member or members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. In every case after the choice of President the person having the greatest number of votes of the electors shall be the Vice-President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal votes, the Senate shall chose from them by ballot the Vice-President.

"The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes, which day shall be the same throughout the United States."

No other clause in the Constitution has worked in a manner so foreign to the expectation of the framers of the Constitution as has this one. The intention of the framers of the Constitution was to have the President elected only indirectly by the people; the people were to elect the Presidential electors, men of character and standing in the community, who were then, on their own judgment, to elect the President. As a matter of fact, the people from the start took upon themselves the power of choosing their President. By the third election, that of 1796, regular party candidates were in the field and the Presidential electors were reduced to mere figureheads. Since this time these electors have merely registered the dictates of the National Convention of the political party by which they were nominated. This unbroken custom, by which electors are obliged to vote for the candidates of their party, is the nearest approach in our institutions to anything corresponding to the so-called conventions of the English Constitution.

§ 172. The Twelfth Amendment.-One serious defect in the method of electing the President and Vice-President early made itself manifest. As each elector voted for two men for the office of President and as each party had two candidates (one of whom they intended for Vice-President), it was soon seen that the natural result of the electors voting their straight party ticket would be a tie vote for the position of President. This was what actually occurred in 1800, and which resulted in the long contest in the House of Representatives between Jefferson and Burr. To remedy this defect the Twelfth Amendment was submitted to

the States in 1803 and adopted in 1804. By this amendment provision was made for separate balloting for President and Vice-President. The Twelfth Amendment is as follows:

"The electors shall meet in their respective States and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for President and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify and transmit sealed to the seat of Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate; 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 the 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 of 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 4th 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.

"The person having the greatest number of votes as VicePresident 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.

"But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of

President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States."

Presidential electors have, in the past, been chosen in many different ways, three methods in particular having been common in the early days of the Republic, by State Legislatures; by the people voting by districts; and by the people by general vote of the State." Since 1832 they have uniformly been chosen in the last named manner except that in South Carolina they were chosen by the Legislature until after the Civil War, and in Michigan they were chosen by districts in the election of 1892. The manner of choosing these electors is entirely in the hands of the different States and is not subject to the revision or control of the general Government.10 Presidential electors are State officials and not Federal officials. Congress, however, may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes, which day shall be the same throughout the United States.11

§ 173. Counting the votes for President.-There is an uncertainty in the Constitution as to the procedure at the counting of the votes for President and as to the method to be used in determining the legality of any disputed votes. It has been argued by different factions at different times that the decision rested with the Vice-President, with the two houses of Congress voting together, and with the two houses of Congress voting separately. The latter would seem to be the correct view, but it fails to provide for cases where a deadlock might arise between the two houses on the question of accepting or rejecting certain votes. This question, which brought the country almost to the verge of Civil War on the disputed election of 1876, has never been passed upon by the United States Courts. The dispute in 1877 was settled by the creation of the Electoral Commission, a temporary and unsatisfactory expedient which cannot become a precedent.

§ 174. Required qualifications of the President.-No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States tion, Art. II., Sec. I., Clause 4. "McPherson v. Blacker, 146 U.

McPherson v. Blacker, 146 U.

S. 25. 10 Id.

at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, is eligible to the office of President.12 The second alternative was inserted largely for the purpose of making Alexander Hamilton eligible for this office. What is meant by a natural born citizen is partly defined by the clause in the Fourteenth Amendment, which provides that: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." The clause, "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof," excludes from the operation of this rule the children born in this country to the Ambassadors or other Public Ministers of foreign countries. Children born abroad of parents who are citizens of the United States are entitled to United States citizenship, if they choose to claim it. A President must also be 35 years of age and have been fourteen years a resident within the United States.13 The required qualifications are the same for the Vice-President as for the President.14

§ 175. Succession to the Presidency.-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 said office, the same devolves upon the Vice-President, and Congress has the power to provide by law for the succession to the Presidency in case of the removal, death, resignation or inability both of the President and Vice-President.15 Congress has twice legislated on this subject; the first law vested the succession first in the President pro tempore of the Senate, and next in the Speaker of the House. The present law, passed in 1887, provides for the succession of the Presidency of those members of the Cabinet who possess the necessary qualifications in the following order: Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of War, Attorney General, Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of the Interior, Postmaster General.

The Vice-President has never assumed the powers and duties of the President on account of the President's "inability to dis

12 United States Constitution, Art. II., Sec. I., Clause 5.

13 United States Constitution, Art. II., Sec. I., Clause 5.

14 Fourteenth Amendment, last

sentence.

15 United States Constitution, Art. II., Sec. I., Clause 6.

charge the powers and duties of the said office;" and the question when he would be authorized to perform such duties and powers under this clause is still one of the undetermined problems of the Constitution.

§ 176. Compensation of President.-The Constitution provides that the President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a compensation which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he may have been elected, and he shall not receive within that period any other emolument from the United States, or any of them.16 This clause has no application to the case where, after a President has been reëlected, but before he has entered upon his new term, the salary of the President is increased to take effect from the commencement of the new term.17

§ 177. Oath of office.-The following oath of office is prescribed for the President: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."18 In the sixth article it is provided that:

"The Senator and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

§ 178. Powers and duties of the President. The position of the President of the United States does not exactly correspond to the position of any official in the government of any other country. In particular it does not correspond either with that of the King or of the Prime Minister in England. "In the distribution of political power between the great departments of government, there is such a wide difference between the power conferred on the President of the United States and the author

16 United States Constitution,

Art. II., Sec. I., Clause 7.

"This was done in 1873.

18 United States Constitution, Art. II., Sec. I., Clause 8.