History of the Origin, Formation, and Adoption of the Constitution of the United States, Vol. 2: With Notices of Its Principle FramersCurtis, George Ticknor
History
History of the Origin, Formation, and Adoption of the Constitution of the United States, Vol. 2: With Notices of Its Principle Framers
Curtis, George Ticknor
Constitutional history -- United States
Such was the method devised by the framers of the Constitution for
filling the executive office. Experience has required some changes to
be made in it. It has been found that to require the electors to
designate the persons for whom they vote as the President and
Vice-President, respectively, has a tendency to secure a choice by the
electoral votes, and therefore to prevent the election from being
thrown into the House of Representatives; and it has also been deemed
expedient, when the election has devolved on the House of
Representatives, to confine the choice of the States to the three
highest candidates on the list returned by the electors. These changes
were made by the twelfth of the amendments to the Constitution,
adopted in the year 1804, which also provides that the person having
the greatest number of the electoral votes for President shall be
deemed to be chosen by the electors, if such number be a majority of
the whole number of electors appointed. If a choice is not made by the
electors, or by the House of Representatives, before the fourth day of
March next following the election, the amendment declares that the
Vice-President shall act as President, "as in the case" (provided by
the Constitution) "of the death or other constitutional disability of
the President."
In the appointment of the Vice-President, the amendment has also
introduced some changes. The person having the greatest number of the
electoral votes as Vice-President, if the number is a majority of all
the electors appointed, is to be the Vice-President; but if no choice
is thus effected, the Senate are to choose the Vice-President from the
two highest candidates on the list returned by the electors; but a
quorum for this purpose is to consist of two thirds of the whole
number of senators, and a majority of the whole number is made
necessary to a choice. The amendment further adopts the same
qualifications for the office of Vice-President as had been
established by the Constitution for the office of President.[330]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account