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Show THU I'llOOMMl Ol' IT.tMm.Ntl.U. I MCI (Ills. A mii'ATOII fruiu Lansing, Michigan, Michi-gan, stntea that the Miner eh cllou law dcctntcd constitutional on the 17th ult by thu Hiate Hupremo Court will be taken to thu Kujremu Com! of tbu United Htatea for tlnsl adjudliallon. Five Judge constitute Ihe Michigan Huprime Court, tlireo of whom are Republicans, the Uu others bilng liemocrats. Inasmuch an the laauo of constitutionality wiu raised ty lealers of Ihe Jtepiibllcaii part)', It ei ems that the.MlLhlgan tribunal did not favor party In II decision, Michigan has been ovurwhelmluglyltepubllcau ever si me bill), until lfiOu, whou tho Duruo-crats Duruo-crats look all thu Htulo tlllcc aud both braiiLhii of tho leglalature. Ouuofthu first uuasurxa pnssodty Ihu Demociallo legislature nnd assented to by Governor Wlnau was what is now known rts theT Miner election Ims which rolatia entirely to prualduutlal electors. For thirty years Michigan had chosen her elector by the usual roethol now i tc ailing lu nil theHtatis, that la by voto of the cltl-xens cltl-xens uf the Hlate nt large. The -Miner law provl led for the election of district presidential electors by congressional districts, instead of by Iho tihlo at large. Michigan under the new re apnortiguumut baa twelve ,epriiuuu Uvea In the II mio at Wasiilngtou alid two senators, Hhe Is, acror dug lo the Constitution of the United slates, en-titled en-titled lo fourteen presidential electors, ihcsen In whatever way ber Stale legislature may decide. The Miner Iijw provide tor Ihe election ot twelvo of these by congressional districts, and divide! the Htate Into two districts lor the senatorial electors. Tho Htate ltepubllcau Committee took up the law and resolved to test Its constitutionality In the courts. About halt a doxeu exorptiou wero taken, but the main one rest on tho words of the second section ol the fourteenth nmenitmeul, which reads: "When the right to Vido at any election for tho choice of l.lrclors for President and Vice-President of the United Htatie li denied, etc." It Is contended that by choice of i lectori la meant tho whole body of Htate electors, elec-tors, and that every cltlxm must voto for the whole college, and not for one Individual. The. Htalo Hupreme Court decldod that the law was constitutional, constitu-tional, nnd furthermoru tl held that the power of the legislature lif providing for any inethoJ of selection was beyond controversy. History teemi to Justify the decision of the court. At the first Presidential election In 1788 U eleven Htate. jar-lliltod. jar-lliltod. I'lve iliUerent ways of choosing elector wereadoptel. Pennsylvania Penn-sylvania an! Vlrglula eleoted by popular pop-ular vote of tho cltlxens of Ihe Blatu at largo tho samo method which now prevails. Maryland elected by popular pop-ular vole but by Congressional ill-Irlcts, ill-Irlcts, tho same as the Miner law now provides for. In Connecticut, Now Jersey, Delaware, Hjulh Carolina, and ' orgl the legislatures chose tho Prisldantlal electors. In New Hampshire Hamp-shire tho cltlxeii at I irge nominated Ihu elactori, butlheleglslature rejicleu or confirmed. Tho rilale was mar loaln(lla electoral vote, a deadlock sprang up between lth houses lu regard til the conllrm-ittaii, broken only a few mtnutee before 12 midnight ot January 7th, 1,99. New York adopted ttie samo phn, and a like deadlock occurred lu tho legislature which could not be remo-ed; hence the Kmplre Htate wn not rcpu rented In thu college which elected (Jcorgu Waahlngtou lint President of the United HUtes. Mo-sictiusetli waa divided Into Congreaslor.nl districts. The citizens of each district selected to ieroni. The names of all in chosen went Iwfere the legislature, which selected one for each district and two forthu Htate at large. Hubsujuenl elections note carried nut In similar w)s, but by 1SU-I nil thu Htalca lu tlio Union except Biuth Cnrollna had adopted the old Pennsylvania Pennsyl-vania an I Virginia plan. Aflerrecou-trui Aflerrecou-trui lion, Houtli Carolina adopted tbu prevailing system, which t-ecame the unlsersat method until the Michigan Miner law was enactid In tS")J. |
