vote of all of the States.

Under the present apportionment (page 141), there are fifteen States, each having three members or less in the House of Representatives, which, under the popular election plan, would give to these States less power in determining the result of an election; consequently there would be considerable difficulty in obtaining their consent to recognize a change from the electoral system. This has always been the condition, the lesser States knowing they would have their power lessened, if not altogether lost. They have always been sufficient in numbers (of States) to prevent a change.

The sole argument of advantage advanced for a popular or direct vote has been the relief from treachery on the part of the men designated as

electors. The electoral advocates meet this by demanding that only men of high character be chosen as electors. See Index, "Electors."

ELECTORAL COUNT.

The counting by Congress of the vote of the electors of the various States on "the second Wednesday in February" follows the election by the people of electors to choose a President and a Vice-President of the United States. The Constitution, Art. II., Sec. 1, Cl. 3, and Amendment XII., reads :

"The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives open all certificates, and the votes shall then be counted...."

The wording plainly provides for a count of the votes by the President of the Senate, in the presence of the two Houses of Congress, and this plan was adhered to during the earlier years of the government. It was simply a verification of the votes of the electors for President and VicePresident, the operation of counting being merely mechanical, the Constitution placing the power solely with the President of the Senate. It is of interest to watch subsequent actions. He "opened the votes" in 1789; he "opened and read the certificates" in 1793; he "took the packet and broke the seal and read the certificates" in 1797, and "the papers were then handed to the tellers, who noted the contents"; the same procedure in 1801, and also in 1805, at which time Aaron Burr required the tellers to perform the duty for him. The President of the Senate's duty under the Constitution was finally assumed altogether by the tellers, and apparently has become their inherent right by direction of Congress, though their only functions under the Constitution are as witnesses of the action of the President of the Senate.

Congress alleged the original instrument (the Constitution), as it was later demonstrated by them, failed to provide sufficiently explicit general laws relative to the authenticity of each of the electors' returns; consequently Congress, in the capacity of arbiter of legality of elections, arrogated to itself in various ways, from time to time, the power of deciding the validity of the returns (see page 298 et seq.). To obtain this authority, Congress adopted joint resolutions to govern the action of both Houses when assembled on "the second Wednesday of February" to see the returns opened. As each electoral count came before its respective Congress, rules were adopted which gradually encroached on the authority of the President of the Senate," leading to various joint agreements on the part of the two Houses, culminating in the present statute of February 3, 1887 (see page 277), which provides a mode of procedure admittedly not contemplated by the Constitution. It was first applied in the electoral count of February 13, 1889 (see page 306).

Total

4 4 4 6 6 8 8 8

7 7 7 7 7

25

24

23 23 23

12 21 21 21 24 24 25 25

ལ:::

::

91 135 138 138 176 176 218 221 235 261 261 288 294 294

Electoral votes necessary to a choice a majority.

Electors "equal the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress."-Constitution, Art. II., Sec. 1. See "Apportionment," page 198.