A History of the Republican Party Part 21

1856. Edwin D. Morgan, New York.

1860. Edwin D. Morgan, New York.

1864. Marcus L. Ward, New Jersey.

1868. William Claflin, Ma.s.sachusetts.

1872. Edwin D. Morgan, New York.

1876. { Zachariah Chandler, Michigan.

{ J. Donald Cameron, Pennsylvania.

1880. { M. Jewell, Connecticut.

{ Dwight M. Sabin, Minnesota.

1884. B. F. Jones, Pennsylvania.

1888. M. S. Quay, Pennsylvania.

1892. Thomas H. Carter, Montana.

1896. Marcus A. Hanna, Ohio.

1900. Marcus A. Hanna, Ohio.

THE NATIONAL REPUBLICAN LEAGUE.

The National Republican League, an organization of the greatest help to the party in National and State Campaigns, was organized in Chickering Hall, New York City, December 15-17, 1887. It is made up of the active Republican Clubs of the country, which are first organized into a State League, and then joined in the National League. It now has a members.h.i.+p of fully 500,000. The first President of the League was Jas. P. Foster, of New York, who was most active in the founding of the organization.

National Conventions of the League have been held as follows: Baltimore, 1889; Nashville, 1890; Cincinnati, 1891; Buffalo, 1892; Louisville, 1893; Denver, 1894; Cleveland, 1895; Milwaukee, 1896; Detroit, 1897; Omaha, 1898; St. Paul, 1900; Chicago, 1902. The Conventions have been held biennially since 1898. The 1904 Convention will be held at Indianapolis. The following have served as Presidents of the National Republican League:

1889-1890. Jas. P. Foster, New York.

1890-1892. John M. Thurston, Nebraska.

1892-1893. John S. Clarkson, Iowa.

1893-1895. W. W. Tracy, Illinois.

1895-1896. E. A. McAlpin, New York.

1896-1897. D. D. Woodmansee, Ohio.

1897-1898. L. J. Crawford, Kentucky.

1898-1900. Wm. Stone, California.

1900-1902. I. N. Hamilton, Illinois.

1902. J. Hampton Moore, Pennsylvania.

REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTIONS.

TIME. PLACE. NOMINEES.

June 17-18, 1856. Philadelphia, Pa. { John C. Fremont, Cal.

{ Wm. L. Dayton, N. J.

May 16-18, 1860. Chicago, Ill. { Abraham Lincoln, Ill.

{ Hannibal Hamlin, Me.

June 7-8, 1864. Baltimore, Md. { Abraham Lincoln, Ill.

{ Andrew Johnson, Tenn.

May 20-22, 1868. Chicago, Ill. { Ulysses S. Grant, Ill.

{ Schuyler Colfax, Ind.

June 5-6, 1872. Philadelphia, Pa. { Ulysses S. Grant, Ill.

{ Henry Wilson, Ma.s.s.

June 14-16, 1876. Cincinnati, O. { Rutherford B. Hayes, Ohio.

{ Wm. A. Wheeler, N. Y.

June 2-8, 1880. Chicago, Ill. { Jas. A. Garfield, Ohio.

{ Chester A. Arthur, N. Y.

June 3-6, 1884. Chicago, Ill. { James G. Blaine, Me.

{ John A. Logan, Ill.

June 19-25, 1888. Chicago, Ill. { Benj. Harrison, Ind.

{ Levi P. Morton, N. Y.

June 7-11, 1892. Minneapolis, Minn. { Benj. Harrison, Ind.

{ Whitelaw Reid, N. Y.

June 16-18, 1896. St. Louis, Mo. { Wm. McKinley, Ohio.

{ Garret A. Hobart, N. J.

June 19-21, 1900. Philadelphia, Pa. { Wm. McKinley, Ohio.

{ Theodore Roosevelt, N. Y.

June 21, 1904. Chicago, Ill.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.

The Const.i.tution requires each State to 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 ent.i.tled in 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 original clause in the Const.i.tution provided that after the electors had been chosen they should elect the President as follows: The electors shall meet in their respective States and vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves. A list of the votes shall then be sent to the President of the Senate; the person having the greatest number of votes shall be President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; but in the event of no person having a majority, or in case of a tie vote, the House of Representatives shall immediately choose the President. In every case, after the choice of President, the person having the greatest number of votes shall be Vice-President. But, if there should remain two or more having equal votes, then the Senate shall choose from them by ballot the Vice-President.

Under this clause in the original Const.i.tution there were four elections: Was.h.i.+ngton (two terms), John Adams and Jefferson. The last election (Jefferson) brought on a contest that resulted in the Twelfth Amendment of the Const.i.tution. It will be noticed that the original clause did not require the electors to name the person they voted for as President and the person voted for as Vice-President; they were simply to vote for two persons. On counting the electoral votes as a result of the election of 1800, it was found that Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia, and Aaron Burr, of New York, had an equal electoral vote--73. This threw the election into the House, and a bitter contest followed, which resulted in the victory of Jefferson, making Burr Vice-President; and the curious situation was present of an aspirant to the presidency occupying the subordinate position of Vice-President.

To correct this evil, the Twelfth Amendment was proposed, ratified by a sufficient number of States, and went into effect in 1804, and has governed the presidential elections to this day. This amendment provides that the electors, instead of voting for two candidates for President, shall distinctly name in their ballots the person voted for as President and the person voted for as Vice-President. The certificates of the ballots are opened by the President of the Senate in the presence of the Senate and the House. If no person have a majority, then the House chooses the President, each State having one vote. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President shall be Vice-President. But if no person has a majority, then the Senate chooses the Vice-President.

But no person const.i.tutionally ineligible to the office of President is eligible to the vice-presidency.

Since the Jefferson-Burr contest there has been but one election by the House of Representatives, that of 1824, when none of the candidates having received a majority of the electoral vote, the House, between Andrew Jackson, John Q. Adams and William H. Crawford, selected John Q.

Adams as President. John Q. Adams was a son of John Adams, the second President, and this has been the only time in the history of the nation that father and son have occupied the Presidential chair. There has been but one instance of an election of a Vice-President by the Senate, that of R. M. Johnston, in 1837.

Two methods of choosing the presidential electors preceded the present system. It will be remembered that the Const.i.tution gives the various Legislatures the power of naming the manner in which the electors shall be chosen. Originally, the Legislatures exercised this power themselves; then the district system was tried; that is, each voter cast a ballot for three electors, two for the State at large (representing the Senators) and one for the Congressional district in which he lived. The system now in vogue is an election by a "general ticket;" that is to say, each voter uses a ballot on which are printed the names of all the electors to which his State is ent.i.tled.

The tendency of the district system was to divide the electoral vote, while the "general ticket" tends to a solid vote from each State. In the "Mugwump" campaign of 1884--Cleveland-Blaine--no State divided its electoral votes. No State divided its vote in the Harrison-Cleveland election of 1888. In 1892, owing to the People's Party candidate breaking the vote, and owing to other circ.u.mstances, five States divided their votes. In the McKinley-Bryan contest of 1896 the votes were only divided in two States--California and Kentucky--where the popular voting was so close that each State named one Bryan elector.

The present system of naming electors increases the chances of electing Presidents who have received less than a majority of the popular vote, and it is even possible to elect a President who has received less than a plurality of votes, which has happened in two instances--the election of Hayes and Benjamin Harrison. It can be seen in the following instances how both of the cases may happen: A candidate may carry Kansas by a majority of 43,000, as Blaine did in 1884, and gain nine electoral votes, and lose New York, with its thirty-six electoral votes by 1,149 popular votes, as happened in the same election; or in 1896, when Bryan carried Colorado by 133,000 majority and gained four electoral votes, and perhaps lost twelve electoral votes in Kentucky by the narrow margin of 281 popular votes.

The following Presidents have failed to receive a majority of the total popular vote: Adams in 1824 (elected by the House), Polk in 1844, Taylor in 1848, Buchanan in 1856, Lincoln in 1860, Hayes in 1876, Garfield in 1880, Cleveland in 1884, Harrison in 1888, and Cleveland in 1892.

McKinley, in 1896, was the first President since 1872 to receive a clear majority of the popular votes.

Only States vote at the presidential elections, each State being ent.i.tled to a number of electors equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be ent.i.tled in Congress. New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Ohio rank in the order named as to largest number of electors. Since the first election of Jackson, in 1828, no President has been chosen in direct opposition to the combined votes of New York and Pennsylvania.

The theory of the electoral college, as conceived by the Federal Convention, was never realized. The aim was to const.i.tute this peculiar body as a check on the popular excitement attendant on these elections.

It was meant that the electors should meet some time after the election day and calmly discuss the merits of the best men. Under the present system, the National Conventions of the various parties present their candidates; on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November of every fourth year the people vote for the electors, and the result is known the next day, although the electors do not meet until the second Monday in January next after the election. There is nothing in the Const.i.tution to compel an elector to vote for any particular candidate, yet custom is often stronger than law, and the elector who would frustrate the wishes of the people who elected him would be guilty of the basest of political treachery, although no law could punish him.

In the early history of the country, presidential candidates were first presented by the party leaders, then by Congressional caucuses, by State Legislatures, local conventions, and since 1832 the method of nominating has been by National Conventions of the various parties. Each State is generally allowed twice as many delegates as it has electors. In the Democratic Conventions a two-thirds vote of the delegates is necessary for choice, while the Republican Conventions only require a majority vote of the delegates for choice.

The Const.i.tution requires, among other things, that the President shall be thirty-five years of age. Mr. Roosevelt is the youngest President we have had, being three years younger than Ulysses S. Grant, who was forty-seven years old when inaugurated. The eldest was William H.

Harrison, who was sixty-eight years of age when inaugurated.

The manner of counting the electoral vote is prescribed in the Twelfth Amendment to the Const.i.tution as follows:

"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 person having the greatest number of votes for President shall be President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers, 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. And 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 const.i.tutional disability of the President.

The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President shall be the 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 shall be necessary to a choice."