The hereditary and perpetual principles which prevail in all the governments of Europe for ever destroys all accountability on the part of the executive to the people; hence the English maxim, "The king can do no wrong." He is, by their constitution, placed above inquiry and accountability. In this country, however, there is accountability in all the departments of the government. The executive is elective, and his office of limited duration; so that if he err or offend, he may soon be held amenable at the bar of public opinion.

3d. The office is limited.―This principle, like that of election, is necessary to give a full and perfect control of the public opinion over the executive, and make it responsible.

4th. The style of President is very appropriate to the office of one whose duty it is to preside over the administration of public affairs.

Of the Vice-President we shall speak hereafter.

§ 288. Clause 2d. Each state shall appoint, in such a manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the state may be entitled in the Congress; but no senator or representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.

289. The electors are to be appointed in the manner which the Legislature shall direct. In the different states, different modes of electing the electors have prevailed. In some, the district mode has prevailed, as in the state of Maryland; in others, as in Delaware, they are elected by the Legislature itself; but generally they are elected by general ticket. The first has been found to fritter away the power of the state, and the second seemed to take it away from the people.

The number of electors a state is entitled to is equal to the whole number of senators and representatives;

thus, Ohio has 19 representatives and 2 senators; consequently she is entitled to 21 electors.

No qualification is required of an elector, except he shall not hold an office of profit or trust under the government of the United States.

§ 290. The next clause in the Constitution has been abrogated by an amendment, passed by the constitutional number of states in 1801, which we shall presently recite.

That clause of the Constitution required that the electors should vote for two persons, without designating either of them for President or Vice-President. That the person having the greatest number of votes, if that be a majority of the electors, shall be President; and if there be more than one who has such a majority, and have also an equal number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately choose by ballot one of them to be President; but if no one has the majority, then from the five highest the House shall choose the President. Each state in the House shall have one vote. After the choice of President, the person having the highest number of votes shall be Vice-President, and if two have an equal number of votes, the Senate shall choose between them.

§ 291. As in the mode here pointed out there was no distinction made between President and Vice-President, it follows that, in party conflicts, where the whole party support one ticket, it must necessarily happen, that unless a vote be dropped, two persons would have an equal number of votes, and consequently the election devolve upon the House of Representatives. This difficulty actually occurred at the election of 1801, at which Jefferson and Burr received the same number of votes. The House of Representatives, being divided by violent party feelings, protracted the election through thirty-six ballotings, and at last made the election only

in consequence of the danger of vacating the executive office. The result of that canvass gave rise to an amendment of the Constitution, prescribing the present mode of election.

The following is the amendment:

The

§ 292. 12th Amendment to the Constitution. 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 as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President; and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons 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 the 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 the 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 a 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 from 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 fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in

case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President.

293. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President shall be the Vice-President, if such a 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 that 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.

§ 294. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of VicePresident of the United States.

§ 295. By this arrangement, the competitors for the vice-presidency were no longer candidates likewise for the presidency; different persons are to be distinctly voted for as candidates for each office. This is said to diminish the dignity of the office of Vice-President, but it seems to be absolutely necessary to destroy the very confusion of persons and offices which occurred before.

The Senate are at liberty now to choose the VicePresident immediately after counting the votes, which before they could not have done without a choice of President. This is certainly an improvement.

§ 296. The mode of choosing the President does not yet seem to be perfect. A discussion might arise, on opening the certificates, as to the competency of the electors, the authority of the votes, &c., for which the Constitution has made no provision.1

An instance of defect is put in the case in which an equality of votes should be given for more persons than the number from which the choice is to be made.2 § 297. 3d Clause. The Congress may determine the

13 Story's Comm. 327.

2 Idem.

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.

The reason of this clause is obvious. Were the time of giving the votes different in the different states, there would be the greatest possible room for intrigue among the electors, and as their body is small, some of them might be influenced by undue means.

The power of determining the time of choosing the electors is also given to Congress. They have not, however, so exercised as to appoint the same time. In 1792, they enacted that the states should choose their electors within 34 days of the first Wednesday in December. The consequence is, that within that time the elections are still made at different periods. It would seem that, to prevent all possibility of improper influence over the people, the elections should all have been held on the same day. As it is, those which are held last must be more or less influenced by those which are held first, upon the principle of a common desire in human nature to be on the strong side.

§ 298. 4th Clause. No person, except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.

That the chief executive officer should be a citizen of the United States, and a native, is unquestionable. The age of thirty-five is young enough. The Presidents elected have all been more than that; most of them between sixty and seventy. Indeed, there will always be enough of the fire of human passions infused into the executive by partisans without the aid of the warmth and ambition of youth.

§ 299. By residence in the United States is not meant