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should at once return to their chamber and immediately proceed, without debate, to vote for President, and should not adjourn until they had made a selection. The counting, on the 11th of February, resulted as anticipated— Jefferson and Burr had each seventy-three votes. As soon as the presiding officer made the announcement, the House returned to their chamber and began to vote by States. Jefferson got eight States, Burr got six, and two (Vermont and

Maryland) were divided. This was the result of thirty-seven ballots, taken during a session extending from noon of the 11th, to noon of the 17th of the month. Intense solicitude was felt throughout the country, more particularly because of the reputation of Burr, who had suddenly sprung into prominence as a bold and unscrupulous leader. The dead-lock was broken on the thirty-eighth ballot, when Jefferson got Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee-ten States. Burr got New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut-four States. Delaware and South Carolina voted blank.

This contest made vividly apparent the necessity of some law or rule requiring the electors to state the office as well as the man for whom they voted, so that the tellers might know which was for President and which for Vice-President. Therefore, as soon as Congress met in December, 1803, the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution was proposed, requiring separate votes, so certified, for the two offices. The amendment was ratified and proclaimed Sept. 25, 1804, in time for the Presidential election of that year. The election of 1804 was almost informal. Of 176 votes Jefferson had 162, and George Clinton, for Vice-President, the same. The other fourteen were for Charles Coatesworth Pinckney and Rufus King. There was nothing of consequence about the counting. The President of the Senate, however, for the first time, did not read the certificates, but broke the seals and handed them to one of the tell

ers, who read the contents. order of the States was officially recognized. On commencing the presiding officer said: "Perceiving no cause for preference in the order of opening the returns, I will pursue a geographical arrangement, and begin with the Northern States." gan with New Hampshire, and this form of calling the States was the rule until quite recently, when the alphabetical order came into use.

On this occasion the geographical

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In 1808, Madison came in as President without serious opposition, having 122 out of 175 votes. Now, for the first time, the distinction was made by the electors of President and VicePresident, and George Clinton was chosen to the latter place by 113 votes to 47 for Rufus King. Charles C. Pinckney had 47 votes for President.

At the counting of the vote, on February 8, 1809, the Senate for the first time went to the hall of the House of Representatives.

Madison's re-election in 1812 was also a matter of course. He had 138, and DeWitt Clinton 89 votes. Elbridge Gerry had 131, and Samuel Ingersoll 86 for Vice-President.

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Monroe's first election in 1816 was all one-sided. He had 183 votes, and Rufus King 34; Daniel D. Tompkins had 183 votes for Vice-President. When these votes were counted, February 12, 1817, Mr. Taylor, of New York, interrupted the call of the Electoral Colleges at Indiana." The Senate immediately retired, and Mr. Taylor stated that his objection to the vote of Indiana was that the electoral vote had been cast before Indiana had been admitted into the Union. The declaration of admission was made Dec. 16, 1816, and the vote had been given by the Indiana Electoral College a few days before. As the vote of the State could not in the slightest manner affect the result, neither house took any definite action, and the point, if there was any, was not accepted. The Senate returned, and the count was completed and announced in the usual form.

In 1820 a serious conflict over the vote of Missouri brought up again the question of the right to count, as well as the right to control the count. The conflict in that year over the extension of slave labor to the new States, and its adjustment by the Missouri Compromise, is fresh in most men's memories. In March, 1820, President Monroe signed the law admitting Misouri as a State, under certain conditions. She framed a Contitution, and claimed to be a State competent to vote in that ear for Presidential electors; but when Congress assembled nd her Constitution was received, it was objected to as exluding free blacks from the State. 'The contest over this ex

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clusion was long and bitter, and Mr. Clay finally compromised it on an undertaking that the Legislature of. the State should properly interpret the clause; but this compromise was not approved till March 2, 1821. Meanwhile the counting of the votes for Presidential electors had come on in the previous February, and the question had arisen what was to be done with the vote of Missouri, which lay on the table of the President of the Senate. To count that vote was to confess the admission of Missouri as a State. The excitement was most intense, the friends of Missouri claiming that her vote ought to be counted. A joint resolution was passed by the Senate, and adopted by the House, appointing a joint committee to ascertain and report on examining" the votes, and notifying the electors elected. Clay, Sergeant and Van Rensselaer were selected for the House. This joint committee reported a resolution, "that if any objection be made to the vote of Missouri, and the counting, or omitting to count, shall not essentially change the result of the election, then the votes shall be reported by the President" of the Senate, both with Missouri counted and with Missouri not counted, This formal instruc

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tion to the President of the Senate both houses adopted. John Randolph resisted it, because he desired judgment in favor of Missouri. Henry Clay upheld it, and said :

"The two houses were called on (in the Constitution) to enumerate the votes for President and Vice-President; of course they were called on to decide what are votes.'

When the Senate and the House met, the President of the Senate delivered the votes of the States to "the committee for counting the votes," which committee consisted of Barbour, of the Senate, and Smith with Sergeant, of the House; the official authentications were read twice, and the votes recorded by the Secretary of the Senate and Clerk of the House. When the electoral vote of Missouri was announced by the President of

the Senate, and handed to the tellers, Mr. Livermore, of New Hampshire, from the House, addressed the President and the Speaker, and objected to receiving the vote because "Missouri is not a State of this Union." On motion of a Senator, the Senate immediately, as in the former case, withdrew. The House was called to order, and Floyd, of Virginia, introduced a resolution that the vote of Missouri be received and counted. Then came an earnest debate, and a furious speech by Randolph, pleading for and storming over Missouri. Finally Clay moved to lay Floyd's resolution on the table; it was done, and then the Senate was informed that the House was ready to continue "the investigation." The Senate came back, the President of the Senate opened the certificate from Missouri and delivered it to the tellers, who read and registered it. Then all the votes having been counted and registered, the lists were handed up to the President, and he was announcing the result as to Missouri, as instructed by the two houses, when Floyd demanded to know whether the votes of Missouri were or were not counted. The President of the Senate stopped. Randolph rose in a fiery temper and addressed the Chair. The Speaker pronounced both him and Floyd out of order. The noise and confusion were very great; but finally the Speaker got the House in hand, and the President of the Senate declared James Monroe elected President, as every vote in the Union (except a single one from New Hampshire) had been cast for him; and there was no actual opposition to Tompkins for VicePresident. Randolph sprang again to his feet, but was compelled to take his seat. On motion of a Senator the Senate retired, and then Randolph began again a terrible torrent of invective, denouncing Congress for dodging the Missouri question, and the whole proceeding as irregular and illegal, because the whole number of votes had not been announced. Immediately a motion was made to adjourn the House, which was carried, and the subject was dropped.

In 1824 there was no choice of President by the people, and the excitement about the result in the House, increased by all sorts of rumors of bargains and bribery, was intense. The usual joint resolution was passed, and the Houses met, February 10, 1825, for counting, John Gaillard, of South Carolina, presiding. On this occasion the presiding officer opened two packets from each State, the one sent by mail and the one brought by messenger. One of them was read by Mr. Gazewell, the teller for the Senate, while the other copy was followed by Mr. Taylor, of New York, and the figures written down by Philip P. Barbour, the teller on the part of the House. The

figures were also taken down by the Clerks of the two houses. When the report was finished, it was read in detail by Mr. Gaillard-Adams, 84; Jackson, 99; Crawford, 41; Clay, 37. He then announced that no person had received a majority of the votes given for President; that Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams and William H. Crawford, were the three persons having the highest number of votes, and that the remaining duties in the choice of a President of the United States devolved upon the House of Representatives. He then declared that John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, had received a majority of the votes of all the electors for Vice-President, and was duly elected. The Senate then retired, and the House at once proceeded to vote. Thirteen States voted for Adams, seven for Jackson, and four for Crawford, and the Speaker (Henry Clay) announced that John Quincy Adams had been duly chosen President, for four years, from the 3d of March, 1825.

The colleges of 1829 and 1833, that elected Jackson moved along in the beaten track without incident worthy of note.

In the count in 1837, when Van Buren was elected President, there was no choice for the second office. For President the vote was: Van Buren, 170;_Harrison, 73; White, 26; Webster, 14; and Mangum, II. For Vice-President, Richard M. Johnson had 147, just one-half the whole number. The President of the Senate (John Bell) declared Van Buren elected, and added: "As no person has a majority of the whole vote for Vice-President there is no choice. Richard M. Johnson and Francis Granger have the highest votes, and it is for the Senate to elect." In such case the vote is not taken by States, but each Senator votes as he pleases. The result was: Full Senate, 52; majority, 27; legal quorum, 35; present, 49; for Johnson, 33; for Granger, 16; and the presiding officer declared Johnson duly elected Vice-President. There was a little question about the reception of the vote of Michigan, the latest addition to the Union, but as her three votes made no possible difference, the objection was dropped.

Heretofore there had been no especial formalities observed in the meeting of the two Houses, except that the House members went to the Senate or the Senators to the House, all at once. But when the time for meeting, in February, 1841, arrived, the Senate formed, with their Sergeant-at-Arms at the head, then the VicePresident, with the Secretary of the Senate on the left, then the Chief Clerk, bearing the electoral votes, and then the Senators, two by two. The procession was met in the rotunda by the House Sergeant-at-Arms, who led it down the broad aisle. The Speaker received the Vice-President on the steps of his stand,

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