Two methods of choosing the presidential electors preceded the present system. It will be remembered that the Constitution 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 entitled. 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 circumstances, 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 entitled to a number of electors equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled 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.