(Go to http://johnadams.us/ to
see the First Vice President's certification dated December 14, 1792 of the
Electoral Votes from the State of Connecticut to learn more).
The framers of the Constitution considered the election of the
president and vice-president to be a major issue, and most were apprehensive
about the obvious options. Election of the president by Congress would upset the
balance of power between the executive and the legislative branches, while
election by the people might not put the best person in the office. Many
believed that Americans were too spread out and thus unable to be adequately
informed to make such an important decision.
Alexander Hamilton drafted the compromise that was to be
included in the Constitution. Under this system, when a citizen voted in the
presidential election, he was actually casting a vote to choose a presidential
elector. In theory, a citizen's vote is cast the same way today. Hamilton's plan
included eight major points.
1. Each state would be allocated a number of electors equal to
the sum of its senators and members of the House of Representatives.
2. State legislatures would decide the methods for choosing
electors in their respective states.
3. Electors would meet in their own states, each casting two
votes on one ballot, each vote for a different candidate for president.
4. The president of the Senate would open and count the
electoral votes before a joint session of Congress.
5. The candidate who received the largest number of electoral
votes, which was also the majority of the Electoral College, would become
president.
6. The candidate who received the second largest number of votes
would become vice-president.
7. In the case of a tie between candidates that also constituted
a majority of the electoral votes, the House would choose the president from
among them. If no person had a majority of the electoral votes, then the House
would choose the president from among the five highest candidates on the list.
Voting would be by state; a majority of the states would be needed for a choice
to be made.
8. The vice-president would always be the person having the
largest number of votes after the president. In the case of a tie between two or
more, the Senate would choose from them.
The original Electoral College plan worked successfully for the
two times that George Washington was elected president. However, a major flaw
became apparent after the election of 1796. According to the Constitution each
elector cast only one ballot with two names on it. John Adams, a Federalist,
received the largest number of votes. Thomas Jefferson, the Democratic
Republican, lost to Adams by three votes and became vice-president. The framers
were not in favor of political parties and had made no mention of them in the
Constitution. Yet here were a president and vice-president from different
parties, and Adams and Jefferson were strongly opposed on many major issues
including states' rights, the power and size of the national government, and
tariffs. The outcome of the election of 1796 would influence the way electors
would be chosen as well as how they would vote in future elections.
In the election of 1800 John Adams, the incumbent, again faced
Thomas Jefferson. This time the Democratic Republican electors were urged to
vote the party ticket, that is, Thomas Jefferson for president and Aaron Burr
for vice-president. Seventy-three electors did just that, resulting in a tie for
president between Jefferson and Burr. Under the Constitution, the vote moved to
the House where Federalists desiring to embarrass Jefferson voted for Burr,
forcing the ballot 35 times over six days. Finally, Alexander Hamilton
reluctantly supported Jefferson and the tie was broken.
The election of 1800 had several lasting effects on the
Electoral College system. It was the first time that a two-candidate ticket was
promoted by a party, as well as the beginning of the practice of nominating
electors who pledged to automatically vote the party ticket. This new
development was directly opposed to the framers' original version of the
electors as "free agents'" or informed, respectable, independent
citizens from each state. By 1804, the 12th Amendment was passed, making up for
the weakness in the original Clause 3. Never again would such a tie be possible,
as separate ballots would now be cast for president and vice-president.
The Federal Register's Electoral
College web page is an additional resource for more detailed information
regarding the functions of the Electoral College and presidential election
statistics from 1789 through 1992.
Bibliography
League of Women Voters. Choosing the President: A Citizen's
Guide to the Electoral Process . New York: Lyons & Burford, 1992.
McClenaghan, W. A. Magruder's American Government .
Needham, MA: Prentice Hall School Group, 1997.
Pessen, E. Jacksonian America: Society, Personality, and
Politics . Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press, 1978.
Viola, H. J. Why We Remember United States History .
Menlo Park, CA: Addison-Wesley, 1998.
Electoral results:
By: The US National Archives and
Records Administration
US CONSTITUTION Article. II.
By: The US National Archives and
Records Administration
Section. 1. The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the
United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four
Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be
elected, 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.
The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the
Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be
the same throughout the United States.
No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of
the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be
eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to
that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and
been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his
Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during
the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within
that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.
Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall
take the following Oath or Affirmation:--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm)
that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and
will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of
the United States."
Section. 2. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and
Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called
into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in
writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any
Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have
Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States,
except in Cases of Impeachment.
He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent
of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present
concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the
Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of
the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose
Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be
established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such
inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts
of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.
The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies
that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which
shall expire at the End of their next Session.
Section. 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information
of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as
he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions,
convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between
them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time
as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public
Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall
Commission all the Officers of the United States.
Section. 4. The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the
United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction
of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
Thomas Jefferson, President (Dem.-Rep.) with popular
votes and 73 electoral votes.
Aaron Burr (Dem.-Rep. party) had 73 electoral votes.
John Adams (Federalist party) had 65 electoral votes.
C.C. Pinckney (Federalist party) had 64 electoral votes.
John Jay (Federalist party) had 1 electoral vote.
Tie decided by the House of Representatives
Democrat-Republicans: 69 Federalists: 36
"Jefferson
or Burr? The former without all doubt.” - Quote from Alexander
Hamilton to Gouverneur Morris, December 24,1800
Text by: The US National
Archives and Records Administration
By the election of 1800,
the nation’s two parties had taken more definite shape. The Presidential race
was hotly contested between Federalist President, John Adams, and
Democratic-Republicans, Thomas Jefferson. Because the Constitution did not
distinguish between President and Vice-President in the votes cast by each
state’s electors in the electoral college, both Jefferson and his running mate
Burr received 73 votes.
The tie threw the
election into the House of Representatives, controlled by the Federalists. For
weeks, on each of the 35 ballots taken, neither Democratic-Republican candidate
received a majority. Many Federalists saw Jefferson as their principal foe,
whose election was to be avoided at all costs, but Federalist leader Alexander
Hamilton distrusted Burr more than he feared Jefferson and suggested to others
in his party that a Jefferson Presidency would be a moderate one. Jefferson also
indirectly conveyed this view to the Federalists and on February 17, 1801, on
the 36th ballot, Jefferson was elected.
In addition to ending the
political intrigue surrounding the election, Jefferson’s inauguration and the
Democratic-Republican takeover of Congress set an important precedent. It marked
the first peaceful transfer of power between political parties in American
history.
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