electors meet in their respective states, at a place appointed by the legislature thereof, on the first Wednesday in December in every fourth year succeeding the last election, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, (for this last officer is elected in the same manner, and for the same period as the President,) and one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with the electors. They name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots, the person voted for as Vice-President; and they make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they sign, and certify, and transmit, sealed, to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the president of the Senate. The act of congress of 1st of March, 1792, sec. 2, directs, that the certificate of the votes shall be delivered to the president of the Senate before the first Wednesday of January next ensuing the election. The president of the Senate, on the second Wednesday in February succeeding every meeting of the electors, in the presence of both houses of congress, opens all the certificates, and the votes are then to be counted. The constitution does not expressly declare by whom the votes are to be counted and the result declared. In the case of questionable votes, and a closely contested election, this power may be all-important; and, I presume, in the absence of all legislative pro vision on the subject, that the president of the Senate *277 counts the votes, and *determines the result, and that the two houses are present only as spectators, to witness the fairness and accuracy of the transaction, and to act only if no choice be made by the electors. The House of * In determining the result of the election for President in 1841, it was declared, by joint resolution of the two houses of congress, that one person be appointed teller on the part of the Senate, and two on the part of the House of Representatives, who were, in the presence of the two houses, to make a list of the votes as they should be declared, and the result declared to the president of the Senate, who was to be the presiding officer, and to announce to the two houses the state of the vote and the persons elected. The Vice-President, in that case, broke the seals of the envelopes of the votes, and delivered the same over to the tellers to be counted. The tellers having read, counted and made duplicate lists of the votes, they were delivered over to the Vice-President, and read, and he then declared the result, and dissolved the joint meeting of the two houses. Representatives, in such case, are to choose immediately, though the constitution holds their choice to be valid, if made before the fourth day of March following. And in the cases of the elections, in 1801 and 1824, as no choice was made, the House of Representatives retired and voted, and the Senate were admitted to be present as spectators. The person having the greatest number of votes of the electors for President, is President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; but if no person have such a majority, then, from the persons having the highest number, not exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the 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. If the House of Representatives shall not choose a President, whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President.a The person having the greatest number of votes as VicePresident, is Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have a majority, then, from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority of the whole number is necessary to a choice; and no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President, shall be eligible to *278 that of Vice-President of the United States. The constitution does not specifically prescribe when or where the Senate is to choose a Vice-President, if no choice be made by the electors; and, I presume, the Senate may elect by themselves, at any time before the fourth day of March following. The President and Vice-President are equally to be chosen a Amendments to the Constitution, art 12. for the same term of four years;a and it is provided by law,b that the term shall, in all cases, commence on the fourth day of March next succeeding the day on which the votes of the electors shall have been given. In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the office, the same devolve on the Vice-President; and except in cases in which the President is enabled to reassume the office, the Vice-President acts as President during the remainder of the term for which the President was elected. Congress are authorized to provide, by law, for the case of removal, death, resignation or inability, both of the President and Vice-President, declaring what officer should then act as President; and the officer so designated is to act until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected, and who is in that case to be elected on the first Wednesday of the ensuing December, if time will admit of it, and if not, then on the same day in the ensuing year. In pursuance of this constitutional provision, the act of congress of March 1st, 1792, sec. 9, declared, that in case of a vacancy in the office, both of President and Vice-President, the president of the Senate pro tempore, and in case there should be no president of the Senate, then the Speaker of the House of Representatives for the time being, should act as President, until the vacancy was supplied. The evidence of a refusal to accept, or of a resignation of the office of President and Vice-President is declared, by the same act of congress, sec. 11, to be a declaration in writing, filed in the office of the Secretary of State. And if the office should, by the course of events, devolve on the Speaker, after the congress for which the last Speaker was chosen had expired, and before the next meeting of *279 congress, it might be a question who is to serve, *and whether the Speaker of the House of Representatives, then extinct, could be deemed the person intended. The mode of electing the President appears to be well calculated to secure a discreet choice, and to avoid all those evils a Constitution, art. 2. sec. 1. b Act of Congress, March 1, 1792. • Constitution, art. 2. sec. 1. Act of Congress, March 1, 1792. which the partizans of monarchy have described, and the experience of other nations and past ages have too clearly shown to be the consequence of popular elections. Had the choice of President been referred at once, and directly, to the people at large, as one single community, there might have been reason to apprehend, and such no doubt was the sense of the convention, that it would have produced too violent a contest, and have been trying the experiment on too extended a scale for the public virtue, tranquillity and happiness. Had we imitated the practice of most of the southern states, in respect to their state executives, and referred the choice of the President to congress, this would have rendered him too dependent upon the immediate authors of his elevation, to comport with the requisite energy of his own department; and it would have laid him under temptation to indulge in improper intrigue, or to form a dangerous coalition with the legislative body, in order to secure his continuance in office. All elections by the representative body are peculiarly liable to produce combinations for sinister purposes. The constitution has avoided all these objections, by confiding the power of election to a small number of select individuals in each state, chosen only a few days before the election, and solely for that purpose. This would seem, prima facie, to be as wise a provision as the wisdom of man could have *devised, *280 to avoid all opportunity for foreign or domestic intrigue. These electors assemble in separate and distantly detached bodies, and they are constituted in a manner best calculated to preserve them free from all inducements to disorder, bias or corruption. There is no other mode of appointing the chief magistrate, under all the circumstances peculiar to our political condition, which appears to unite in itself so many unalloyed advantages. It must not be pronounced to be a perfect scheme of election, for it has not been sufficiently tried. The election of 1801 threatened the tranquillity of the Union; and the difficulty that occurred in that case in producing a constitutional choice, led to the amendment of the constitution on this very subject; but whether the amendment be for the better or for the worse, may be well doubted, and remains yet to be settled by the lights of experience. The constitution says, that each state is to appoint electors in such a manner as the legislature may direct; and in some of the states, the office. electors have been chosen by the legislature itself, in the mode prescribed by law. But it is to be presumed that there would be less opportunity for dangerous coalitions, and combinations for party, or ambitious or selfish purposes, if the choice of electors was referred to the people at large; and this seems now to be the sense and expression of public opinion and the general practice. His term of (4.) The President, thus elected, holds his office for the term of four years,a a period, perhaps, reasonably long for the purpose of making him feel firm and independent in the discharge of his trust, and to give stability and some degree of maturity to his system of administration. It is certainly short enough to place him under a due sense of dependence on the public approbation. The President is re-eligible for successive terms, but in practice he has never consented to be a candidate for a third election, and this usage has indirectly established, by the force of public opinion, a salutary limitation to his capacity of continuance in office. His salary. (5.) The support of the President is secured by a *281 provision *in the constitution, which declares, that he shall, at stated times, receive for his services a compensation, that shall neither be increased nor diminished, during the period for which he shall have been elected; and that he shall not receive, within that time, any other emolument from the United States, or any of them. This provision is intended to preserve the due independence and energy of the executive department. It would be in vain to declare that the different departments of government should be kept separate and distinct, while the legislature possessed a discretionary control over the salaries of the executive and judicial officers. This would be to disregard the voice of experience and the operation of invariable principles of human conduct. A control over a man's living is, in most cases, a control over his actions. The constitution of Virginia considered it as a fundamental axiom of government, that the three great and primary departments should be kept separate and distinct, so that neither of them exercised the powers properly belonging to the other. But without taking any precautions to preserve a Constitution, art. 2. sec. 1. b Art. 2. sec. 7. |