--

Method of Election.--How shall the President be chosen? This
problem is said to have taken one-seventh of the entire time of the
convention. While there were those who believed that election by the
people would be wise, still this sentiment was not general. It was
thought that a choice in this way would cause great "tumult and
disorder." Besides, it was urged that the people would not be
sufficiently acquainted with the men who have the necessary
qualifications for such high office. For a special investigation of this
sort, they agreed that it would be best to select a small number of
persons who would be most likely to possess the required information and
discernment. The appointment of these independent electors was provided
for as follows:--

Appointment of Electors.--Section 1, Clause 2. _Each State shall
appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number
of electors equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to
which the State may be entitled in the Congress; but no senator or
representative or person holding an office of trust or profit under the
United States, shall be appointed an elector._

Article II, Section 1, Clause 3. _The Congress may determine the time of
choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes,
which day shall be the same throughout the United States._

At present, the appointment of electors is a necessary but a
comparatively unimportant step in the election of a President.

The real power exists in the National conventions of the great political
parties. Instead of exercising the right of free choice, as they were
originally expected to do, the electors are really bound to vote for
candidates nominated in these conventions. Let us consider, then, some
of the chief points in the history and practical working of National
conventions.

Early Methods of Nominating.--Like the development of other
political usages, the method of nominating a President passed
through several stages before the present plan of nominating
conventions was reached. No nominations were made in the first two
Presidential elections. In 1796, Washington having refused to be a
candidate for a third term, party managers in Congress agreed
informally on Adams and Jefferson as the candidates of the
Federalist and the Republican parties respectively. A caucus of
Federalist Congressmen, in 1800, nominated Adams and