The Electoral Votes of 1876
In Electoral Votes of 1876, David Dudley Field examines the 1876 presidential election, one of the most controversial in American history. He looks at the events leading up to the election, the candidates, the issues, and the electoral votes that were cast. He also examines the role of the Electoral Commission, which was created to resolve the dispute over the electoral votes. Field provides an in-depth analysis of the election and its aftermath, including the Compromise of 1877, which ended Reconstruction and ushered in a new era of segregation and Jim Crow laws. He also looks at the impact of the election on the nation and its politics. This book is an essential resource for anyone interested in the history of the United States and the 1876 presidential election.
By David Dudley Field · First published 1877 · Genre: Political History, Non-Fiction, Biography · 4 chapters · 8,539 words
First lines
This is the first question. What is meant by counting? In one sense, it is only enumeration, an arithmetical operation, which in the present instance consists of addition and subtraction. In another sense it involves segregation, separation of the false from the true. If a hundred coins are thrown upon a banker's counter, and his clerk is told to count the good ones, he has both to select and to enumerate. He takes such as he finds sufficient in metal and weight, and rejects the light and counterfeit. So when the Constitution ordains that "the votes shall then be counted," it means that the true ones shall be counted, which involves the separation of the true from the false, if there be present both false and true. In regard to the agency by which this double process is to be performed, the words of the Constitution are few: "The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted." What would one take to be the meaning of these words, reading them for the first time? It is, that somebody besides the President of the Senate is to count, because, if he was to be the counting officer, the language would naturally have been that "the President of the Senate shall open all the certificates and count the votes". There must have been a reason for this change of phraseology. It should seem to follow, from these words alone, that, whoever is to count, it is not the President of the Senate. It should seem also to follow, that the counting is to be done, not in the presence of Senators and Representatives as individuals, but in the presence of the two Houses as organized bodies. If their attendance as spectators merely was intended, the expression would naturally have been, in the presence of the Senators and Representatives or so many of them as may choose to attend. The presence of the Senate and House means their presence as the two Houses of Congress, with a quorum of each, in the plenitude of their power, as the coördinate branches of the legislative department of the Government. And inasmuch as no authorities are required to be present other than the President of the Senate and the two Houses, if the former is not to count the votes, the two Houses must.
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The Electoral Votes of 1876 is listed on Textopian as an article by David Dudley Field, dated 1877 CE.
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- Work type: Article
- Author: David Dudley Field
- Date: 1877 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Political History, Non-Fiction, Biography, Academic
- Length: 8,539 words
- Structure: 4 chapters, 46 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Difficult (College Level)
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Genres
- Political History — The book focuses on the electoral votes of 1876, which is a political event, and thus the most relevant genre is Political History.
- Non-Fiction — The book is based on factual events and thus is classified as Non-Fiction.
- Biography — The book is written by David Dudley Field, and thus is classified as a Biography.
- Academic — The book is written in an academic style and is intended for an academic audience, thus it is classified as Academic.
Tags
1876 · Election · Presidents · United States · appointment · cannot · cast · certificate · congress · constitution · electors · evidence