The election of 2000 is not the first disputed election in American history and as an army of litigators deploy across the land, it will not be the last. As stories of voter regisration irregularities appear one wonders if this isn't a new wrinkle and perhaps another unexpected means of determining the winner might constitutionally forced if Nevada, Michigan, Ohio, Colorado and Florida's results are declared null when voters cannot be verified during a recount challenge. While the MSM focuses on a repeat of 2000 tactics, perhaps the GOP has their eye on another consitutional means within their grasp to break a deadlock.
The House of Representatives.
The first election which ended in a dispute was the election of the 1800 our fourth election. In that election the Federalists nominated John Adams to be President and the Charles Pinckney to be Vice President. The Democratic-Republicans nominated Jefferson as President and Aaron Burr as Vice President. The Democratic-Republicans made the mistake of assigning the same number of electoral votes to both Jefferson as Burr. Thus no one had the majority of votes, and the election was turned over to the House of Representatives.
The House deliberated from February 11th to February 17th and voted 36 times. The Federalist had decided to support Burr, whom many felt was a lesser evil then the "dangerous" Jefferson. They would have won since they were the majority of the outgoing House. However the constitution called for the election of President by the House to be on a state by state basis, and the Federalist could not carry enough states. On the 36th ballot Jefferson was selected, but the country had come very close to having Aaron Burr as President. In the immediate aftermath of this election, there was a call to amend the constitutional provision requiring double balloting for President and Vice President. It was eliminated by the passage of the 12th amendment, which was approved by Congress in December 1803 and ratified in time for the election of 1804.
The election of 1824 was the second and last election decided by the House of Representatives. The four major candidates were John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, William H Crawford, and Andrew Jackson. When the electors were counted Jackson had 99, Adams 84, Crawford 41 and Clay 37. The election was thrown to the House of Representatives with the three leading candidates competing.
All of the candidates hoped for support from Clay and his supporters. Before the House met a scandal erupted when a Philadelphia newspaper published an anonymous letter claiming that Clay would support Adams in return for an appointment as Secretary of State. Clay vigorously denied this. Adams won on the first ballot of the House of Representatives, and later appointed Clay as Secretary of State.
Our founding fathers designed our system of government when the people did not have access to information in a nano-second, thus our government has the mechanism to endure a longer then expected transition. However, post-2000, does the body politic have the patience to bear witness to election by the House?
While I certainly agree with Stephen's anger and disgust, I do not dispair of destroying the Union, like a ill-tempered child denied his wishes, we are simply pushing the boundries of our founding documents. I believe they will stand long after Election 2000 and 2004 fade from memory...but then I am a fool. And wouldn't it be fun to watch? Mental health authorities would have to throw a net over the three Al's (Gore, Sharpton and Franken).
Posted by feste at October 22, 2004 03:33 PM | TrackBack