of Holland was held up as conclusive evidence of a plural Executive. Unity would favor both the tranquillity and the vigor of the Government. It was feared that the resemblance between a single Executive and the king would cause a rejection of the whole plan by the people. It was thought wise to attempt to prove in the Federalist that no very close analogy existed.1 The arguments urged by Wilson and others carried the Convention, and a single Executive was agreed to. Term of Office and The President's term was fixed at four years and he is eligible to re-election. Washington accepted a second term, but refused a third. Jefferson also might have been elected a third time, but he followed the example of Washington and refused a third Re-eligibility. term. President Jackson, who was very popular with the people, commended this precedent, and no serious attempt was ever made to elect a President to a third term until, in 1880, some of the friends of ex-President Grant sought to secure his third election. The attempt was not received favorably, and was defeated, and it may now be said to be a part of the unwritten constitution that no President is eligible to a third term. Many think it would be better if the President were not eligible even to a second term; that he would not then be tempted to use the power and patronage of his office to secure a reelection; that, as it is, most of his thought and attention are occupied during his first term in considering, not how he may make a good President, but how he may secure a second nomination; and consequently he must do, not what the nation needs, but what the political managers require. This question was greatly discussed Mode of in the Convention and was closely connected Election and with the length of his term and the mode of Re-eligibility. his election. If he were to be elected by Congress as first proposed, it was thought he should not be re-eligible, 1See Federalist, Nos. 67 and 69. Re-election and Patronage. for in that case he would be constantly intriguing with Congress for re-election. The framers of the Constitution never once imagined that a President would use the patronage of his office, through party politicians, to secure his re-election by the people or the continuance of his party in power. Many favored a longer term than four years, some five, some six, some seven, some ten,-the longer the term the more pronounced the disposition not to allow a re-election. Hamilton, who most of all favored a strong government, and wished to create the strongest possible Executive, favored the appointment of the President for good behavior or for life, subject only to removal by impeachment. This, of course, would not be tolerated to-day. But we must remember that Hamilton did not foresee a party President or one that would use his office for party ends. He wished to promote stability and force in the government, not democracy; and to Hamilton's mind the President should be like the English sovereign of today, above parties and party strife, holding an even and impartial hand between contending parties. But, as it turned out, our President was to have real not merely nominal powers; and he has come to be a party leader and to have even larger powers than were anticipated. Hamilton's plan, so far as the presidential powers extend, would have prevented "government by the people.' The method of electing the President provided by the Constitution is as follows: "Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress; but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States shall be appointed an elector." " How the President is Elected. 'Constitution, Art. II., Sec. 1, Cl. 2. "The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves." 1 The body of the electors, when they meet in their respective States to vote for President and Vice-President are called the Electoral College. Congress may determine the time for choosing the electors and also the time for their meeting in the College to choose the President. They are now elected, in the year of the presidential election, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, the day appointed by an act of 1845. By this act the day for choosing the electors is the same throughout the United States, though this is not required by the Constitution. In all the States the electors are chosen by popular vote, and in most of the States the balloting is by the Australian system. It is not necessary that the names of the presidential candidates should be upon the ballot. In point of law the voters vote for the electors, not for the party candidates. The electors meet for their final voting in their respective State capitals on the second Monday in January. Originally, by the Act of 1792, the meeting of the Electoral College was required to be on the first Wednesday in December, and the popular election was to be thirty-four days preceding this. But by the Act of 1887, the second Monday in January was fixed for the meeting of the College. The electors meet in their respective State capitals on the same day. They organize by electing one of their number chairman and by choosing a secretary. If an elector should die between the popular election in November and the meeting of the College, or be prevented by sickness or accident from attending the College, the remaining electors may choose some one to fill the vacancy. The electors ballot, all voting for the 1 Twelfth Amendment. candidate for whom they were elected to vote.' They must name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as VicePresident. The law requires three certificates of the result of the ballot in the respective States to be kept. One is filed with the Judge of the United States District Court of the electors' State, one is sent by mail, and one by messenger-usually one of the electors-to the President of the Senate. "The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted." The day appointed for the counting in Congress is the second Wednesday in February. If no candidate for President receive a majority of the electoral Eventual Choice of the President by the 2 votes, then from the three highest "on the list of those voted for, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately by ballot the House. President. But in choosing the President the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each State having one vote"; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. In the election of the Vice-President, if a majority of the Electoral College do not unite on a candidate, "then from the two highest on the list the Senate shall choose the VicePresident; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two thirds of the whole number of Senators, a majority of the whole number being necessary to a choice." If no President is elected by either the Electoral College or the House before the expiration of the current presidential term on the 4th of March following, and if a Vice-President should be elected by that time, the Constitution provides that this Vice-President 1 See p. 133 on Act of 1887. ? Constitution. Eventual Choice of the Vice President by the Senate. shall become President until an election of a President is accomplished. If neither President nor Vice-President be elected by March 4th, the Constitution does not indicate who shall act as President, and nobody is vested with power to determine the question. There would be an interregnum, unless the existing President and VicePresident should resign before the close of their term, in which case, by the provisions of the Presidential Succession Bill, the Secretary of State would act as President until an election be made. The Constitution should provide that an existing President should hold office until his successor be elected.' The above is the process prescribed by the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution. Formerly, before this Amendment was adopted, the electors might vote for two persons without designating which one was intended for President and which for Vice-President. The person receiving the greatest number of votes was to be President, provided that number were a majority of all the electors appointed; and after the choice of the President the one receiving the next highest number of votes should be Vice-President, no matter whether the votes cast for him be a majority of all or not. John Adams was elected Vice-President in 1789, although he did not receive half the votes. This system soon led to confusion and to a disputed election. In the election of 1800, Jefferson and Burr each received the same number of votes, Disputed each having a majority. The electors desired to have Jefferson for President and Burr for Vice-President, but the Constitution provided Amendment. no means of their designating that, and when each received the same number of votes the election for President was thrown into the House. Jefferson was elected 1 Burgess, vol. ii., p. 239. Election of 1800. The Twelfth ? See "A Study of the Twelfth Amendment," by Lolabel House, Doctor's Thesis, University of Pennsylvania, 1901. |