298 THE TWELFTH AMENDMENT IN THE SENATE. On the eighth of January, 1797, William Smith, of South Carolina, offered a resolution in the House, for an amendment to the Constitution that would remedy the great inconvenience that might arise from the prescribed mode of choosing the President and Vice-President and that would carry into effect the real intention of the electors; they should be directed to designate for whom they voted as President, and for whom as Vice-President; but the resolution received no further attention than to be ordered to be printed. A month later, the electoral vote was counted, and John Adams, the Vice-President, announced as the result of the vote, seventy-one votes for John Adams, sixty-eight for Thomas Jefferson, and one hundred and thirty-seven votes divided among eleven other persons. In the election of 1796, the electors were appointed by the legislature, in six States2 and chosen by the people, in ten. There were no nominations of candidates, no conventions, no political platforms. Not one State gave its full vote for Adams and Jefferson; and four that cast votes for them3 also voted for six others.* Adams received the full electoral vote of eight States; Jefferson, of four; Pinckney, of five; Burr and Ellsworth, each, of two, and Clinton, of one.5 Considering the strength and the prevalence of State 1 Annals, 1824. 2 Conn., N. J., N. Y., Del., S. C., Ga. 8 Pa., Md., Va., N. C. 4 Pinckney, Burr (Pa.); John Henry (Md.); Pinckney, Burr, Samuel Adams, Geo. Clinton, Washington (Va.); Pinckney, Burr, Iredell, Washington, C. C. Pinckney (N. C.). 5 For Adams, N. H., Mass., R. I., Ct., Vt., N. Y., N. J., Del. For Jefferson, Pa., Ky., Tenn., Ga. For Pinckney, Vt., N. Y., N. J., Del., S. C. For Burr, Ky., Tenn. For Ellsworth, N. H., R. I. For Clinton, Ga. THE ELECTION OF 1796. 299 sovereignty notions, in 1796, and the manner of choosing the President then prevailing, it is not strange that dissatisfaction should be expressed with a political system which gave the country a President who was the first choice of only eight States in sixteen, and a Vice-President who was the unanimous choice of only four,—and yet between whom and the President there was the difference of only three votes. The result displeased the Federalists, for they had planned to elect Adams and Pinckney, and this displeasure at the system chiefly affected the Federalist region which lay north and east of Pennsylvania, to which Delaware must be added, for its vote was solid for the two leading Federalists, Adams and Pinckney. In Pennsylvania, and in States to the south and southwest the vote, though much divided, was mostly for Jefferson and Burr, and throughout this southern half of the country there was more or less dissatisfaction with the constitutional provision for choosing the President and Vice-President. Moreover, though there were no formal platforms or nominations, there was not lacking a clear and common understanding that Adams and Jefferson represented two, widely differing, political schools. The anomaly of a Federalist President and a DemocraticRepublican Vice-President, at the same time, increased political apprehensions in both parties. That a month before the counting of the electoral vote, in 1797, a resolution was offered to amend the Constitution so as to direct the electors to designate their choice. for President and Vice-President, is evidence that the public mind was not at rest on the subject. But Smith's resolution was quite forgotten, and three years had passed and Adams' stormy administration was drawing to a close, when, on the sixteenth of February, 1799,1 Abiel 1 Annals, 2919. 300 PASSES BOTH HOUSES. Foster, a Representative from New Hampshire, offered a like resolution, which was ordered to be printed; but two weeks later, the House by a vote of fifty-six to twentyeight, negatived his motion to refer the resolution to a Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union. On the twenty-third of January, 1800,1 James Ross, of Pennsylvania, moved for a Special Committee to report a bill for deciding disputed elections of President and VicePresident. Three days later, the Committee reported one which passed to a second reading on the fourteenth of February, which was debated and amended, and passed the Senate on the twenty-eighth of March. It was taken up in the House on the sixteenth of April, was discussed till the first of May, was then amended and passed on the second. It was amended by the Senate, was sent back to the House, and, by a vote of seventy-three to fifteen, was there rejected on the ninth. The defeated measure attempted no more than to regulate the procedure in case of a disputed election. While on its progress, the question of amending the Constitution, in the matter of electing President and Vice-President, again came before the House, on the fourth of February, in the form of a substitute for the existing constitutional provision, providing like the propositions offered by Smith and Foster, for a designated electoral vote. It was referred to the Committee of the Whole, but no further action was taken. On the fourteenth of March, John Nicholas, of Virginia, submitted a resolution to the House for amending the Constitution, proposing that after the third of March, 1801, the choice of the electors of President and Vice-President should be made by dividing each State into a number of districts equal to its number of electors. But no action was taken 1 Annals, 29. ADVERSE REPORT. 301 till the twenty-first of November, when this resolution was referred to a Select Committee, which, on the twentysecond of January, 1801, made an elaborate report that no change from the method prescribed by the Constitution was expedient.1 Meanwhile the Presidential election of 1800 had occurred, its results were known and the first case of a failure to choose a President had arisen. Federal intrigues to make Pinckney President and to bring Adams to the second place not only weakened the party, but ultimately overwhelmed Hamilton, their principal instigator, with disaster. The formal vote of the electors, on the 1 Annals, 941-946. "The most favorable event would certainly be the division of every State into districts for the election of electors; with that single point, and only common sense in the administration, Republicanism would be established for one generation, at least, beyond controversy; but if not obtainable as a general constitutional provision, I think that our friends, whilst they can, ought to introduce it immediately in New York." (Referring to the approaching Constitutional Convention, which assembled at Albany, October 13, 1801). Gallatin to Jefferson, September 14, 1801. "The district mode was mostly, if not exclusively, in view when the Constitution was framed and adopted, and was exchanged for the general ticket and legislative election, as the only expedient for baffling the policy of the particular States which had set the example." Madison to Hay, August 23, 1823. Madison's Works, III, 334. "The amendment to the Constitution of which you speak would be a remedy to a certain degree. So will a different amendment which I know will be proposed, to-wit,—to have no electors, but let the people vote directly, and the ticket which has a plurality of the votes of any State to be considered as receiving thereby the whole vote of the State." Jefferson, in reply to Gallatin, above, September 18, 1801. Jefferson's Works, VIII, 94. See Life and Works of John Adams, I, 576-597. 302 ELECTION OF JEFFERSON AND BURR. eleventh of February, 1801, gave seventy-three votes to Jefferson; seventy-three to Aaron Burr; sixty-five to John Adams; sixty-four to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and one to John Jay. The electors had failed to choose, and the election of a President devolved, by the provision of the Constitution, on the House. Before Wednesday, the twelfth, had passed, the House cast nineteen ballots, but without result. On the eighteenth, at one o'clock, the thirty-sixth ballot was taken. Ten States voted for Thomas Jefferson; four, for Burr, and two cast blank votes. By this vote, Jefferson was President, and Burr, having the same number was Vice-President. Thus events had demonstrated that the inconveniences discussed during the last three years were not problematical, but, as many believed, substantial. At the election of 1800, sixteen States voted, and in eight,2 the electors were chosen by the legislatures. In the remaining eight, they were chosen by the voters.3 But the mere method of obtaining electors had no bearings on the final issue. The electors of Connecticut were appointed by its legislature and they voted for Adams and Pinckney; the South Carolina electors, appointed in the same manner, voted for Jefferson and Burr. The New Hampshire electors, chosen by the voters of that State, cast their ballots for Adams and Pinckney; the electors of Kentucky and Tennessee, also chosen directly by the people, voted for Jefferson and Burr. On party lines, the Union was divided into eight Republican and six Federal States; the remaining two being 1 Annals, 1021-1033. 2 Vermont, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, South Carolina, Georgia. 3 In 1789 the electors were chosen by the legislature in Conn., N. J., Dela., Pa., S. C., Ga. In 1792, in Conn., N. J., Pa., Dela., S. C., Ga. |