Civil Government in the United States Considered with Some Reference to Its Origins Part 27

a. Its relation to the people.

b. The term of service.

c. Qualifications of those who may vote for representatives.

d. Qualifications for members.h.i.+p.

e. The three fifths compromise.

2. The Connecticut Compromise.

a. The powers of the different states in the House.

b. Opposition to the scheme of a new government.

c. What the advocates of a strong government wanted the Senate to represent.

d. A peculiar Connecticut system.

e. The suggestion of the Connecticut delegates.

f. The effect of the compromise.

3. The Senate:--

a. The number of senators.

b. The method of electing senators.

c. The voting of senators.

d. The term of service.

e. The maintenance of a continuous existence.

f. A comparison with the House in respect to nearness to the people.

g. Qualifications for members.h.i.+p.

4. Elections for senators and representatives:--

a. Times, places, and manner of holding elections.

b. The power of Congress over state regulations.

c. Electoral districts.

d. The temptation to unfairness in laying out electoral districts.

e. Ill.u.s.trations of unfair divisions.

f. "Gerrymandering."

g. Representatives at large.

h. The advantage of the district system.

i. The British system and its advantage.

5. The a.s.sembling of Congress:--

a. The time of a.s.sembling.

b. The interval between a member's election and the beginning of his service.

c. The disadvantage of this long interval.

6. What is the duty of each house in respect (1) to its members.h.i.+p, (2) its rules, (3) its records, and (4) its adjournment.

7. Give an account (1) of the pay of a congressman, (2) of his freedom from arrest, (3) of his responsibility for words spoken in debate, and (4) of his right to hold other office.

8. Tell (1) who preside in Congress, (2) how the name _speaker_ originated, (3) what the speaker's duties are, and (4) what his power in the government is.

9. Impeachment of public officers:--

a. Old English usage.

b. The conduct of an impeachment trial in England.

c. The conduct of an impeachment trial in the United States.

d. The penalty in case of conviction.

10. The provisions of the Const.i.tution for legislation:--

a. Bills for raising revenue.

b. How a bill becomes a law.

c. The president's veto power.

d. Pa.s.sage of a bill over the president's veto.

e. The "pocket veto."

f. The veto power in England.

g. The value of the veto power.

Section 3. _The Federal Executive._

[Sidenote: The t.i.tle of "President."]

In signing or vetoing bills pa.s.sed by Congress the president shares in legislation, and is virtually a third house. In his other capacities he is the chief executive officer of the Federal Union; and inasmuch as he appoints the other great executive officers, he is really the head of the executive department, not--like the governor of a state--a mere member of it. His t.i.tle of "President" is probably an inheritance from the presidents of the Continental Congress. In Franklin's plan of union, in 1754, the head of the executive department was called "Governor General," but that t.i.tle had an unpleasant sound to American ears. Our great-grandfathers liked "president" better, somewhat as the Romans, in the eighth century of their city, preferred "imperator" to "rex." Then, as it served to distinguish widely between the head of the Union and the heads of the states, it soon fell into disuse in the state governments, and thus "president" has come to be a much grander t.i.tle than "governor," just as "emperor" has come to be a grander t.i.tle than "king." [11]

[Footnote 11: See above p. 163.]

[Sidenote: The electoral college.]

There was no question which perplexed the Federal Convention more than the question as to the best method of electing the president. There was a general distrust of popular election for an office so exalted.

At one time the Convention decided to have the president elected by Congress, but there was a grave objection to this; it would be likely to destroy his independence, and make him the tool of Congress.

Finally the device of an electoral college was adopted. Each state is ent.i.tled to a number of electors equal to the number of its representatives in Congress, _plus_ two, the number of its senators. Thus to-day Delaware, with 1 representative, has 3 electors; Missouri, with 14 representatives, has 16 electors; New York, with 34 representatives, has 36 electors. No federal senator or representative, or any person holding civil office under the United States, can serve as an elector. Each state may appoint or choose its electors in such manner as it sees fit; at first they were more often than otherwise chosen by the legislatures, now they are always elected by the people. The day of election must be the same in all the states.

By an act of Congress pa.s.sed in 1792 it is required to be within 34 days preceding the first Wednesday in December. A subsequent act in 1845 appointed the Tuesday following the first Monday in November as election day.

By the act of 1792 the electors chosen in each state are required to a.s.semble on the first Wednesday in December at some place in the state which is designated by the legislature. Before this date the governor of the state must cause a certified list of the names of the electors to be made out in triplicate and delivered to the electors. Having met together they vote for president and vice-president, make out a sealed certificate of their vote in triplicate, and attach to each copy a copy of the certified list of their names. One copy must be delivered by a messenger to the president of the Senate at the federal capital before the first Wednesday in January; the second is sent to the same officer through the mail; the third is to be deposited with the federal judge of the district in which the electors meet. If by the first Wednesday in January the certificate has not been received at the federal capital, the secretary of state is to send a messenger to the district judge and obtain the copy deposited with him. The interval of a month was allowed to get the returns in, for those were not the days of railroad and telegraph. The messengers were allowed twenty-five cents a mile, and were subject to a fine of a thousand dollars for neglect of duty. On the second Wednesday in February, Congress is required to be in session, and the votes received are counted and the result declared.[12]

[Footnote 12: See note on p. 278.]

[Sidenote: The twelfth amendment (1804).]

At first the electoral votes did not state whether the candidates named in them were candidates for the presidency or for the vice-presidency.

Each elector simply wrote down two names, only one of which could be the name of a citizen of his own state. In the official count the candidate who had the largest number of votes, provided they were a majority of the whole number, was declared president, and the candidate who had the next to the largest number was declared vice-president. The natural result of this was seen in the first contested election in 1796, which made Adams president, and his antagonist vice-president. In the next election in 1800 it gave to Jefferson and his colleague Burr exactly the same number of votes. In such a case the House of Representatives must elect, and such intrigues followed for the purpose of defeating Jefferson that the country was brought to the verge of civil war. It thus became necessary to change the method. By the twelfth amendment to the const.i.tution, declared in force in 1804, the present method was adopted. The electors make separate ballots for president and for vice-president. In the official count the votes for president are first inspected. If no candidate has a majority, then the House of Representatives must immediately choose the president from the three names highest on the list. In this choice the house votes by states, each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose must consist of at least one member from two thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states is necessary for a choice. Then if no candidate for the vice-presidency has a majority, the Senate makes its choice from the two names highest on the list; a quorum for the purpose consists of two thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority of the whole number is necessary to a choice. Since this amendment was made there has been one instance of an election of the president by the House of Representatives,--that of John Quincy Adams in 1825; and there has been one instance of an election of the vice-president by the Senate,--that of Richard Mentor Johnson in 1837.

[Sidenote: The electoral commission (1877).]

One serious difficulty was not yet foreseen and provided for--that of deciding between two conflicting returns sent in by two hostile sets of electors in the same state, each list being certified by one of two rival governors claiming authority in the same state. Such a case occurred in 1877, when Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina were the scene of struggles between rival governments. Ballots for Tilden and ballots for Hayes were sent in at the same time from these states, and in the absence of any recognized means of determining which ballots to count, the two parties in Congress submitted the result to arbitration.

An "electoral commission" was created for the occasion, composed of five senators, five representatives, and five judges of the supreme court; and this body decided what votes were to be counted. It was a clumsy expedient, but infinitely preferable to civil war. The question of conflicting returns has at length been set at rest by the act of 1887, which provides that no electoral votes can be rejected in counting except by the concurrent action of the two houses of Congress.

[Sidenote: Presidential succession.]

The devolution of the presidential office in case of the president's death has also been made the subject of legislative change and amendment. The office of vice-president was created chiefly for the purpose of meeting such an emergency. Upon the accession of the vice-president to the presidency, the Senate would proceed to elect its own president _pro tempore_. An act of 1791 provided that in case of the death, resignation or disability of both president and vice-president, the succession should devolve first upon the president _pro tempore_ of the Senate and then upon the speaker of the House of Representatives, until the disability should be removed or a new election be held. But supposing a newly elected president to die and be succeeded by the vice-president before the a.s.sembling of the newly elected Congress; then there would be no president _pro tempore_ of the Senate and no speaker of the House of Representatives, and thus the death of one person might cause the presidency to lapse. Moreover the presiding officers of the two houses of Congress might be members of the party defeated in the last presidential election; indeed, this is often the case. Sound policy and fair dealing require that a victorious party shall not be turned out because of the death of the president and vice-president. Accordingly an act of 1886 provided that in such an event the succession should devolve upon the members of the cabinet in the following order: secretary of state, secretary of the treasury, secretary of war, attorney-general, postmaster-general, secretary of the navy, secretary of the interior.

This would seem to be ample provision against a lapse.

[Sidenote: Original purpose of the electoral college not fulfilled.]