THE DEGRADATION 
 
 OF OUR 
 
 REPRESENTATIVE SYSTEM, 
 
 AND ITS 
 
 REFORM. 
 
Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library 
 Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library 
 
THE DEGRADATION 
 
 OF OUR 
 
 REPRESENTATIVE SYSTEM, 
 
 AND ITS 
 
 REFORM. 
 
 BY J. FRANCIS FISHER. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 C. SHERMAN, SOX & CO., PRINTERS. 
 1 8 6 3. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2013 
 
 http://archive.org/details/degradationofourOOfish 
 
THE DEGKADATION 
 
 OF OUR 
 
 REPRESENTATIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 Whatever may be the result of the bloody war now raging, 
 it is presumed there is no one who does not see that it has 
 already given such a shock to our republican institutions, that 
 they will require great and important modifications, if not a 
 reconstruction from their very foundation. Many changes 
 must be made, both to give the requisite strength to the gene- 
 ral Government, and to prevent that strength being abused; 
 to consolidate the restored or diminished confederacy, and, at 
 the same time, to save our local institutions, our personal 
 liberties, from extinction ; above all, to guard us, if possible, 
 from the evils we have experienced in our system of election 
 for National offices, especially, that of President of the United 
 States ; evils which will be greatly augmented in the inevitable 
 consequence of the present war, — the enormous military power 
 of the Executive. 
 
 In the happy days of the past, our countrymen seemed de- 
 termined to shut their eyes to the rapid decay of public virtue 
 in their representatives, whether in executive or legislative 
 office ; and, because our prosperity was unchecked, wealth 
 every day rewarding industry and ingenuity, and our popula- 
 tion swelling with unprecedented speed, they were disposed 
 
4 
 
 to set all this to the credit of our admirable system of Govern- 
 ment ; fondly believing that, if their Legislatures were corrupt 
 and their Chief Magistrates the tools and slaves of party, it 
 was the strongest proof of the vigor of our Republican Insti- 
 tutions which could bear it all. !Not perceiving that, in the 
 degeneracy of our public men, and the debased tone of public 
 morality, we were daily losing the virtues which are the only 
 true supports of Democracy, — that the framework of our in- 
 stitutions was rotting away, the foundations of our Republic 
 undermined, and the real buttresses of liberty destroyed. It 
 is only now, when civil war has almost shaken the whole fabric 
 to pieces, when our country is overwhelmed with difficulties of 
 all sorts, and humiliated by defeats, and still more by the 
 causes of them, that doubt and dismay are spreading through- 
 out the land, and those who always confided in Democracy 
 begin to doubt its ultimate success. 
 
 In this state of the popular mind, a hearing may be had for 
 one, who has for a long time studied our Institutions by the 
 light of History, and the tests of contemporary results ; and 
 who thinks he sees wherein they have failed, and the causes 
 of the failure. These he will expose, with a plan of reform 
 which, if capable of execution, seems to promise a restoration 
 of the pristine virtues and honor of the Republic. 
 
 The following pages are presented to the public without hesi- 
 tation, but with a good deal of diffidence. Every citizen who 
 thinks he can say aught that will promote the good of his 
 country in times of doubt and difficulty, should give utter- 
 ance to the results of his reflections, however crude ; for others 
 may work them up, or they may suggest to superior minds 
 better means of attaining the same end, either approximating 
 or in opposition to his own. 
 
 It may be, that the same or similar plans have presented 
 
5 
 
 themselves to others, and have been rejected as impracticable. 
 Where the evils to be remedied are so flagrant, it seems hardly 
 credible that some such scheme as the one to be proposed here- 
 after, has occurred to none of the many ingenious minds, who, 
 for a long time, have been earnestly watching the working of 
 our system of representation with sad misgivings. 
 
 But, if it has ever appeared in print on this side of the At- 
 lantic, it has never met the eye of the writer. The work of 
 Mr. Thomas Hare, which was procured after reading the high 
 commendation of it, by Mr. I. Stuart Mills, in his work on 
 Representative Government, printed last year, leads to the be- 
 lief that he was the first European writer who, perceiving the 
 evil of electing legislative bodies by majorities, suggested the 
 remedy, by requiring the full complement of votes for each 
 member, and uniting the minorities. 
 
 His work is admirably reasoned; and, although it seems 
 absurd to add the commendation of an unknown writer to the 
 high praises it received from Mr. Mills, it may be said that 
 his arguments seem unanswerable, and nothing better could 
 be done than to call for an American reprint of them, if it 
 were not, that being based on English experience only, they 
 leave the case imperfectly stated, or rather, not sustained by 
 the overwhelming evidence the history of our country can 
 give; and that his plan for voting, if practicable in England, 
 would be utterly impossible here. This plan will be noticed 
 hereafter. 
 
 The conclusion has therefore been adopted, without pre- 
 tending to philosophical method, to accumulate the evidence 
 to be had in America of the dangers, corruptions, and degra- 
 dations of our representative system ; and, as clearly as possi- 
 ble, to explain a method of reforming it by a mode of voting 
 less complicated and unmanageable than that suggested by 
 Mr. Hare, — a mode to which it seems the chief objection would 
 
6 
 
 be, the opposition it would receive, not from those who would 
 use it, but from those who have abused the existing system to 
 their own purposes, viz., the large and powerful class of politi- 
 cians. 
 
 The formation of this scheme, may be dated back some 
 seven or eight years, in the course of which time, it has been 
 often opened to various friends, and once, at least, in 1857, 
 drawn out in a full plan of voting; but the conviction that it 
 would be scouted by those who control public opinion, by all 
 whose business it is to manage parties and carry elections, and 
 perhaps set down as a Utopian project by patriots and states- 
 men, postponed its completion. The present state of our coun- 
 try at least gives a hope that it will not be rejected without 
 consideration, and the approbation bestowed in England on 
 the plan of Mr. Hare, inspires a belief that this contemporary 
 creation of an American may also have its merits. 
 
 The differences are so essential, as to relieve the author of 
 any charge of plagiarism, even without the preceding explana- 
 tion. 
 
 If in England, where universal suffrage and an equal appor- 
 tionment of votes, according to numbers and equal territorial 
 divisions, has not yet been introduced, it is found that the system 
 of electing by majorities, in large constituencies, is so far 
 from being fair and impartial, that it really tends to disfran- 
 chise a large part of the inhabitants of every district, and 
 that, so far from giving to the great centres of commerce and 
 manufactures, where the nearest approach to our system exists, 
 the advantage over the much-abused borough representations, 
 it generally procures for them members of the least weight 
 for character and abilities of all in Parliament, — it may well 
 induce a pause by the advocates of universal suffrage as the 
 panacea for all political evils. 
 
 This result may be a great surprise to the enthusiastic re- 
 
T 
 
 former who has convinced himself that nothing but evil can 
 come from aristocratic rule, and that it is only necessary to 
 give an equal share of political rights to every inhabitant of 
 a country, to call forth universal intelligence and secure good 
 government for all; but many wise men in our country, where 
 the system has had a fair trial, have come to an opposite result. 
 
 Little is understood in England of our system of caucus 
 and primary elections, by which party nominations are ma- 
 naged and by which a few men who devote themselves to poli- 
 tics by profession (men little known beyond their own sphere, 
 and very little respected there), organize all the initiatory steps 
 towards a nomination of candidates, and so skilfully manage 
 their forces by a system of secret understanding and pledges, 
 that it is impossible for any one to be presented to the public 
 as a candidate, except the one selected by them in secret con- 
 clave. This is the inevitable result of our system, and it 
 may be asserted, that it is not the consequence of the neglect 
 of these primary meetings by those who have the largest inte- 
 rest at stake, and who, by their intelligence, education, and 
 social standing, ought to have most weight among their fellow- 
 citizens. Their attendance at these meetings might have a 
 sort of ephemeral success, but it would only result in carrying 
 the machinery a little more out of sight, and perhaps, rather 
 aggravating the evil. 
 
 These primary party meetings, being governed in nothing 
 by law or principle, but controlled entirely by party tactics, 
 and worked for the sole benefit of those who manage them, 
 would, as soon as they failed to attain the ends of these pro- 
 fessional politicians, be sure to be packed by men selected in 
 secret places ; and we should again be forced into the old track, 
 be obliged to submit to the dictation of a class of men the 
 least trustworthy, who have thus juggled out of sight all but 
 
8 
 
 a single candidate, whom we must take, or be sure of a defeat 
 by our opponents. 
 
 This system of nomination has the additional disastrous 
 effect of disgusting a large number among our most respectable 
 and intelligent citizens. They find that both parties have 
 presented for their suffrage men whom they cannot trust, 
 perhaps know to be dishonest, and vote for neither. This 
 again gives great advantage to the political managers, and 
 often throws the election into the hands of an actual minority, 
 even when there are only two candidates in the field. 
 
 In England there are rarely three candidates for a single 
 place, and Mr. Hare goes into a calculation to show that even 
 where the votes are fairly polled, and the majority clearly 
 ascertained, the candidate is by no means sure to represent 
 his supposed constituency ; and this is, for greater reason, true 
 in our country, where a still larger number always abstain from 
 voting. He maintains what we well know by our experience, 
 that those who have voted against the member returned, are 
 as effectually disfranchised as if they had been excluded by 
 law from the polls ; and their wishes, representations and inte- 
 rests are utterly without weight till the period of the next 
 election. 
 
 The members constituting the House, are of course governed 
 by a party majority, which majority is again controlled by a 
 majority of their own party members, generally the most vio- 
 lent and extreme of all. In this country we have no inde- 
 pendent middle men in our legislative assemblies ; no centre 
 droit and centre gauche, ready to check extreme measures either 
 of government or opposition. The leaders of the party carry 
 everything — none dare resist. An independent member is im- 
 possible. This is the necessary consequence of our American 
 system, and the result is an Oligarchy the worst and most 
 unprincipled of all, — an Oligarchy of demagogues, in which a 
 
9 
 
 certain show is made of carrying out popular views and wishes, 
 but these views and wishes are the very suggestions of their 
 leaders, who well know how to blind their constituents and 
 stimulate their passions, and who, by the fiction of represent- 
 ing a majority, impose the weight of force and the terrorism 
 of numbers, and often carry legislative measures which have 
 the 'reluctant assent of the more honest and moderate of their 
 colleagues, and which, if presented to the unbiassed judgment 
 of the constituents of their own party, would probably be 
 reprobated and rejected. 
 
 One among many of the evil consequences of this system 
 is the want of stability in the policy of the Government. The 
 party in the ascendant is sure, however small its preponder- 
 ance of votes, to carry out their programme to the last letter ; 
 and this is sometimes the most politic course for those who are 
 ready to sacrifice their country to the success of their party ; 
 but it is nevertheless difficult to preserve this ascendency beyond 
 the current term of office ; for the party defeated at the polls, 
 swollen by the addition of the discontented members of the 
 successful one, or those of a third division previously voting 
 on neither side, or for a third candidate, is often quite sufficient 
 to displace the small majority before the next election. 
 
 The consequence is a new scramble for offices and spoils, 
 and very often an entire revolution in measures, in which sta- 
 bility of purpose is almost as important as a wise financial or 
 political policy. 
 
 But of all the evil consequences of this unstable possession 
 of power, the most obnoxious is a party measure peculiar to 
 our country, invented, it is said, by one of the early Demo- 
 cratic Governors of Massachusetts, from whom it has its ap- 
 pellation, — Gerrymandering. A more unprincipled scheme, 
 and one more opposed to the true principles of Democracy, 
 never was imagined or put in practice; its object being so to 
 
10 
 
 arrange the electoral districts as to neutralize the votes of the 
 opposing party, massing their votes together in some places 
 where their ascendency cannot be disputed, detaching counties, 
 townships or wards from their natural connection to destroy 
 an existing majority, or to create it where wanted to maintain 
 party ascendency; and all this without any regard to territo- 
 rial connection, common interests, or any other consideration 
 but the control of votes. This is so notorious and of such 
 constant practice, that it is unnecessary to enlarge upon it to 
 my American readers; it is one of the monstrous evils arising 
 out of our mode of electing by local majorities, which cries 
 out for reform, — a reform not easily to be obtained from the 
 class of men who govern us, and who consider this as a most 
 valuable part of their political machinery. 
 
 Desperate men clutch at any means of safety ; and a party, 
 finding itself in a real minority, will often reconcile itself even 
 to the sacrifice of its own principles and the most sacred 
 guarantees of liberty and civil rights to secure their power. 
 This is most conspicuously plain in the mode by which votes, 
 outside of party organization, are bought ; and, I am sorry 
 to add, by that political division heretofore calling itself 
 conservative, and claiming to contain within it the greater 
 part of the wealth, education, and respectability of the coun- 
 try. The leaders, finding it difficult to contend against the 
 prestige of democratic name, secured to that great political 
 sect by Jefferson, its first prophet, and by Jackson, its second 
 incarnation, have been willing to ally themselves with those 
 extreme and often dangerous factions founded in fanaticism or 
 the basest instincts of man. Thus they have advocated by 
 turns Teetotalism, Antimasonry, Abolitionism-, encouraged the 
 Dorrite rebellion in Rhode Island and the Anti-rent movement 
 in New York, tolerated among them the disciples of St. 
 Simon, Fourier, and Fanny Wright, and, what perhaps was 
 
11 
 
 worst of all, were willing to sacrifice the most sacred princi- 
 ples of liberty in an independent judiciary, the great result of 
 the Revolution of 1688 in our mother country, the great 
 achievement of those patriots who for centuries had been the 
 enemies and victims of arbitrary power, — power inconceivably 
 more dangerous when possessed by a majority than when held 
 by one. 
 
 I do not give any credit to the so-called Democracy for re- 
 jecting or opposing these dangerous opinions and projects. It 
 would have been gratuitous mischief with them, for they gene- 
 rally had the majority at home, and were always kept in 
 check by the great party at the South, who could not jeopard 
 their own chartered interests by tolerating among their allies 
 any principle likely to undermine them ; and who, with all 
 the evils of their social constitution, were generally free from 
 the pernicious influence of Socialism and Infidelity. 
 
 It is not easy to estimate the mischief which the existence 
 of a third party in the State can do, when the elections de- 
 pend on simple majorities or pluralities. Its leaders may be 
 honest and offer their votes to the party second in numerical 
 strength, provided it will adopt their social or political creed 
 and shibboleth ; or, they may make a bargain for themselves, 
 and a share of offices and the spoils of victory may be a part 
 of their conditions ; or if the minority party cannot make the 
 sacrifice, or rather advocate what would revolt all the intelli- 
 gent and honest men of their political communion, the plura- 
 lity, without any such sacrifice, may secure the victory by 
 encouraging a third nomination, which will work equally well 
 for their success, and the arrangements of such a bargain may 
 defy detection. 
 
 To present this point in a clearer view, I would cite an ex- 
 ample from our history ; one of those events in our national 
 life upon which depends, for weal or woe, a long series of con- 
 
12 
 
 sequences. The result, as traced to the present point, is not 
 to be mistaken, and there is still behind the cloud we are pass- 
 ing through, a train of miseries not to be estimated now. 
 
 I speak of the Presidential contest, when Henry Clay 
 was defeated by James K. Polk. The decision was in the 
 hands of the Abolition party. None knew better than their 
 leaders that Mr. Clay was at heart opposed to slavery ; that 
 he had set his face resolutely against the acquisition of Texas 
 on the ground that it would extend slave territory and power, 
 and had pledged his opposition to it, and that this alone pre- 
 vented his receiving enough Southern votes to ensure his elec- 
 tion. They knew, too, that every vote for a candidate of 
 their own was in effect given to the nominee of the slave- 
 holders ; yet they persisted in nominating and voting for Bir- 
 ney, which deprived Mr. Clay of the whole electoral vote of 
 N ew York, and thus ensured his defeat. 
 
 Thus the nation lost the last chance we have ever had of a 
 great President, and the best opportunity of putting the slave- 
 power, as it is called, in its proper place. Had Texas been 
 excluded, the contest for the territories would have ended 
 there ; and we can hardly doubt that, under the presidency of 
 such a man as Mr. Clay, whose temper was at the same time 
 so brave and conciliatory, and to whose course we owe so 
 much in appeasing controversy and settling difficulties, some 
 plan would have been devised not only for taking the question 
 out of the field of party controversy, but for the gradual re- 
 moval of its worst features, and, with God's assistance, for its 
 eventual extinction. 
 
 But the first consequence of the election of Mr. Polk was 
 the annexation of Texas, an act fruitful of evils, and the war 
 with Mexico, which it provoked, and the spirit of aggression 
 and filibustering which it fostered, were unquestionably causes 
 of disease in our body politic, tending to its dissolution. 
 
13 
 
 Could Texas have existed as a neighboring State, as an outlet 
 to all the violent and discontented vagabonds of the South, 
 and a market for all their surplus negroes, it would have been 
 a great gain to us ; and the more power they acquired as a 
 separate nation, whether in friendship or at enmity with us, 
 the better. As a barrier to all future acquisition at the South, 
 and a receptacle for all the population, black and white, which 
 we could best spare, its very existence would have added 
 strength to our free institutions and purified them. 
 
 All this was said then, but without effect upon those in 
 whose hands the decision rested, men who called themselves 
 friends of the negro and of universal liberty. Was it fatuity 
 or was it corruption ? 
 
 T^his naturally leads to a consideration of our mode of nomi- 
 nating and choosing our highest magistrate, the President of 
 the United States ; and here the perversions of our electoral 
 system will be found the greatest of all. 
 
 It may have been expected by the wise and good men who 
 framed our Constitution, that in devising this plan of choice 
 through electoral colleges, and giving to the whole work 
 an apparent solemnity and dignity which the occasion de- 
 manded, they would impress upon their fellow-citizens, to 
 whom this great trust and duty was committed, a solemn sense 
 of their obligation to their country and posterity. That the 
 gravest, wisest, purest men would be sought for, to meet in 
 conclave, and choose from among those of the nation most dis- 
 tinguished by their services, their talents, and their virtues, 
 one to whom all would bow as most worthy to conduct the 
 State. Now mark the result : In the first place, we have a 
 primary meeting organized and managed as those for common 
 elections, from which proceed delegates (whom no one would 
 trust in his own affairs) to a State caucus. This caucus ap- 
 points to the National Party Convention men with whom they 
 
14 
 
 can make the best bargain for themselves. The next step is 
 the party nomination for President, the most important of all, 
 taken under circumstances the most adverse possible to a good 
 selection. Then the State election, by a doubtful majority, 
 in which citizens have only a choice between the nominees of 
 the great parties. Finally, a meeting of the electoral col- 
 leges for dumbshow and a dictated vote, — and this is the 
 nation's choice for its highest office, in many respects an un- 
 controlled dictatorship for four years. And who is the na- 
 tion's choice for its highest office ? A man of the finest abili- 
 ties, the noblest character, the most distinguished services ? 
 No ! The man who is admitted to be superior to all, even 
 though he be leader of one of the great parties, will probably 
 lose the nomination of his own political allies, which will be 
 given instead to some obscure politician of moderate abilities 
 and doubtful integrity. The reason is, that the former is 
 not, and the latter is an available candidate. A leading 
 statesman has excited jealousy, has committed himself to cer- 
 tain principles, has a settled policy and a firm will, and is not 
 to be dictated to. He cannot be moulded by those who 
 manage the nomination, will not engage to be their tool, or to 
 place in their hands his official patronage. He has his own 
 confidential adherents, and will select his advisers and high 
 officials from among them. He is, in a word, too proud a man 
 to truckle to these party managers, and too honest a one to 
 buy his election by the spoils of political victory. Such a man 
 will not do. 
 
 An available candidate may be one who has some source of 
 popularity independent of political services. A rough and 
 honest soldier, a rude backwoodsman who has raised himself 
 from the humblest condition, has sometimes fairer claims to 
 popularity than the statesman who has passed through a life 
 of political intrigue. A popular sobriquet is better than a 
 
15 
 
 title of honor to him. Old Tippecanoe, with his log cabin and 
 hard cider, old Rough and Ready, and " the honest Bargeman 
 and Rail-splitter," have alone in forty years achieved a victory 
 over the Democratic party.* In such cases, the corruptions 
 and malversations of a preceding administration may have 
 rendered statesmanship a suspicious qualification, and a repu- 
 tation for honesty would therefore have the more influence, 
 while the rude tastes and jovial habits of the candidate in 
 former life might become additional sources of popularity. 
 Those who look out for such a candidate to offer to the people, 
 do not on their own account particularly desire ability, and 
 for them, honesty may be a very inconvenient quality if allied 
 with unreasonable firmness. They would rather rely on inex- 
 perience to submit in everything to their guidance, and indeed 
 such a candidate must naturally rely upon the friends to whom 
 he owes his success, and gladly promises to make all appoint- 
 ments by their advice. A bargain is therefore made, which, 
 if he be an honest man, he will bitterly repent, and woe to 
 him if he break it. But these instances have been the excep- 
 tions, and are among the few successful efforts of the party 
 claiming for itself pre-eminent respectability. 
 
 The great Democratic party, which has controlled the na- 
 tion with few intervals, has not had occasion to descend to 
 such resorts, but has generally nominated a man who has 
 enough political experience to know how to trim his sails to 
 the breeze ; enough ability and dignity to fill the chair of 
 state without reproach; of easy principles, but true to his party 
 obligations, and to be relied on by the managers of the elec- 
 tion that they shall have a full share of influence and patro- 
 nage. 
 
 * So, too, with our gubernatorial candidates. The supporters of an anti- 
 Deraocratic Governor of Pennsylvania showed in testimony of his qualifi- 
 cations his ill-written and ill-spelt receipts as a wagoner. 
 
16 
 
 It is, unhappily, no defamation to assert that through the 
 whole process of our Presidential nominations, from the pri- 
 mary meeting which selects a member for the State caucus 
 up to the final vote in the electoral college, there is an unin- 
 terrupted intrigue and traffic for office and emolument, till, by 
 a triple distillation of corruption, we have presented to us as 
 a result, the only possible successor of George Washington. 
 
 It cannot be necessary to prove this to any one who has 
 watched the progress of a Presidential canvass, if that is the 
 proper name for a system contrived to render impossible the 
 intelligent selection and the honest choice of the whole people. 
 
 There still remains to be noticed the most monstrous per- 
 version of the original design, — the general ticket, a system 
 which would seem to have been contrived for the express pur- 
 pose of throwing the nomination into the hands of the vilest 
 political blacklegs in the great States, to stifle all adverse 
 majorities in the several counties of these States, to override 
 the electoral colleges in the smaller States, and eventually to 
 place in office a man who has only a minority of the popular 
 votes, — it might be only a small minority, — and sometimes, as 
 in our last disastrous election, to give us a purely sectional 
 candidate elected by a bare plurality. 
 
 It requires but little reflection to perceive that, but for the 
 general ticket system, Mr. Lincoln would not have been 
 elected, and the rebellion of the South, wanting its pretext, 
 could not have occurred. 
 
 It is unnecessary to make further reference to the mode in 
 which are chosen the delegates to the great national party 
 convention for nominating a President, or to describe the 
 character of those who compose it, or the influences which 
 prevail there. It is notorious, that the delegation of each 
 State is managed and directed by one or more skilful tacti- 
 cians, who have other things in view besides the honor of their 
 
IT 
 
 country, and who well know how to secure at the same time, 
 every party and personal advantage. A man who can offer the 
 entire State ticket of twenty or thirty votes has carte blanche 
 for himself and his friends. 
 
 The rest of the business is simply a farce, got up in con- 
 formity with an obsolete programme. The electoral ticket is 
 taken without examination; the names on it are utterly un- 
 known to the greater part of the citizens. If the requisite ma- 
 jority or plurality of votes can only be had, by fair means 
 or foul, the dumbshow is acted at the State capital, and the 
 great game is won. 
 
 It was not the intention of our Constitution, to give the 
 choice of President to the States, but to the people, or rather 
 the trusted and trustworthy delegates of the people of the 
 whole country; and that every section and every class of men 
 should, if possible, be fairly represented. "Were the Presiden- 
 tial electors chosen in each Congressional district by majori- 
 ties, we should not indeed obtain a perfect consummation of 
 this wish, but there would be at least an approximation towards 
 it. Two results, however, of incalculable advantage would be 
 attained: first, the frustration of the mighty system of in- 
 trigue and corruption which now prevails; and, secondly, the 
 breaking up of the overwhelming power of the great States. 
 No large State could give its entire vote to one candidate; in 
 fact, each of the great parties would secure its own election 
 in every district where it had strength; and above all, neither 
 party could afford to be sectional, from the necessity of seek- 
 ing some of its votes in opposite sections of the country. Thus 
 every question dangerous to the Union would be stifled, and 
 the pandering to local prejudice and local fanaticism, which 
 has brought about all our unhappy divisions, would be equally 
 reprobated by the politician and the patriot. 
 
 2 
 
18 
 
 Great space has been given to the subject of primary elec- 
 tions, of caucus nominations, and party management, because 
 these are the chief evils of our American representative sys- 
 tem. We have now to consider, as briefly as possible, the 
 operation of our actual elections. 
 
 It has been thought by many, who have based their opinion 
 on the result, that an electoral system which has tended and 
 still tends more and more to exclude from office the best men, 
 and to place in our National and State Legislatures a body of 
 political intriguers, among whom corruption is so prevalent as 
 to cease to be a reproach, must have its radical vice in the 
 character of the constituency; that, in fact, the suffrage is 
 too widely extended, and that some means must be found to 
 limit it by a qualification of property, especially in land. 
 " Those who own the country," say they, "should govern the 
 country." But there is good reason for asserting, that under a 
 Republican government, the first principle should be to extend 
 the suffrage to all who can appreciate it as an obligation, and 
 value it as a privilege. No inhabitants as a class, however 
 humble, should be debarred from an easy acquisition of the 
 right; but, in order to give the electoral privilege a value to 
 its possessor, he must owe it to some effort of his own, or have 
 inherited it from a worthy parent. It must be something 
 which the idle profligate vagabond, the criminal, the brawler, 
 and the sot have forfeited or never acquired. This preroga- 
 tive of citizenship, he should hold as an honor, a badge of re- 
 spectability, and every man worthy of possessing it will gladly 
 work for it, and try to use it to his own real advantage and 
 honor, and if so, to that of the community. The only tests 
 we have for this qualification, are material ones ; but they may 
 and ought to be within the reach of any industrious man, and 
 should be various in form in order to give no undue advantage 
 to any kind of property or department of industry ; thus, the 
 
19 
 
 possession or lease of a small portion of cultivated land, the 
 sole tenancy of a dwelling-house, a small investment in public 
 stocks, the previous year's service in a salaried employment, 
 or a poll-tax to the value of at least a bushel of wheat or a 
 day's labor: these, or such as these, would give some guaran- 
 tee of respectability, and the greater number who can present 
 themselves with such qualifications, the sounder and safer will 
 be our Republican Institutions. 
 
 To inspire an honest pride in the rank of citizen, we must 
 take care not to share it with those who are the objects of his 
 contempt, and the self-respect which will be felt by the poor 
 laborer, when he has established by his industry, his right to 
 a political equality with the richest of the land, will surely 
 give an impulse to higher aspirations, and often be the first 
 step to personal distinction. 
 
 Such a proposition as this, cannot be charged with aristoc- 
 racy or exclusiveness ; all that it asserts is this, That an inde- 
 pendence and a real interest in the prosperity of his country, 
 ought to be requisites in an elector, without which, he will 
 not put a just value on the franchise. The class of emi- 
 grants, who have not thought citizenship worth their fee of 
 naturalization, and the native inhabitants who have valued it 
 below their poll-tax, are surely not worthy of the privileges 
 and that there are many such, is proved by these payments 
 being almost always part of a candidate's expenses. How 
 much more is paid for individual votes, only those who manage 
 elections can tell. It cannot be supposed that bribery in this 
 form, is practicable to any great extent. 
 
 But there is a form of corruption much more injurious and 
 iniquitous, because the price stipulated is to be paid by the 
 successful candidate in the form of office or lucrative contracts 
 to those who have brought their influence to bear on the elec- 
 tion. There is a class of men in every populous district, espe- 
 
20 
 
 cially our cities, themselves of no great consideration, but in 
 positions which give them large influence over a number of 
 the humbler inhabitants. These men have it in their power to 
 offer to either candidate a certain number of votes, and so sure 
 are they of their commodity, that when there are a number 
 of offices to be filled at an election, they have been known to 
 traffic them to a candidate on one ticket, for as many votes for 
 an office on another ticket, in the success of which they felt 
 more interest; and of such uncertain domicile is this class 
 of votes, that those who contract to supply them often can 
 transfer a score or more of them from one electoral district to 
 another on the eve of an election. It is needless to enlarge 
 on the venality of this class of vote-brokers, but the purification 
 of the suffrage in the manner just proposed, would probably put 
 an end to the business, as the plan hereafter to be proposed for 
 a united suffrage would unquestionably do. This class of men 
 can indeed only find an occupation in the large centres of popu- 
 lation. There is, however, another class of working politicians, 
 both in town and country, whose services must be secured. The 
 orator of the tap-room, the needy lawyer of the county town, 
 who spends his evenings at the store or tavern, doing the work 
 of the candidate and party, deserves' his reward and obtains 
 it. He is indispensable under the present system, and may 
 be a very honest man. 
 
 This reference to our custom of voting at the same time for 
 a number of offices, recalls an omission in speaking of the 
 various corruptions in our nominating caucuses. In framing 
 these tickets, especially for county and corporation offices, it 
 cannot be pretended that the nomination is made with refer- 
 ence to the fitness of the person proposed. It is a pure bar- 
 gain among the leading managers of the party, and in conse- 
 quence, the greatest pressure is brought to bear on the electors 
 to give success to the whole ticket, and he is denounced as a 
 
21 
 
 traitor to his party, who ventures to scratch from his ticket 
 the name of a man he knows to be dishonest, even if the office 
 he aspires to be one of the largest pecuniary trust. 
 
 This system of "bullying," is worse than bribery. The 
 tyranny of opinion is often supported by violence : the chief 
 end of preliminary ward meetings in our large cities is to or- 
 ganize the party forces ; and the great public assemblages or 
 mass meetings have no other conceivable object than to im- 
 pose the overpowering influence of numbers, — the worst but 
 often the most successful of arguments. 
 
 In the mother country, the canvassing is conducted with 
 some corruption and some violence, but at least with a better 
 show of fairness. From the opening meeting to the final 
 polling, the two candidates and their friends address all the 
 voters, and in the very animated scenes on the hustings, argu- 
 ments are exchanged as well as jokes and taunts; at all 
 events, the whole constituency knows all that both sides 
 have to say for themselves. It is, in a measure, the same 
 thing in the Southern States. At the great political meet- 
 ings called barbecues, as well as at the hustings, in those 
 States, where viva voce voting is maintained, the orators of 
 both sides are listened to, and the citizen, however humble, has 
 a better right to the conviction on which he votes, than the 
 well-educated inhabitants of a Northern town who has only 
 listened to a one-sided harangue, or taken his facts and his 
 principles from the party newspaper which is his daily reading. 
 
 It may be thought a somewhat bold assertion, that the re- 
 spectable citizen who, when a great question is agitating the 
 passions of the nation, daily reads the newspapers of his own 
 party and none others, who avoids the society of those of oppo- 
 site opinions, and has brought himself to believe that loyalty 
 consists in supporting every measure advocated by his party, 
 is not better fitted to give his vote intelligently, than the 
 
22 
 
 humble and illiterate laborer who gets his notions of politics 
 in places of resort which the other would think disreputable. 
 But this is very often the fact. 
 
 When the character of the leading newspapers is considered, 
 sold as they are to party ; how utterly every principle yields 
 with them to considerations of policy ; how truth is suppressed 
 or garbled, and falsehood unblushingly asserted; how villain- 
 ous acts are palliated and bad men praised ; how the Constitu- 
 tion is contemned and the law of nations and of war, as well 
 as every dictate of our holy religion, disregarded ; how opinions 
 which to-day are advocated are repudiated on the morrow ;* we 
 cannot help perceiving that the moral poison from this cor- 
 rupted source must permeate the minds of those who make 
 such matter their daily food, till at last the distinction between 
 right and wrong is obliterated, and acts and opinions are 
 justified at which a little while before the conscience would 
 have stood aghast, and with which we may hope it will still be 
 shocked when the spell is broken. 
 
 The national heart cannot always be corrupted by unholy 
 passions ; the national intellect cannot always be blinded. 
 Roused to action by unaccustomed distress and difficulties, it 
 will speak for itself, and demand other leaders and other 
 organs. The truth must prevail. 
 
 The people are beginning to be convinced that those called 
 their representatives are unworthy of the great charge com- 
 mitted to them. The reason is now to be told them, — that 
 they are not their representatives. Can those represent a 
 people in any office with whose selection they have nothing to 
 do? Whom they have perhaps accepted as their candidates 
 
 * It is not intended to apply this character to the whole newspaper press, 
 although the number of independent journals is very small which always 
 dare to give utterance to their own convictions. 
 
23 
 
 with reluctance, and only voted for under necessity and party 
 dictation ? Whose very nomination may have driven many 
 from the polls with disgust, and who were opposed from the 
 first by the votes of a large minority of worthy and intelligent 
 citizens, who distrusted their honesty or abhorred their poli- 
 tical opinions and aims ? And who still work against them, 
 in the hope of driving from power, at the next election, men 
 who, in their opinion, are ready to sacrifice their dearest 
 interests, and those of their country ? Unquestionably, No ! 
 And thus our boasted system of popular representation, which 
 the wisdom of antiquity having failed to invent, it was re- 
 served to our Anglo-Saxon ancestors to devise, has proved in 
 our hands a failure, a preposterous fiction. No institutions 
 have stood long, which have a falsehood at their base, — nor 
 can ours. 
 
 If it were necessary, it would not be difficult to trace in the 
 vices of our representative system, here exposed, the causes of 
 all our National calamities ; but we may accept as an esta- 
 blished truth the utterance of the people's voice, now heard in 
 every quarter, that our political leaders are chiefly answerable 
 for the cruel and unnatural war now rending every tie which 
 common origin, a common religion, a common history, and 
 nearer and dearer relations than these, had been forming since 
 our ancestors sought on these shores a refuge from poverty 
 and oppression in other lands. 
 
 It is a false assertion that our diversities of climate and oc- 
 cupation and domestic institutions necessarily dissociated us 
 in feelings, in interests, and political objects ; that Ave could 
 not live together in peace. Never were national institutions 
 better designed for harmonizing and maintaining a great 
 people, and leading it on in a course of boundless prosperity. 
 Like the work of the Divine hand in the mechanism of the 
 heavens, and the contrivances of organic life ; or, like the 
 
24 
 
 humbler work of man in the great engines of manufacturing 
 industry, and the beautiful inventions of naval architecture, 
 such was the fitness of our National and State institutions to 
 work together, such the happy adaptation of checks and ba- 
 lances (some of the most important of which consisted in the 
 very contrariety of our occupations and form of property) that 
 justice and equal rights were everywhere maintained; and it 
 is incredible that our great Republic should have subsisted for 
 more than seventy years without those very differences. . 
 
 From many a difficulty with foreign nations, from many an 
 internal convulsion, from many a mischievous reform, we have 
 been saved by the opposing forces on one side or the other ; 
 and, if our financial policy has not always been wise or just, 
 yet the sources of wealth were everywhere so great, the pro- 
 ducts of agriculture so various and abundant, and our manu- 
 facturing industry and commerce so enormous, that we became 
 as a united nation the most self-sustaining people upon earth ; 
 every department of labor furnishing and demanding the sup- 
 plies of the other. But for the meddling fanaticism of a sec- 
 tional party, working for years with insidious zeal, and the 
 hatred it naturally engendered, increased perhaps among the 
 indolent and thriftless portions of the Southern populace, by 
 envy of the greater prosperity of the North (sentiments on 
 both sides, which served as ready weapons to those whose only 
 object was to gain political power by stimulating prejudices 
 which they often did not share) there never would have been 
 a serious quarrel between North and South. 
 
 The opportunity was thus given through our vicious system of 
 representation to a few leaders on both sides, whose aim was 
 mastery or the disruption of the Union, to break up a Go- 
 vernment justly dear to great majorities in every division of 
 our country, and to inaugurate a war the end of which 
 no one can predict, — but which, whether it be the subjuga- 
 
25 
 
 tion and forced submission of the South, or the breaking 
 up of our confederacy, may in its consequences be almost 
 equally deplorable. Under any circumstances, the working 
 machinery of our Constitution is broken down ; the Govern- 
 ment, as it is, cannot go on much longer. 
 What remedy is there ? 
 
 Some persons seem to look to Military Despotism, which 
 history shows has been the ordinary refuge of a people from 
 Democratic misrule. But it is a desperate remedy, which 
 nothing but anarchy can justify. It never can restore a 
 nation's healthful vigor — only preserve a paralyzed existence. 
 Our people are too good and sensible, too proud and brave 
 for this. They ought to be able to choose their rulers ; 
 and surely could do so, if our present miserable machinery 
 for popular elections were cleared away. 
 
 Mr. Hare is believed to be the first writer who published to 
 the world the true principle of popular elections, viz., that 
 the person elected to a legislative office should represent a 
 totality. That his constituents should be voters among whom 
 there must be no opposition. That those who, according to 
 the system now prevailing, are in the minority, and not in 
 any way represented, should be able to combine with others 
 of common interests and principles, wherever they can be 
 found, and return a representative of their own. 
 
 His plan, which regards England alone, mgy be briefly ex- 
 plained as follows : 
 
 Firstly. There must be secured a registry of all the quali- 
 fied voters in the kingdom, and the number being ascertained, 
 this amount, or what perhaps would be practically better, 
 the largest number of votes ever given in a general election 
 must be divided by the number of representatives to be 
 chosen, — the product of this division being the number of 
 
26 
 
 votes which each member of Parliament would represent, and 
 must really obtain, to secure his election. 
 
 Secondly. Every voter is to be supplied from the office of 
 General Registry with a certified ticket or voting paper, 
 on which he is to inscribe the name of the person he would 
 prefer as his representative, and add from the whole list of 
 candidates previously published, the names of those he would 
 select as his second and third choice, and as many more as he 
 pleases. The voting paper being handed in at the place of 
 election, they must be forwarded to the Registrar's Office for 
 examination, where all who have obtained the requisite num- 
 ber of votes by inscription on the first line of the voting 
 paper, will be declared elected. 
 
 As it is presumed that many gentlemen of distinguished 
 talents and popularity will be the first choice of a larger 
 number of voters than they require, their names are to be 
 stricken off as first choice on all the surplus, leaving another 
 name first on the list, which being collated with the remaining 
 voting tickets, will help to secure the election of another can- 
 didate. This process is to be continued until, if possible, the 
 whole number of representatives is made up. 
 
 The scheme is, it is thought, correctly described, without 
 entering into all the particulars ; but it does not appear what 
 device is found out for filling the remaining seats, in case, 
 after the whole examination of voting papers, there are a 
 few which have^ not secured the full complement of votes. 
 It may be done either by taking majorities, or referring back 
 the voting papers for a new election. 
 
 It may perhaps be thought presumption to offer an opinion 
 as to the practical working of such a system of voting in 
 England. With their limited suffrage, it might be practicable ; 
 but two serious objections occur. In so enormous a consti- 
 tuency — the whole body of voters in a country — few can 
 
27 
 
 know anything of the qualifications of the different candidates, 
 or even their political principles. After naming the first 
 choice, the other names will, in most cases, be dictated, or 
 selected on hearsay, or at haphazard; and if they are all to be 
 written, unless an officer at the polls inscribes them, bad pen- 
 manship would make difficulties, and great frauds would pro- 
 bably be practised on unlettered voters. 
 
 -The second difficulty occurs at the Registrar's office, where 
 it is conceivable that many great frauds may be practised, 
 which we need not at present advert to. It would seem, at 
 first sight, very easy to count the voting papers and arrange 
 the voting lists according to the order of preference by the 
 voters ; though this indeed would require enormous labor and 
 an army of clerks, with whom undoubted integrity would be 
 indispensable. There would indeed be no doubt about the 
 election of those who have the full complement of votes on the 
 first line of the- voting tickets. But when the names are to 
 be stricken off of the surplus tickets, from what tickets shall 
 they be erased ? For the second in order after the successful 
 candidate is not always the same. Are the clerks or the 
 registrar to have the right to decide who among the '''second 
 liners" shall have the vote? Who shall select the tickets for 
 erasure? This is an opportunity for favor and corruption 
 which cannot be admitted, and would be fatal to the honest 
 working of the system. Mr. Hare can perhaps suggest a 
 remedy ; but as none now occurs to the writer, he will pro- 
 ceed to explain his own plan, which may have many defects 
 of its own, but is at least not liable to these objections. 
 
 As in the plan of Mr. Hare, it is necessary that the electo- 
 ral lists should be made out for a certain time before each 
 election. This interval might be six months, when a full 
 alphabetical catalogue of all the qualified votes on the Regis- 
 
28 
 
 trar's lists should be made out, printed, published in the 
 newspapers, and the local lists affixed in public places. For 
 three months after this, there should be given an opportunity to 
 claim the right of voting by those whose names are not on the 
 lists ; after which, there should be no claim received or allowed. 
 The number of qualified voters in the whole of a State having 
 been ascertained, this number, or (as is suggested in Mr. 
 Hare's plan) that of the largest number of votes ever polled, 
 or a mean between them, must be divided by the number of 
 representatives allotted to the State in the national Congress; 
 or, in case of the State elections, by the number which fills 
 the quota of either house of Assembly. This number being 
 fixed as the constituency of each representative to be chosen, 
 he is expected to procure the full number of votes, or a very 
 near approximation to it ; but w T ith liberty to seek them any- 
 where within the limits of the State, among the qualified 
 voters. The reason why the dividend may safely be reduced 
 below that of the whole number of qualified votes, is that the 
 whole vote of a State is never given, and the proportion 
 abstaining can always be calculated with a great approach to 
 accuracy. 
 
 Immediately after the date of closing the Registrar's office 
 for claims, he should issue voting tickets or certificates of the 
 right of suffrage to every person entitled to it, a separate one 
 for every office he has the right to vote for, so prepared as to 
 guard against forgery or alteration. This voting certificate is 
 not understood to be only an authority to the citizen to give 
 his ballot at the polls, but a ticket to be assigned to the can- 
 didate of his choice in writing before an officer appointed for 
 such purpose, as, for instance, a notary public. And this as- 
 signment might be made at any time within ten days of the 
 election, either at the notary's office, or, in case of inability 
 from sickness, at the house of the elector. 
 
29 
 
 The next point to be considered is the nomination of candi- 
 dates. For this we may find an example in England, where 
 primary meetings and all their abominations have been un- 
 known. Any body of respectable citizens, whose names and 
 position might be expected to give weight to their recommen- 
 dation, might meet in public or private and nominate a can- 
 didate to represent themselves and all others with whom they 
 were united in interest or in questions of public policy. 
 
 Thus we may suppose the great industrial divisions of our 
 country, the commercial, manufacturing, agricultural, or 
 mining interests would present their separate candidates ; se- 
 lecting from among men of the highest ability in the country, 
 those who will best sustain their cause in the public councils 
 of the nation, leaving them unpledged in other matters. The 
 candidate being named, the meeting would then nominate a 
 canvassing committee consisting of fifty or five hundred mem- 
 bers, whose names should be all immediately published, as well 
 as the proceedings of the meeting and their address to the 
 public. 
 
 The nomination might be made immediately after the pub- 
 lication of the electoral list, and the canvass at once com- 
 menced. This may be done as in England, by approaching 
 the electors at their homes, or addressing them at meetings, 
 explaining the objects of the nominating body, and giving as- 
 surances of the character and principles of the candidate, 
 procuring the promise of votes, and continuing their progress 
 through the country till their complement was made up, and 
 their work done. The electors would then present themselves 
 before the notary to assign their votes, and the election would 
 be complete. 
 
 From the great number of votes to be secured, it might 
 seem, at first sight, that the canvass would be peculiarly la- 
 borious, but the difficulty is not so great as it appears. 
 
30 
 
 It being understood that immediately after the nomination 
 a publication is to be made stating the name, character, and 
 principles of the nominee, the names of the committee, and 
 the place of their headquarters or central office, at "which all 
 ■who favor the election may be invited to hand in their names, 
 we may readily suppose a large number will be voluntarily 
 offered ; moreover, the circuit of the committee need not be 
 very large, for, as the nomination is made by the representa- 
 tives of some great interest or leading opinion, the field of 
 inquiry is much narrowed, if not entirely confined to citizens 
 of cognate principles or interests, so that the canvassers would 
 know exactly among what class of men to find their votes. 
 
 And here appears one of the chief recommendations of the 
 system, inasmuch as it tends to unite together all the grades 
 of society in the support of the same candidate ; for the 
 moment a nomination is made of a gentleman of eminent 
 worth and abilities, who is to be the special representative of 
 one of the great interests of the country, he ought to be 
 equally secure of the support of the great proprietors, or 
 heads of the business, and of every one whose present main- 
 tenance and future hopes are involved in the success of that 
 great department, whether commerce, manufactures, agricul- 
 ture, mining, or the various other subdivisions of industry. 
 
 The prosperity of commerce is not less important to the 
 merchant than it is to the ship-builder or chandler, the sail- 
 maker, as well as the sailor, the truckman or the stevedore. 
 That of manufactures equally involves the mill-owner, the 
 machinist, the spinner, the weaver and the numerous bands 
 of operatives connected with the great establishments. Under 
 the proposed system of representation, it would become the 
 business of the heads of every branch of trade, not only to 
 show by argument to every one in their employ the identity 
 of their interests, but to prove it to them by affording the 
 
31 
 
 best possible wages, and perhaps giving a special interest in 
 the profits ; moreover, to secure their regard by kind atten- 
 tions and considerate treatment. By these means, mutual 
 good feeling and dependence would be created in the fairest 
 possible way, and a sort of sentiment aroused analogous to 
 clanship. Political economy would cease to be a matter of 
 cold calculation. The hard-hearted mill-owner, the ill-paid, 
 disheartened and debased operative would be replaced by 
 workmen and employers who know and trust each other, — 
 sharing prosperity and adversity without envy or discontent, — 
 holding the same views of politics and government, and in the 
 choice of their representatives always united. 
 
 In taking the great industrial interests of our country as 
 the chief bonds of union, and the most probable and efficient 
 combinations in nominating for representative offices, I do not 
 forget that there are other and much higher principles ac- 
 tuating men, even in their views of government ; for although 
 almost all our legislation has reference to property, and the 
 chief machinery of administration is for its protection, yet 
 there are also some other and higher ends, affecting our re- 
 ligious and moral natures, which it may be possible to promote 
 or establish by government means. That these would be over- 
 looked or neglected by the eminent men we may suppose 
 elected by the great industrial bodies of the country is not to 
 be supposed. Religion, education, science, art, all not only 
 aid the success of each department, but, being essential to 
 human progress and the happiness and honor of life, they 
 would be peculiarly the objects of encouragement in assem- 
 blies, where men of the highest education and worth would 
 take the place now occupied by political adventurers. 
 
 But the popular mind does not always work with regularity, 
 and sometimes refuses to run in the old track, though that 
 lead to success and prosperity. At times our citizens, or a 
 
32 
 
 portion of them, appear to forget their own interest, and even 
 their duties, and, embracing the opinions of the enthusiastic 
 reformers of society, insist on carrying into action their newly 
 learnt principles. Let, then, the apostles of social and politi- 
 cal reform be heard ; let them even have a place in our legis- 
 lative assemblies, if they can secure the requisite number of 
 votes ; let the advocates of emancipation, or temperance, or 
 antimasonry, or agrarianism make their nominations, canvass 
 for votes, and, if they can, elect their member ; but let them 
 not combine with any other organization, corrupt the principle 
 of representation, and purchase, by the transfer of their votes, 
 the advocacy of projects which have no affinity with the prin- 
 ciples of the great industrial parties forming themselves in 
 their neighborhood. 
 
 Should the representatives of these opinions obtain an 
 election, they would have the best opportunity of advocating 
 them. They would be listened to by the first minds in the 
 country, and it might be that the reforms they urge would in 
 some manner or to some extent be adopted ; or, having been 
 confuted and rejected in the great council of the nation, rep- 
 resenting, as it would do, the whole people, they would sink 
 with their advocates into insignificance and silence. 
 
 But we must now return from this digression to the plan 
 of voting, which has not yet been fully developed. 
 
 The quota of electoral tickets having been completely made 
 up and assigned to the member elect, he will retain them until 
 he presents them to the official of the House to which he is cho- 
 sen, as his unquestioned and unquestionable certificate of elec- 
 tion. Should he have had the offer of a larger number of votes 
 than is necessary for his election, he has only to suggest their 
 transfer to some other candidate of similar views and princi- 
 ples who had not yet made up his complement. In this man- 
 
33 
 
 ner, the minorities would coalesce until they formed complete 
 constituencies. 
 
 Thus far, each elected member would represent a whole, and 
 by the process above described, we may reasonably conclude 
 that most of the places would be filled ; but as it is hardly 
 possible that the whole number of members should be elected, 
 each with the full complement of votes he is supposed to rep- 
 resent, it is to be considered in what way the seats still vacant 
 from a deficiency of votes are to be filled. 
 
 It would probably be as near an approximation as need be 
 to the principle of the above scheme of voting, if those candi- 
 dates who had received the greatest number short of totality 
 of votes should be declared elected, provided they presented 
 the tickets of two-thirds of the number of their constituency ; 
 and if at last, in consequence of the number of candidates, 
 there should still be a place unfilled by a member qualified 
 by such a vote, a new election should be called, at which the 
 voting tickets which had not been effective at the previous 
 election might be again used according to the system above 
 described.* 
 
 An advantage which is almost certain to accrue from this 
 system, would be the extinction of bribery, or the purchase of 
 votes. The great number of votes to be procured would almost 
 render it impossible, and the facility of obtaining them in any 
 
 * It might be objected to this plan, that it would only work well in the 
 larger States, at least in the elections for Congress ; that in the smaller, it 
 would be impossible to secure a totality vote. In that case, a majority of 
 two-thirds might be accepted as the nearest possible approach ; or the can« 
 didate might be permitted to seek his votes in the bordering States ; for the 
 members of our lower House of Congress represent people, and not terri- 
 tory; and with certain limitations, the State boundary might be as little 
 regarded as that of a county ; for interest and opinions, not neighborhood, 
 are the real bonds of union in a constituency. 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 district, would make it altogether unnecessary ; for if bribery in 
 a limited constituency, as in the English elections, where the 
 parties are the richest in the land, is ruinous to the candidates, 
 how would it be possible with us, in a constituency of more 
 than ten thousand votes? Moreover, it is only in elections 
 by majorities that the doubtful votes command a price. Here 
 we should not have a scale to be turned, but a measure to be 
 filled, and a large field to gather from. The very publi- 
 city of the record would be a safeguard ; and if there were 
 still a doubt, an oath might be administered to candidates or 
 constituents, that the vote was neither given nor received under 
 threats or promise of reward. Under the present system, 
 there is great facility of corruption, and owing to the secrecy 
 of the vote, detection is nearly impossible. 
 
 The secret ballot must be of course abandoned ; but instead 
 of this being a sacrifice of independence, it would rather secure 
 it. The elector (especially if the simple standard of respect- 
 ability were established which has been before suggested), 
 would regard his vote as a duty to his country, and perform it 
 without fear or favor ; and so far would he be from dreading 
 the intimidation of an employer, that this system would tend 
 to produce such unison of feeling between the latter and all 
 his workmen, that they would rarely wish to vote differently. 
 The record would, moreover, be a bar to treachery and all se- 
 cret influences, and a vote of which the voter should be ashamed, 
 will never be given by him. 
 
 While the radicals in England have been contending for the 
 ballot, true reformers in America would rather return to the 
 honest and manly system of voting viva voce; being convinced 
 that wherever there is secrecy there may be fraud, and that so 
 far from the laborer being at the mercy of an offended em- 
 ployer, intimidation if practised will be from the masses, and 
 capital, not labor, the victim. Only the demagogue, whose in- 
 
fluence is secret and who works in dark places, would retain a 
 system favorable to his intrigues. 
 
 The abolition of the system of electoral districts would remove 
 another popular fallacy. If land or the owners of land were 
 alone represented in our Legislative assemblies, there might 
 be some meaning in returning members from these divisions of 
 territory ; but. since it is the people who inhabit it whose wishes 
 are to be carried out, whose rights secured, whose interests 
 protected and prosperity advanced, it is difficult to see how 
 one man can represent such discordant elements as constitute 
 the population of any crowded district, especially a large town 
 or city. In a rural district alone can a population be found 
 united in interest, and experience has shown that even among 
 them is often found a greater divergence of opinion upon poli- 
 tical matters, than in a population given exclusively to any 
 other form of industry. 
 
 A greater tyranny cannot be conceived than to force a large 
 part of any population, even if it be only a minority, to com- 
 mit the utterance of their wishes and the guardianship of their 
 interests in the National or State government, to a man they 
 cannot trust, and whose enmity they have won by the bitterness 
 of a party contest. In no way can this be avoided but by the 
 adoption of some such system as the one proposed in this essay, 
 and by Mr. Hare. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that such a change in our system 
 of representation could be carried without opposition : but no 
 one can honestly say that it is less Democratic than the one it 
 is intended to supersede, unless Democracy consists in putting 
 power into the hands of a few men. Here, all would vote on 
 terms of perfect equality, the electors uniting voluntarily in 
 the choice of members of their own selection, really repre- 
 senting their interests. Xo vote would be nullified, and on 
 the contrary, every citizen would be really represented by the 
 
36 
 
 man of his choice; frauds in elections would be impossible, 
 nor could any question of electoral returns come before the 
 Legislature to be decided, as it always is, by a strictly party 
 vote. 
 
 But of all the advantages arising from the change, the great- 
 est would be in disuse of political caucus, and the end put to 
 primary elections ; which together form a system so full of 
 fraud, so incapable of correction, that it must be destroyed, or 
 it will utterly eradicate all public virtue, entirely undermine 
 every principle upon which free institutions are based, and 
 leave us nothing but the knife to eradicate the cancer in our 
 body politic, with small hope indeed of surviving the operation. 
 
 If the electoral system, working with such disastrous effect 
 for more than our generation, has not altogether degraded us 
 as a nation, rendering it nearly impossible for a highminded 
 man to enter into politics, or soon destroying his sense of 
 honor by the associations and practices he must tolerate; and 
 leaving no other course for honest ambition but the acquisition 
 of money, a career itself most sadly corroding, to the higher 
 sentiments of our nature; if there are still among us a class 
 of independent, patriotic gentlemen ; or printers, shoemakers, 
 and blacksmiths, like the .Franklins, Shermans, and Greenes 
 of our Revolution, such a system as the one proposed would 
 give them place in our national councils, and invest them with 
 authority to speak as no other representatives could speak, 
 with honesty and boldness, fearing no reproach, and checked 
 by no base party consideration ; representing totalities, they 
 would be sure to be sustained while they support the true 
 interests of their constituents ; truckling in nothing to those 
 they despise, they would legislate according to their conscien- 
 tious convictions, for the good of their country; and, when 
 the decision on a great question was made, all must submit to 
 
37 
 
 the will of the real majority of the nation, speaking by their 
 true delegates. Owing their places to no corrupt bargain or 
 base concession, they would be incapable of corruption in 
 their legislative office. Sustained by the whole body of their 
 constituents, who had really chosen them as their organs, they - 
 would feel the conscious dignity of men worthily invested with 
 supreme power, and use it only for their country's good, 
 identified as it would be with their own honor and lasting 
 fame. 
 
 Is this a dream — a fantastic and impossible idea? Let it 
 not be hastily rejected as such; for it is a scheme to retrieve 
 the honor and honesty of our legislative assemblies, the cor- 
 ruption and degradation of which is the disease our Republic 
 is dying of. Something must be done, or our institutions will 
 speedily perish. 
 
 But the greatest of all the problems submitted to us as a 
 nation is still unsolved, — the possibility of electing the Chief 
 Magistrate of a great Republic without corruption and without 
 violence ; the invention of a scheme for selecting among all 
 our people a man worthy of the exalted honor and the mighty 
 trust. 
 
 If the system of nominating and electing proposed in this 
 essay, for members of Congress, could be applied to the choice 
 of Presidential Electors, we might reasonably hope for the 
 creation of Electoral Colleges consisting of men of character 
 and influence, not the nominees of politicians, or the repre- 
 sentatives of party; and, in that case, we should have an 
 effectual realization of the views of those great and patriotic 
 men who framed our Constitution, and whose work has been 
 so lamentably perverted by their descendants. 
 
 If we adopt the present basis and proportion of electoral 
 
38 
 
 votes, every elector, corresponding to the representative in 
 Congress, must in the same way obtain a totality vote ; and 
 the two Senatorial Electors (as they are sometimes called) 
 might be chosen by the Legislatures of each State ; thus vary- 
 ing the mode of election, and giving another chance for a 
 good choice. 
 
 When assembled in the Electoral Colleges, each elector 
 should give his independent vote, to be counted as such in the 
 general return, — the object being, as before stated, to frus- 
 trate the intrigues of State politicians, and render a sectional 
 candidate impossible. 
 
 As this system of counting the individual votes in the gene- 
 ral return is more likely to result in a failure to secure at first 
 a majority to any candidate, than the present system, the 
 Electoral Colleges might meet again after the interval of one 
 month; and, if it be found that the election has failed from 
 the number of candidates, a new election might be made, with 
 the choice narrowed to the three candidates who had obtained 
 the highest number of votes at the previous election. This 
 would appear to be safer than to trust the second election to 
 the House of Representatives, as in our present system. 
 
 As experience has shown that many evils arise from a long 
 interval between the election and inauguration of a President, 
 the first meeting of the Electoral Colleges might be fixed on 
 the first of December, the second on the first of January ; 
 which it is presumed would leave time enough for the Presi- 
 dent elect to make his preliminary arrangements before the 
 fourth of March. 
 
 While it might be hoped that this change of system would 
 result in the formation of such Electoral Colleges as the 
 framers of our present Constitution expected, and that our 
 people, in trusting to a body of their fellow-citizens an office 
 of such high responsibility and dignity as the election of Presi- 
 
39 
 
 dent, would take care that they were worthy of it ; yet the prize 
 of the Presidential office is so high, its powers so great, its 
 patronage so enormous, that we cannot be sure it would not 
 be sought by bad men, and that every elector would be proof 
 against his seductions, and impenetrable by the lust of wealth, 
 or the temptation of office. 
 
 It would be well to provide against these evils, and to seek, 
 if we can, some mode of limiting the selection to men qualified 
 for office, by honorable and distinguished service elsewhere ; 
 and at the same time so to diminish the patronage of office, as 
 to render corruption nearly impossible. 
 
 The first object might be attained by limiting the selection 
 of candidates to citizens who had at some time been Senators 
 of the United States, and had filled their seats in that digni- 
 fied assembly for two years at least. This, it is thought, 
 would be attended with double advantage. It would greatly 
 increase the dignity and importance of that body, and secure 
 to the Presidential candidate some experience, not only in 
 legislation, but in statesmanship, while acting as a special 
 adviser of the Executive in diplomatic matters, and in con- 
 sidering his nominations for the great offices of the nation. 
 
 The Legislatures of the States, in appointing to the Fede- 
 ral Senate, would recollect that they were nominating to the 
 nation one of their fellow-citizens as a possible candidate for 
 the Presidential office, and would not lightly throw away the 
 advantage to be gained by a good selection, knowing that the 
 greater his virtues and abilities, the greater chance that this 
 high honor would redound to his native State; while the 
 members of the Senate would feel that the eyes of the whole 
 nation were specially directed to them, as the body from which, 
 or its former members, they must from time to time select 
 their Chief Magistrate. Higher motives to a noble ambition, 
 a greater stimulus to patriotic service cannot be conceived. 
 
40 
 
 This liberty of selection might be extended to all who had 
 filled the offices of Governors of the Federated States, and, 
 perhaps, some other high officials, especially in the Judiciary ; 
 providing, only, that they are not in office at the time of their 
 nomination, the object being to secure ability and integrity 
 proved in the previous tenure of high office. 
 
 It would, indeed, be unwise to exclude the military profes- 
 sions from a chance of selection for the highest National 
 honors. In war the noblest qualities are discovered, the best 
 abilities displayed. Washington, Wellington, and Marlbo- 
 rough exhibited in their campaigns talents for diplomacy, 
 statesmanship, and general administration equal to their 
 military skill ; and it would be well to invite from time to 
 time into our legislative counsels men whose great qualities 
 have already been exhibited in the tented field. In all the 
 great constitutional monarchies of Europe, many eminent 
 soldiers have seats in the legislative halls ; and in the coun- 
 tries under despotic rule, the first offices of state are often 
 filled by military men. It is quite otherwise in our Republic, 
 where, while we have abundance of generals and colonels in 
 Congress and our State Assemblies, they are men whose title 
 is only an empty pretension to military knowledge or service. 
 
 The attainments and experience of educated officers from 
 our military and naval professions, would often be invaluable 
 in the committees to which are assigned the affairs of war ; 
 while the knowledge of the world, of which many have seen 
 much, and their high tone and bearing, would be a most de- 
 sirable infusion into our legislative assemblies. If officers of 
 the army and navy could be elected to Congress without re- 
 signing or losing grade in the service (merely relinquishing 
 for the time their pay and their progressive seniority), they 
 would form a great addition to our legislative strength ; and if 
 appointed by their own States to a place in the National 
 
41 
 
 Senate (an honor very likely to be conferred on those worthy 
 of it), they would thus be placed in the rank of candidates; 
 and should the voice of the Electoral Colleges call them to the 
 Presidential chair, they would not come into office without 
 some experience in the trade of statesmanship. 
 
 The last point to be considered is the patronage of office, 
 and its influence on elections. Great as is this evil, — it may 
 be the greatest in our land, as affecting the honor of our 
 statesmen and the morality of our politics, — its removal seems 
 to be easy, if we have the will to do it. 
 
 The President, as the great executive head of the nation, 
 must be placed above this miserable business. There is not a 
 department in which it would not be a gain to him, as well as 
 to the nation, to place all appointments in other hands. 
 
 The highest functionaries of State, the Cabinet officers, and 
 the foreign representatives of the country must be under his 
 control ; but the great departments of the army, navy, and 
 treasury might be entirely committed to permanent boards ; at 
 which, if desired, the Ministers of State might preside, but 
 which might safely be trusted to fill the places for which they 
 best know the qualifications. The Post Office need have no 
 connection with the Executive. The local postmasters indeed 
 might be safely left to popular elections. 
 
 If the nomination of the members of great departmental 
 boards be given to the Executive with the consent of the 
 Senate, there should be no power of removal except for mis- 
 conduct or incompetence, verified before the Senate ; and the 
 appointment of the inferior officers in their departments, in- 
 cluding the whole military service, if requiring the assent of 
 the minister at its head, should be ever after beyond his con- 
 trol, except for similar causes. In this way, great official in- 
 dependence and honor would be inspired, and high qualifica- 
 tions secured by education in the grades of office. In no other 
 
42 
 
 country than ours are all the officials liable to displacement on 
 each popular election ; and in no country on earth is there 
 such incompetence among them. 
 
 The nomination of the Federal Judiciary must, of course, 
 be left to the Executive; but if confirmation required a three- 
 fourths vote of the Senate, the appointment would be taken 
 out of party politics ; while, if the courts had the power of 
 temporarily supplying vacancies on their own benches, they 
 would effectually stop all factious opposition to a good ap- 
 pointment. 
 
 The interpretation given to the constitutional powers of the 
 President in the early days of our Republic, when the cha- 
 racter of Washington and his successor seemed to guarantee 
 us against appointments from corrupt or purely party motives, 
 was most unfortunate. It was not supposed possible that a 
 capable and faithful officer could be removed for a vote hostile 
 to the Executive, or to give place to one whose only merit was 
 his electioneering services to a new President ; and the know- 
 ledge that occasional emergencies must arise calling for prompt 
 action, when the Senate could not be consulted, was, probably, 
 the cause of acquiescence in the peremptory power of re- 
 moval. 
 
 The evil consequences of this concession were never fully 
 realized till the election of General Jackson, who first intro- 
 duced the pernicious and tyrannical practice of punishing all 
 opponents in public places, and giving their offices to his 
 friends and supporters. From that time, parties in this 
 country became thoroughly corrupt. Men fought not for 
 principles but for offices and spoils. Implicit subservience to 
 the dictates of party was insisted on by its leaders. Our po- 
 litical caucuses and conventions became marts where princi- 
 ples and votes were sold for promises of office and contracts; 
 and the advent of a new President or Governor filled the Na- 
 
43 
 
 tional or State capital with hungry hordes, — men without cha- 
 racter or worth, claiming for themselves places of honor and 
 trust, to which they, of all men, were least entitled by tried 
 ability or honesty. 
 
 The framers of the Constitution of the Confederate States 
 have denied the power of removal from office by the arbitrary 
 will of the Executive ; and it is to be hoped, whatever may be 
 the result of our national divisions, that this constitutional pro- 
 vision may be adopted by us. 
 
 A peremptory dismissal of a Cabinet officer or their confi- 
 dential clerks is a necessary power. A temporary suspension 
 from office might be conceded to the great departmental boards, 
 or perhaps to their heads. A power of recall from foreign 
 missions may be necessary, but always to be submitted with 
 statement of causes to the Senate. Here all power over the 
 occupants of office should end. Official integrity, the faithful and 
 intelligent performance of duty requires it; above all, the re- 
 lief of our electoral system from the most extensive and flagrant 
 corruption demands it. 
 
 Take away this power, and our Electoral Colleges will be 
 relieved from every suspicion of baseness and intrigue. Choose 
 our electors in the manner previously suggested, and they will 
 unite in selecting for us, from all the nation, the men most de- 
 serving of our confidence by their public services and unques- 
 tioned abilities. Party, as it is now understood, would be an- 
 nihilated. Great public questions would undoubtedly interest 
 and excite a great and free and intelligent people, and have 
 influence in elections, but in the choice of a First Magistrate, 
 we may be sure they never would be cheated into the election 
 of a man neither qualified for his place by his talents, his edu- 
 cation, his experience, or his integrity. 
 
 And what an accession of independence and dignity would 
 
44 
 
 it not give to the Chief of our nation, placed above all base, 
 all party influences, and occupied solely with affairs of state ! 
 
 We can hardly doubt his being actuated by the noblest pa- 
 triotism in all his acts. His influence in our legislative bodies 
 would be great, but always legitimate, for he could buy no votes 
 for his favorite measures; his foreign and national policy 
 would always be upright, for purely party considerations 
 would be impossible for a man so selected. 
 
 Personal dignity might always be expected, for his selection 
 would surely be made from the first men of the nation, and 
 his associations could never be degrading. No rowdy ruffian 
 with his troop of bullies could march triumphantly in the inau- 
 gural cortege, or force himself as a guest into the Presidential 
 mansion ; no base intriguer could claim his patronage in reward 
 for services disgraceful to both. While claiming no preroga- 
 tive of birth, no advantages from wealth, rising as he might 
 well do from humble rank by successive stages of merit, he 
 would prove to the world that the widest Democracy can pro- 
 duce a gentleman, and knows how to honor him. 
 
 One of the evils of the existing system of election which 
 has been often remarked, arises from their frequency. Hardly 
 is one election closed, before plans are laid for another. The 
 defeated party at once begins its assaults upon the newly 
 elected member, and both prepare with increased animosity 
 for a new contest. 
 
 This constant excitement is most unfavorable to a sound con- 
 dition of the public mind on political subjects; and moreover, 
 as all citizens cannot give their time to this incessant political 
 warfare and intrigue, the work must needs be done by the 
 mercenary army of politicians of all grades, which our vicious 
 system has created and must continue to foster. 
 
 It has been proposed to diminish this evil by extending the 
 
45 
 
 term of office both of our Chief Magistrate and also of our 
 political assemblies ; but a little reflection will show how emi- 
 nently unfair and pernicious this extension would be under 
 our present system of electing by fictitious majorities. 
 
 Disfranchised as are all the citizens not voting for the suc- 
 cessful candidate, — a class often embracing a real majority, 
 and still more frequently containing the largest proportion of 
 those whose education is the highest, and whose interests are 
 the greatest in the community, — utterly disregarded as are 
 all their rights and wishes, even when unquestionably ex- 
 pressed, by the representative of their political enemies, who 
 is sure to take every advantage of victory, — the prolongation 
 of his term would be oppressive and tyrannical, giving time to 
 the unprincipled men who , are the dictators of the party to 
 secure, if they can, by iniquitous legislation, the power 
 acquired by fraud, or to complete the ruin of the State by 
 misgovernment and plunder, before handing it over to their 
 political enemies. Those who have felt the misfortune and 
 disgrace of being constantly misrepresented in the national 
 Executive and councils ; those who are aware of the irreme- 
 diable mischief to be done, even in their present brief tenure of 
 office, by an unprincipled minority party, will never consent 
 to increase the evil by the prolongation of its power. 
 
 But adopt the system here proposed, of electing by totali- 
 ties, and every objection to a prolonged term disappears. 
 The member elect has no enemies in the rear. He has no 
 battle to fight at home. He really represents the whole body 
 of his constituents. His selection is the very expression of 
 their wishes : he is sure to take counsel with and for them, and 
 to defend all their rights and interests. The President elect 
 has been the choice of a real majority of the nation, — not 
 nominated by intriguers, but selected by men most capable 
 of judging of capacity and worth, and raised to office for 
 
46 
 
 merits and services proved in other capacities. In both cases 
 power may safely be trusted, for it will not be abused. In 
 both, a prolongation of office is not only convenient, but desi- 
 rable. As it would probably be renewed by re-election, there 
 is the best reason for prolonging the term. Frequent elec- 
 tions, so essential under the present system, to protect private 
 rights and secure an expression of public wishes, would be 
 here unnecessary ; and the evil of frequent changes and con- 
 stant political agitation would be obviated, without encounter- 
 ing a greater evil, — the consolidation of party despotism. 
 
 This is believed to be the last topic to which it is necessary 
 to advert, — the evil of false majorities being mainly confined 
 to the choice of the members of our legislative bodies and the 
 Presidential election. 
 
 The executive officers of the various States and counties 
 must be elected by simple majorities ; and whatever frauds 
 or abuses may exist in these elections, can be safely left for 
 correction to the Legislatures of the States, if they are fairly 
 chosen according to the principle here advocated. 
 
 It would be a trespass on the time and patience of the 
 reader of these pages, if more were added. 
 
 The monstrous evils of our present representative system 
 have been exposed, and a plan suggested, which, if practicable, 
 would seem to promise a removal of all these evils. It 
 would require very long and careful study to adapt it to a 
 practical working result. Difficulties may suggest themselves 
 demanding essential changes ; and, although the machinery 
 for voting seems simple enough, there are numerous contin- 
 gencies to be met with suitable contrivances. Some of them 
 have already occurred to the writer; but it does not at present 
 seem necessary to suggest them. It is sufficient now to de- 
 
47 
 
 velop a general plan, which it is hoped may be intelligible to 
 all. Like many other fair and promising schemes, it may be 
 a mere illusion; but if it turns other minds into similar 
 trains of thought, the result may be the discovery of some 
 method of electing, more practical, more efficient, and better 
 suited to our American people. 
 
 If our country is saved from degradation by any other 
 means, it will be no mortification to the author of the present 
 scheme, that his plan has been neglected and forgotten. 
 
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