Election of President by the House of Representatives.—­In case no Presidential candidate receives a majority of the electoral votes, the election goes to the House of Representatives, as is provided in the amendment we are considering.  Here the three candidates having the highest number of votes are alone considered.  The voting is by States.  In 1825 John Quincy Adams was elected President in this way.  He had fewer popular and fewer electoral votes than Andrew Jackson, but he received the votes of thirteen out of twenty-four States in the House.

Choice of Vice-President by the Senate.—­The Senate is called on to select the Vice-President in case no candidate has received a majority of the electoral votes.  The two candidates having the highest number of votes are considered.  The only instance of the election of a Vice-President in this way occurred in 1837.

Disputed Returns, Election of 1876.—­Disputes have arisen, from time to time, over some of the returns of the electoral votes.  The most notable contest was that over the returns from Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Oregon, in 1877.  If the twenty-one electoral votes from these States should be counted for the Republican candidates, they would be elected.  Should just one of those votes be given to the Democratic nominees, the Republicans would lose the election.  Now the Senate at this time was Republican, and the House Democratic, and therefore no satisfactory adjustment could be reached, because of party prejudices.  The excitement throughout the country was finally relieved by the agreement on the part of both houses to refer the decision to an “Electoral Commission.”

This commission consisted of five judges of the Supreme Court, five representatives, and five senators.  After examining the returns, the commission decided, March 2, 1877, by a vote of eight to seven, that Hayes and Wheeler, the Republican candidates, had received the twenty-one votes in dispute, thus giving them one hundred and eighty-five electoral votes, and that Tilden and Hendricks, the Democratic candidates, had received one hundred and eighty-four electoral votes.

In consequence of the grave problem which arose in 1877, Congress passed an act February 3, 1887, which provides that any contest in the choice of electors in a State must be decided by the State authorities under the laws of the State.

The Original Method of Choosing the President.—­Because Presidents Washington, Adams, and Jefferson for his first term, were chosen by the plan given in the original clause, let us notice, briefly, the method used at that time, and especially the reasons for the change to the present plan.

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