SEC. 8. That the grand committee shall have power to inquire, examine, decide, and report upon the constitutional qualifications of the persons voted for as President and Vice-President of the United States; upon the constitutional qualifications of the electors appointed by the different States, and whether their appointment was authorized by the state legislature or not; upon all petitions and exceptions against corrupt, illegal conduct of the electors, or force, menaces, or improper means used to influence their votes ; or against the truth of their returns, or the time, place, or manner of giving their votes: Provided always, that no petition or exception shall be granted, allowed, or considered by the sitting grand committee, which has for its object to dispute, draw into question the number of votes given for an elector, or the fact whether an elector was chosen by a majority of the votes in his State or district.

The committee was to make a final report on the 1st of March, stating the number of legal votes for each person, the number rejected, and the reason for rejection; such reasons to be signed by those who agreed to them. A majority of the committee was to decide finally all questions submitted, and on the day after the report was made the two Houses were to meet again in joint convention, when the result was to be declared, and, if no person had been chosen President, the House was to proceed immediately to make a choice according to the Constitution.

When the bill came under discussion, a motion was made to strike from it the first ten sections, being all which contained any reference to a grand committee, and to insert instead of them a single section, providing that when the two Houses should be assembled for the purpose of having the certificates of electors opened and counted, the names of the States should be drawn in order by lot; that all petitions and exceptions should be read as well as the certificates themselves; that, if no objection should be made, the votes should be counted; but that "if the votes, or any of them, shall be objected to, the members present shall on the question propounded by the President of the Senate decide, without debate, by yea or nay, whether such votes are constitutional or not; " and so on, each question being decided before the name of another State was drawn. This proposition was rejected. Various other amendments were offered, some of which were adopted, and the bill was passed substantially as it was reported, except that the constitution of the grand committee was changed so as to relieve

the Supreme Court from duty in connection with the electoral count. Each House of Congress was to choose six of its members for this service, and the Senate was also to select three others of its members, of whom the House was to choose one by ballot as the thirteenth member of the grand committee.

man.

The whole subject was considered with extreme care by the House of Representatives. After much debate upon it in Committee of the Whole, the bill was referred to a select committee, of which John Marshall, afterwards Chief Justice, was chairThe committee reported back the bill, in a wholly new draft, on the 25th of April. It provided for a joint committee of four members from each House, with " power to examine into all disputes relative to the election of President and VicePresident of the United States, other than such as might relate to the number of votes by which the electors may have been appointed." To this committee all petitions, exceptions, and memorials against either the electors or the persons for whom they had voted, were to be delivered. The committee was to meet daily from the time of its appointment until it should make its report; it was to have the powers for reaching witnesses and compelling the production of papers which the Senate had given to the grand committee. The report of the committee was to contain all the facts ascertained in the investigation, but no opinion. The count was to be made in presence of the two Houses immediately after this report was made — tellers having been previously appointed in the manner already established by precedent in the following method:

The names of the several States shall then be written under the inspection of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, on separate and similar pieces of paper, and folded up as nearly alike as may be, and put into a ballot-box, and taken by a member of the House of Representatives, to be named by the Speaker thereof; out of which box shall be drawn the paper on which the names of the States are written, one at a time, by a member of the Senate, to be named by the President thereof, and so soon as one is drawn the packet containing the certificates from the electors of that State shall be opened by the President of the Senate, and then shall be read also the petitions, depositions, and other papers concerning the same, and if no exceptions are taken thereto, all the votes contained in such certificates shall be counted; but if any exception be taken, the person taking the same shall state it directly and not argumentatively, and sign his name thereto; and, if it be founded on any circumstance appearing in the report of the joint commit

tee, and the exception be seconded by one member from the Senate and one from the House of Representatives, each of whom shall sign the said exception as having seconded the same, then each House shall immediately retire, without question or debate, to its own apartment, and shall take the question of the exception, without debate, by ayes and noes. So soon as the question shall be taken in either House, a message shall be sent to the other, informing them that the House sending the message is prepared to resume the count, and when such message shall have been received by both Houses, they shall again assemble in the same apartment as before, and the count shall be resumed. And if the two Houses have concurred in rejecting the vote or votes objected to, such vote or votes shall not be counted; but, unless both Houses concur, such vote or votes shall be counted. If the objection taken as aforementioned shall arise on the face of the papers opened by the President of the Senate in presence of both Houses, and shall not have been noticed in the report of the joint committee, such objections may be referred to the joint committee to be examined and reported on by them in the same manner and on the same principles as their first report was made; but if both Houses do not concur in referring the same to the committee, then such objections shall be decided on in like manner as if it had been founded on any circumstance appearing in the report of the committee. The vote of one State being thus counted, another ticket shall be drawn from the ballot-box, and the certificate and the votes of the State thus drawn shall be proceeded on as is hereinbefore directed, and so on, one after another, until the whole of the votes shall be counted.

The bill was carefully considered, and various amendments were proposed and negatived. It was passed on the 2d of May by a vote of 52 to 37. On being returned to the Senate, the bill was referred to a committee which reported several amendments, of which only one was adopted, but that was one of the greatest importance. The word "admitting" was substituted for "rejecting," in the passage quoted above, and the phraseology of the rest of the clause was changed to conform to the amendment; thus providing that, unless the two Houses concurred in admitting any disputed vote, it should not be counted. This was precisely the principle of the twentysecond joint rule of 1865, and the Senate adopted it in 1800 by a vote of 16 to 11. The House non-concurred, and a vote in each branch to adhere to the disagreement defeated the bill.

The proceedings preliminary to the count, and the count itself, were in all respects similar to those in former years

up to the declaration of the result, which was in these words:

That the whole number of electors who had voted was one hundred and thirty-eight, of which number Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr had a majority; but, the number of those voting for them being equal, no choice was made by the people; and that, consequently, the remaining duties devolve upon the House of Representatives.

Already a committee had been appointed to prepare a set of rules for the House, in case the count should show that it was the duty of the House to elect a President; and the rules, having been discussed in committee of the whole, were adopted as follows:

First. In the event of its appearing, upon the counting and ascertaining of the votes given for President and Vice-President, according to the mode prescribed by the Constitution, that no person has a constitutional majority, and the same shall have been duly declared and entered on the Journals of this House, the Speaker, accompanied by the members of the House, shall return to their Chamber.

Second. Seats shall be provided in this House for the President and members of the Senate, and notification of the same shall be made to the Senate.

Third. The House, on their return from the Senate Chamber, it being ascertained that the constitutional number of States are present, shall immediately proceed to choose one of the persons from whom the choice is to be made for President; and in case upon the first ballot there shall not appear to be a majority of the States in favor of one of them, in such case the House shall continue to ballot for a President, without interruption by other business, until it shall appear that a President is duly chosen.

Fourth. After commencing the balloting for President, the House shall not adjourn until a choice is made.

Fifth. The doors of the House shall be closed during the balloting, except against the officers of the House.

Sixth. In balloting the following mode shall be observed, to wit: The representatives of the respective States shall be so seated that the delegation of each State shall be together. The representatives of each State shall, in the first instance, ballot among themselves, in order to ascertain the vote of that State; and it shall be allowed, where deemed necessary by the delegation, to name one or more persons of the representation to be tellers of the ballots. After the vote of each State is ascertained, duplicates thereof shall be made; and in case the vote of the State be for one person, then

the name of that person shall be written on each of the duplicates; and in case the ballots of the State be equally divided, then the word "divided" shall be written on each duplicate, and the said duplicates shall be deposited, in manner hereafter prescribed, in boxes to be provided. That for the conveniently tak ing the ballots of the several representatives of the respective States, there be sixteen ballot-boxes provided; and that there be, additionally, two boxes provided for receiving the votes of the States; that after the delegation of each State shall have ascertained the vote of the State, the Sergeant-at-Arms shall carry to the respective delegations the two ballot-boxes, and the delegation of each State, in the presence and subject to the examination of all the members of the delegation, shall deposit a duplicate of the vote of the State in each ballot-box; and where there is more than one representative of a State, the duplicates shall not both be deposited by the same person. When the votes of the States are all thus taken in, the Sergeant-at-Arms shall carry one of the general ballot-boxes to one table, and the other to a second and separate table. Sixteen members shall then be appointed as tellers of the ballots, one of whom shall be taken from each State, and be nominated by the delegation of the State from which he was taken. The said tellers shall be divided into two equal sets according to such agreements as shall be made among themselves, and one of the said sets of tellers shall proceed to count the votes in one of the said boxes, and the other set the votes in the other box; and in the event of no appointment of teller by any delegation, the Speaker shall in such case appoint. When the votes of the States are counted by the respective sets of tellers, the result shall be reported to the House; and if the reports agree, the same shall be accepted as the true votes of the States; but if the reports disagree, the States shall immediately proceed to a new ballot, in manner aforesaid.

Seventh. If either of the persons voted for shall have a majority of the votes of all the States, the Speaker shall declare the same; and official notice thereof shall be immediately given to the President of the United States, and to the Senate.

Eighth. All questions which shall arise after the balloting commences, and which shall be decided by the House voting per capita to be incidental to the power of choosing the President, and which shall require the decision of the House, shall be decided by States, and without debate; and in case of an equal division of the votes of States, the question shall be lost.

An active intrigue had been in progress among the Federalists, dating back almost to the day when they learned of their defeat, which had for its purpose the prevention of the