be likely to
happen, and to cause frequent and injurious delays. Unity being deemed
favorable to energetic and prompt action, the chief executive power of
the nation was given to a single person.

Sec.3. Secondly, as to the duration of the office. Much of what has been
said in relation to the term of office of senators, will apply to that
of president. (Chap. XXX, Sec.4-6.) His term of office should not be so
short as to induce him to act more with a view to his re-election than
to the public good; yet it should be short enough to make him feel his
responsibility. And it should be long enough to insure a due degree of
independence, and to enable him to carry out his system of public
policy. The term of four years was accordingly adopted.

Sec.4. Thirdly, the mode of election. Among the various modes proposed, the
one adopted was that of electing the president by electors chosen in the
several states for that purpose; the number of the electors chosen in
each state to be equal to the number of its senators and representatives
in congress. A material alteration in the mode of election has been made
since the adoption of the constitution, as will be seen by examining the
two modes. (Art. 2, Sec.1; and Art. 12 of Amendments.) This amendment does
not change the manner of choosing the electors, but the manner of
choosing the president by the electors.

Sec.5. The constitution does not prescribe the manner in which the
electors shall be appointed or chosen; it only declares that each state
shall appoint them "in such manner as the legislature thereof shall
direct." No uniform mode was adopted by the different states. In some
states the electors were appointed by the legislature; in others, by the
people. At present the latter mode prevails in all the states except
South Carolina, where presidential electors are still chosen by the
legislature.

Sec.6. The electors are, by the laws of the several states, chosen by
_general ticket_. The names of two men, corresponding to the number of
senators to which a state is entitled in congress, together with the
names of as many others as there are representatives of the state in the
lower house of congress, one to reside in each congressional district,
are all placed on the same ballot; so that every voter votes for the
whole number of presidential electors to be chosen in the state. And, by
a law of congress, the electors are required to be chosen in all the
states on the same day,