Show p. p LITTLE WAGON BAND BAND WAGON I l' l JOURNEYS IM BY L L. T. T MERRILL Infill tta ig 1928 Western Union The Only Unanimously Elected S President THE founding rounding fathers who framed the Constitution In the belief bellet that our our Presidents would be elected by a group of ot staid and steady councilors of t state the electoral college uninfluenced by partisanship would be surprIsed surprised sur sur- prized and dumfounded by the hurrah and nod lo accompanying the Mie modern moden American party nominating convention 5 The first national aI party convention con S was not held for tor more than 40 years after alter the founding of ot the republic Prior to that time various to place the names of ot available men S before the electoral college were cre em employed employ ploy congressional d cau caucuses uses legislative legis legis- J lathe resolutions state conventions mass mass' meetings S But all these were of gradual tl n. n None of or them was ready rendy for useIn use useIn usel l In p picking th the first resident President residentS S The The Tue Constitution had not provided td for any y nominating methods this was partly because of ot a general expectation that Washington would he be bethe hethe the first President resident and would continue to hold office as long as he wished There here was hardly time In any event ent to J develop uniform nominal nominating Ing methods between the date dute on which the government was formally declared In operation and the date set for the lie first election Before news got gt around to the farthest furthest states by the Hie slow means of communication of ot those times that congress had declared the fhe States must pick Presidential electors In p January 1789 It was almost time rime timeto to tp select them If It they were to tunC tion Political at attention In the states had keen ken monopolized by the struggle over O ratifying the Constitution No preparation preparation prepa prepa- ration mUon had been made for the first election eJection under It In JJ five live of ot the eleven states entitled to participate In the election electron Island and North Carolina Carolina- not yet et r having ratified the Constitution governors governors gov gov- ov did not summon the legislatures legisla legisla- tures in time to provide for an election elec tion by y the p people ople Th Titus Thus lS In Connecticut cu cut New Jersey Delaware South I Carolina and Georgia the legislatures niad shade made the seh selections iel tons of Presidential electors j 5 enn Mar Maryland land Virginia New tew ew Hampshire und and Massachusetts l provided for popular election But Rut the vot vote polled in ai at five was very light New K w York politicians wrangled so sol l J Jong ng I 1 about the tue means of choosing electors that the state lost Its chance to have any part In the election Fortunately In this more or less unsettled unsettled un settled condition of affairs there was nim almost st universal agreement upon the eminent availability of George Washington Washington Wash Vash ington to be the first peacetime leader Jender of ot the republic that had bad been founded as result of his wartime leadership A f few w It Is t true ue thought of wise vIse old Benjamin Franklin for forthe the honor But he was as then In his third eighty year Most 1 agreed that was too old oiL Alexander Hamilton on the other hand was too young being un un- der the constitutional limit off thirty thirty- five But he was not too young to pull wires skillfully The Constitution tIon originally before adoption of the Twelfth amendment provided that each Presidential l elector wt was w t to cas cast tw two votes Tb candidate r receiving ne i-ne h largest number r was to be declared President the next highest highest high high- est vice president S. S John Adams of Massachusetts was most gener generally Uy cons considered dered th the pi pr proper per p r man for tor vice president Adams himself himself him him- self thought he be had as good a right as Washington to the Presidency y If It all aU the electors had divided their two votes apiece between Washington and Adams the result would d h have ve been a tie throwing the election Into congress To avoid this and Insure the immediate vl victory tory of ot Washington Hamilton discreetly and quietly passed around the he suggestion that each elec tor cast one vote for Washington but that a n few throw their second votes to some favorite sons of ot th their lr several states This advice was followed more extensively ex ex- ex- ex than Hamilton expected When the ballots were counted It was found that Washington had been the unanimous choice of ot the 69 CO electors participating One of ot the 71 electors who should have had a part patt In the procedure procedure pro pro- was kept at nt home by gout and another nother was Icebound Adams by contrast with Washing Washing- tons ton's 69 received only 34 votes the other 25 23 being widely scattered In accordance accordance ac ac- ac- ac with Hamilton's Hamiltons little scheme That black Intrigue as Adams culled called It It was a sorry blow to the tue l of the rather r vain and stolid son on U ol 01 Massachusetts He lie did no not for forgive forgive he Hamilton for meddling with what what he thought would have bave been his chance to c contest with Washington on equal terms for tor the honor of ot being the first American President President by One Vote A A betwee betwee- LA Jefferson and Hamilton within Washington's cabinet and barbed partisan partisan par par- Isan newspaper attacks made the Father of LII Ills Country weary of the Presidency before his first term had expired be he was was persuaded to stand for re-election re and again scored a ft I unanimous vote of the time members of I the electoral college with John Adams re-elected re as his vice president J 4 i Tug The Increased the time factIonal factional fac rae warfare became more Intense as Washington's second nd r unit progressed The President was marie made the victim of ot v violent lent diatribes In scurrilous newspaper er articles and I pamphlets I I Tyrant at Impostor embezzler crocodile hyena were some sonic of ot the epithets of hl his Il ers rS When In 1706 1796 Washington ton Issued IJ his famous f farewell rew ll urging par partisans par par- to sink their inferences It fanned f rut rather her than quenched the blaze of acrimony J Jefferson n rs n charged that W Washington V was unwilling to run again for fear of being beaten heuten a For the first lime line the Presidential was a prize prize open open to reu real compe There ere nn no hv caucus convention or mass meeting meet put But John Adams for tile the Federalists and und Thomas Jeff jelT Jefferson on for for the Anti Ami- Federalists ts' ts soon emerged e ged he head d and shoulders nb above ve the others as itS the contenders 1 These two presently became the he targets of hitter attack and counter counter- attack Adams was v Inconsistently assailed as as- sailed as an un aristocrat and derided for being the son son- of a shoemaker It If was recalled to his discredit that he tie had acted as legal counsel for tor British soldiers sol sol sol- diers illers Involved In the Boston mas mas- sacre De Be was was was' roasted S for his alleged monn monarchist sympathies s. s LIb ity equality and no rio king kingl became I a slogan slogan gan of the time Jeffersonian Republicans l paraphrasing It from train the motto of the French revolution with which at fit tile the time they were fervidly ly In sympathy s. The tricolor cockade of France became became be be- came a n campaign badge lAdge of t Jeffersons Jefferson's friends friend s. s S Jefferson on tile the other hand bane hand did lid not escape He Re was Iterated fo for Jany timings things he lie had harl not done Oft Of- Of t rances In n his boots books and letters were deliberately tely garbled In the time first contested Presidential I election the religious Issue played a 8 I prominent tart art Thrusting at Jeff Jeffer Jefferson's Jeffersons r. r sons son's deism his bibs opponents demanded I the election of a n Christian Pre resident President He lie had a as a r. r but to what III use had he not nor put par his him philosophy I He le had hart refuted Moses Moser I and tried fried to disprove e the Bible story of of the deluge If he had bad tried t to establish religious freedom In Virginia they said It was because he desired i inot S not freedom of ot worship but freedom I from S from worship He To had wasted tilt bis 3 time time that should have ha been put to IC better uses they asserted In Idl Idly r speculating about why wily negroes Degroes w were re black and white men white and in It perfecting eccentric eccentric- Inventions In suet such I as as whirligig chairs S Besides the newspaper attacks handbills and broadsides were got out In great quan quantities on or n I both Joth sides Charges Charges' of f fraud and oi of ot r ballot box stuffing were bandied about t with spirit Then the dust settled and the ballots ballots bal bal- lots cast by the members of ot the thc I electoral college were counted Th The Massachusetts man was found to have bave received 71 votes and his Virginia opponent opponent opponent op op- 68 Adams' Adams total was only one vote more than the number S requisite to elect him while Jefferson's Jeffersons Jeffersons Jefferson's Jeffer Jeffer- sons son's fell feU Just two short of ot the number num num- ber that would have made him dent The clunis clumsy old provision which I Imade made the tue candidate receiving the next t to the highest number of ot votes th the m vice president saddled I President resident Adums I with a vice president who was then timer 1 his lis principal political foe toe thou though foe though h In it n I times Umes past they had bad been collaborators I In drawing up the American Declare Declare- ration of Independence The counting of ot the votes was r a It I scene of ot dramatic Interest not only because of the closeness of ot the con test but because one of the time two lead Ing tug contenders contender by virtue of ot being vice Ice i I president presided at the meeting opened the certificates read them am I finally declared himself elected A question had been Informally raised regarding the validity of ot four Vermont electoral votes cast for tor Adams Had they been disallowed the victory would have gone to his o op No one formally however objected to the Vermont votes being counted In though there was ample opportunity for tor the Jeffersonian adherents ad ad- t to to todo do so The Inauguration took place In the house of representatives All agree President Adams wrote to his wife that taken altogether It was the thing ever exhibited In 0 America |