Chapter XX: Section 1: , Clause 2. The electors shall meet in their respective

States, and vote by ballot for two persons, one of whom, at least,
shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And
they shall make a list of all the persons voted for, and of the
number of votes for each; which list they sign and certify, and
transmit, sealed, to the seat of the government of the United
States, directed to the President of the Senate. 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. The person then having the greatest number of
votes shall be President, if such number be a majority of the whole
number of electors appointed; and if there be more than one who
have such a majority, and have an equal number of votes, then the
House of Representatives shall immediately choose, by ballot, one
of them for President; and if no person have a majority, then, from
the five highest on the list, the said House shall, in like manner,
choose the President. But in choosing the President, the votes
shall be taken by States, the representation from each State having
one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or
members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the
States be necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of
the President, the person having the greatest number of votes of
the electors shall be the Vice-President. But if there should
remain two or more who have equal votes, the Senate shall choose
from them, by ballot, the Vice-President._

According to this clause, we note that the electors voted for two
persons without stating which was to be President and which
Vice-President. In the official count, the candidate receiving the
highest number of votes, provided it was a majority of the whole
number of the electoral votes, became President, and the one
receiving the next highest became Vice-President.

Election of 1796.--In the election of 1796, John Adams, who
received the highest number, seventy-one, out of one hundred and
thirty-two electoral votes, was elected President. Thomas
Jefferson, his opponent, became Vice-President, having received
sixty-eight votes, or the next highest number. Thus there were
elected a President of one party and a Vice-President of the
opposing party.

Election of 1800.--The election of 1800 also showed the plan
to be impracticable. At this time, the Democratic-Republican party
was determined to have Mr. Jefferson for President and Aaron Burr
for Vice-President. They both received seventy-three votes, a
majority of all the votes. But since the number was equal, it
devolved upon the House of Representatives to determine whether
Jefferson or Burr should be President. For seven days the House was
in continuous session, and civil war threatened. On the
thirty-sixth ballot, however, Jefferson received the votes of ten
States out of sixteen, and was elected.

In order to prevent a recurrence of the conditions which obtained
in 1796, or of the dangers incident to a contest like that of 1800,
the Twelfth Amendment was proposed by Congress, and, after
ratification, was declared in force September 25, 1804. This
provides, as we have seen, that the electoral votes must be cast
separately for President and Vice-President.

The Presidential Term.--Shall the President hold office for a
term of three years, of seven years, or during good behavior? These
were questions of great interest in the Constitutional Convention.
A term of seven years with no re-election was agreed upon, but
toward the end of the convention the clause as given was adopted.

Re-election of a President.--The Constitution does not limit
the number of terms for which a President may be chosen, but the
"third-term tradition" has now made it practically impossible for
the same man to be elected for more than two terms. This custom was
inaugurated by the refusal of President Washington to accept a
third term. President Jefferson was also urged to stand for a third
term, but he, too, preferred to retire to private life as
Washington had done. The adherents of General Grant strove to break
down this precedent in 1880 but were defeated. Although President
Roosevelt had served a part of a term and one full term the
argument of a third term was brought against him.

A Longer Term.--It is frequently urged that the Constitution
should be amended in such a manner as to provide for a term of six
or seven years for the President, with no re-election. Among the
reasons for this change are the following: (1) a new President has
most of his time, for months, at the beginning of his term,
consumed in hearing the claims of applicants for office, and in
making appointments; (2) there is danger that he may be influenced
in his official actions through desire to secure a second term; (3)
the commercial depression that usually exists during a campaign
would thus come less frequently. These arguments may be used in
opposition to such a change: (1) in the case of an inefficient
President, the short term is to be preferred; (2) the Presidential
campaign is of value, in that the attention of Americans generally
is for a time fixed on the problems connected with the conduct of
our government. It furnishes the opportunity for imparting to our
citizens many lessons in their political education.

Qualifications for President and Vice-President.--The qualifications for President and Vice-President are naturally the same, and are as follows:--

Section 1, Clause 4. _No person, except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States._

Vacancies.--The chief reason for creating the office of Vice-President seems to have been to provide for the emergency of a vacancy in the Presidency.