5:'( li(IL- __ --------

Seve·ral methods or choosing the president orth€', United States "",ere disc.ussed at:'the Constitutiona:LConvention~ Some delegates proposed that Congress choose t.he pres-ident. But others wanted a strong presidEnt who would not be under the control of: thelegislative branc.h· MQther-idea was to let the people vote for the president in adirect election. Thi.sprop.osalwas dropped because of feax:s that the AlD.erican peopl~might not be !Jell enough informed on candidates and issues to make a wise chod.eo ,

Finally a ~(:j~romi.s:e. was reache4 thatprqyicied fox;- the indirect election Qxt:hepresident. .Each state was given a number of "electoral voce s" equal to the t.otalnuaibe r of Senat:<:Jrs and Representatives that it had :in Congress. Thus ~ q. state with alarge population 1. ike New York got more electoral votes than a slllall,stata likeDelaware.

Whencitizens cast tbeir ballots in a pres.idential election, they are actuallyvoting for people called "electors" ~.h()are pledged to a certain candidate, Wi.t:h fe,,,exceptions over the years, the pr es Lderrtd a.l candidate who has received the most:"popular voces."fratnth$ citizens of a state has been awarded all of that state • selectoral votes.

The el.ec.tors ~ho choose thiO! pres:hient and vice-president form what :is called theElectoral. College.. T:"1eelectors in each st;at~1lleet in Deeemberin their state ca.pital.They cast their ba..11ots and send the results toC()ngress in Washington, D.C. The votesare tallied and the candidate with a majoritywL.'18. the election. If no candidate hasa majo·rity.thenthe !icuse of R~presenta.tives ch.o.osesthe p"t:'e$iden:t, with each statehaving one ';"Ybte. If no vice-presidential candidate has a majority ~ the Stanate c'hoosesthe v:ice-presiden.-c;,. with each Senator. having one vote.

THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE

Cha-r;;; QuestioI:'.s . Use chenutilbers on "the chart. and the backgzound information above,to help you fill:i.n the remaillitl8 spaces on the chart.

Nullll>~~o£IIl;i?resentatives

7

Sate'snectOrillVotes

. '1

POEo;L"l:" Votesfor

Cailcl.iTar:"e A2,5002.0003,000

:E'.oplllar '.r"telSfOl:.

c..od:1date B- C},g;s2.500

Elecco·c21~crrC;utd. A......LL..

E~ect_c:r:alVo"Ce.s f=Cand. B=:s:

35.

)j- (1)~

If the election had involved only the three states above -- :instead of all ofthe states in the count!')- which candidat.e would have wc<n~ ;'fuy?

Howis it possible for a candidate to win apreslciential election de~p.ite havingfewet:popular votes than his opponent? (see chart above)

;;( (3) Three times in our nation! s hIstory the presi.den.ti.al candIda t.e w:i.th the mostpopular votes has lost the election. Each failed to. gain a rn.ajority of theelect:oral votes. Some people ,,¥ant to do away with the Electoral College and letthe nationwide popular vote de.term:lne who wins the presidency .Otherspref ex tokeep the Electoral College system, but split a statels electoral votes accordingto the popu l.ax vote for each .candidate. This would prevent one cand:!.date wi.tb anarrow popular vote mal-gin. in a state f rom getting all of that: state's electoralvo t.es , Do yOU think that the Electoral Colleg •••-: should. be kept as is. changed in.some way. or eliminated. a1 together? Explain your answer.

~. 51A -

Thg Elections of 1.789~ 1792. 1796, and 1800

:rt"le first !ourpr:esidential elections were held a;;:c.orciin.g b3 the rules set, forthin ArtLeLe Xl. section: 1. of the Constit\~ticn, E<'l.ch m.,.mber of the Electoral CollegE;was to vote for two candidates :for president. The candidate receiving the most: 'totes'\lould become pres:ident~ and the person with the second highest tot~1. would becomevice-president. .

In the Elec:t1.on of: 1800~ Thomas Jefferson and Aaron' Burrwer.€ the presidentialand vice-p'r.esident:ial candidates for the Democratic.-Repuhlican Party. they ran againstJohn Adams andCharlesPi:nckP.ey of the :dval Fec1eralistParty. .Jefferson ami BurrW<'.>rlthe elect:ton. -aut each received]3 elec~o~$,:1"~QtfZS which meant that th~y vere tied f.nthe race for pre$:i:..dent:. Even though Jefferson .",;as supposed to be. t.he candic.ate £<;<1'president. the Rouse of Representatives had to make the final decisicqu. T1i.~Rousechose Jefie1:~wn over Burr on the 36.th ballot:. Tne 12.th Amendment;was then add.edto t.ha Constitution requiring each elector to vot e separately for president a~d\rice,-'president.

Questions Use the information just read, along with theele.ctioD -results below, toanswer the questions at the bottom of the page,

tandidate~l.e~tion of P89

Party Electoral. Votes~

3435

George 'W:ashiligtOb.John AdCiIDSOther candidates

nonenonenone

Electiq-Q. {,)f 1792

I~.r!-.Y .Elec"1:cral.Vote-s-1.32r:50

Cand Lda t.e

George\\la shington.Iohn Adams(;.eorge Clinton

Fedel.';~J.J.stFederal is.tDemocratic.-

R~puh Ii.canOther candidates 5

Elec tji,on of 1796.. q... . •..

E.l~~tion of 1800'

Candidate ElectoralVotes--rr-

68John Ad.aulsThomas Jefferson

:FedeJt~j~Lt.stDe'm.(}cl::Stic--

RepublicanFederalist'Democratic-

Re'Pub:ij.c~n5930

rho~s Pbck,n;eyAaron Burrbthel: candidates 48

(1) Alt.hough not o~ficialiy belongiug to a pol..itic.al party, George Washi::,gton I sideaswere most tlos¢ly associated :with those of the Party"

Both in L7a9 and 179i. Washington was voted for by .... (<111~H€!;ct(rrs. most electors, half of t,?e ele(>t.ors) :tn the Elect.oral College.

____ was the last pres:ident elected hy the Federa,1:Lst Party.

The Dni:ted States Constitution. lists election rules but says nothing aboutcandidates belQnging to. _

(2)

!0 (3)~ / (4)

~\3~ (5)

(5)

Candidate Party Electoral-----Vot.es73Tholt;-asJeffersQti Democrat:i('.-

ReyuhlicanDemocratic-

RepublicanFe.deralistFederalistFedet:alist

Aaron Burr

Jotm. Adamstha::-les Pim::kney,Jqnn .Jay

The h<1.U to ded ..rle the 'id':l.luer of t:heElection of 1.800.--~----"---was added to the-----------------Beca.use of the Election of lSOO,the

Constitution.In t1re Electioi1 of 1796, the victorious canclid2tespresident <"'ere: f·r.om-:-~::-'--::c----:----;:---'-~";""--""'----E~:r:E_ies> the .$mr,e£ol.itical?~ti~£!.).

(7) for pres:!..dent and vic._e-·(iif;'erent pot.~t.ic.al

51;8

-~

Election of 1804-Listed bel~"w- are the results of th€ balloting in the. Electoral College in 1804>

This was the firs --r election held unde.r the guid~l.ines established by the 12th .A:mend-ment;, EJ.ectors v<:::Jt:ed separately fer presidential and vic:e-president:i.al candida.t.es inorder to avo:tda ~ie similar to the one that occurr.ed between Jefferson and Bu'r r in1.800. Popular vo--r::es are not given because accurate records ,,,e.re not: kept until theElec tion of 1324.

Dn the map 00 the next page ;(1) CoLor., or shade with a pen or pencil, the states won by the Demcc-rat:i.c-

RepUbli.cam; (Thomas Jeffe-rson and G¢orge Clinton).Note: ~"11e Democratic~RepubliCans received 9 of Marfla.nd t s 11 electoralvot.e s., .Color or shade most (}f Maryland to show that the DemQcratic-Republ:Lcans gained. a majority of that state f s electoral vo t.e.s.,

(2) Color, or mark with diagonal lines, the states won by't.'he Federalists(Charle$ G. Pinc.kney and Rl..d"us King), CoLot; or mark a $ma,ll part ofMaryland to shm<l that the Federalists rec.eived only 2 electoral votesthere.

(3) Fill in the map key with the corresponding colors or IDEirki.ngs for e.achpolitic-B-l party.

(4) Put the number of electoral votes listed below inside cfeach state onthe map ~ Hritz a 9a;fd a 2 inside. of Maryla.nd because of the split. vote.

st:a.teconl1ec t.Lcu tDelawareGeorg:iaKentucky~:tyland

Elect.cralVcites---g- Vie t.or.:1.o1.isPartyFedera:l.istFederalistDemocratic ...RepuhlicanDemocratic-Republi.canDemocratic--Repuhlican (9v.-otei)·Federalist (2 votes)Democrat:l.c-Repuhlj:canDemcc r atic-R,epl.lb.licanDemocratic.-Rep1,lb1.icanDemocratic-RepuhlicanDemocratic-ItepuhlicanDemocratic-RepublicanDemocratic-RepuhlicanDemocra:tic-RepuhlicanDemo¢ratic~RepublicanDelll.ocra-tic~RepublicanDemocr-atic ..•.RepublicanDemocratic-Republican

368

11

Massadmset tsNew HampshireNew JenseyNe-w YorkNorth CarolinaOhioP e-nnsy1vanJaR.hode Islandsouth Caroli.naTe-nne$s~evermontVirgitda

1978

19143

204to56

24176

onAfter complet:ing th¢ ",apwork, answer the follo,·ling questions. Base you!' answers

ihf.6.rr<'.ati·on g:ivan on these pages.

A "majority" O. over-half) of vot.e s .in the Electoral College is needed to win t.hepresidency. 'l'bus __ .__ electoral votes were needed tc win tbe Election of 1804.ThomasJ efferson and G~wrgeCl:Lnton each received el.e¢tcr~l-l vot.e s ,Jefferson "s elect~rl:'al votes and Clinton i e -vot.ee were cast separately foruresJdent and v.ice-presiden;:, respectively. The electors voted separately in~ccordance with rules set for t.h by theThe El ec tLori of 18{)4 wa.s a "vote of confidence" i.n. s

.(;ho h~d im:DreSsed the American people with his out.st.anding iea~'") qualities,Support fo~ his re-election w"'s further boosted by the purchase of the hugeLouisiana Tertitory from France,In 1804~ the (noEther:n, souther-,n,tvestiZrn) s tat es coutl:-ol1.e:dthe largest bloc of elec.toral votes.

(1)

(2)(3)

(4)

(5)

-' SIC

r=:::J Federalist (Cr:arles c. Pinckney and Rufus King)

r--lL-! Demccratic-R€publican (Thomas Jefferson and Gec"!1-:-ge eli.ntou)

~-s' Kentuc.ky

Tennesse.e

- SID -