Though this bloggers refers to the position as electing the Commander in Chief, I still find many of his documented other facts, correct.
The electoral system in 1787 removed our individual votes from electing a President. First race card played in 1787, as well as immigration phobia. I also note it runs on the average of every 6 years that race card is played to elect someone, and then the laws are almost universally defunded, leaving the immigration/race issue to be a useable tool in the future (fix nothing that gets your man elected). Federalist = supporter of the most moneyed. Republican/Democrat = supporter of the most moneyed Some people seem to think we lost our representation as citizens in the 1900's instead of the 1700's. Hamilton, the most vocal representative of the moneyed during the American revolution, it was his block of people in the Continental Convention that stopped funding George Washington, leaving him and his men in Valley Forge over the winter without pay or food. Hamilton was our first Treasure. 1796 Hamilton introduced the first nosy sex scandal into an election. Hamilton introduced our first negative campaigning, by pseudonym or proxy, instead of being out in the open about his mythical accusations, circumventing people being able to be confronted by their accusers. Hamilton introduced the first item about accusing a competitor of cowardice, without proof. The first instance of some non Corporate/Big Business Party being blamed for a Corporate party loss. The newspapers were used like they are today, trial in the press without proof of charges, and removal of enough whole facts people could make independent decisions on their own. It is interesting to note that Washington wrote about his disgust of the minority representation for only the most powerful people, while he himself was after land the American Indians had, the whole of the Ohio River Valley, whom he treated as less then living beings. The 12th Amendment of course, continued to move voting away from the white landed people to the even more power factions within the country (which is why Jefferson was accused of being non white, it would have disqualified him). Ever wonder where the phrase, a Burr in your side came from? And here we are today, nothing changes if nothing changes. Anyone fine with the FEAR THE OPPOSITION voting system should read not only this but study how effective it is at removing data, facts, knowledge and good decisions from EVER ELECTING A REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE MAJORITY. For the lazy, just compare 200 years ago here, with today. Scott http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2012/10/inside-america%E2%80%99s-first-dirty-presidential-campaign-1796-style/ Inside Americas first dirty presidential campaign, 1796 style Posted 10 hours, 43 minutes ago. By Scott Bomboy Subscribe Shocked by the discourse of this years presidential campaign? Wait till your hear what happened in 1796, when the U.S. had its first contested election for commander-in-chief. On October 19, 1796, a mysterious editorial from a writer named Phocion appeared in the Gazette of the United States, a popular Federalist newspaper in Philadelphia. At the time, Vice President John Adams was pitted against another Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson, in a race to succeed George Washington as president. Phocions letter was what we would today call an attack ad. The letter in the Gazette written by Phocion said, in terms understood by most readers, that presidential candidate Jefferson was having an affair with one of his female slaves. Bestselling author Ron Chernow chronicled the incident in his biography of Phocionthe person also known as Alexander Hamilton. In a Batman-complex moment, Phocion also accused Jefferson of running away from British troops during the Revolution, unlike his brave friend Alexander Hamilton. Phocion also paid compliment after compliment to Adams and claimed Jefferson would emancipate all slaves if he were elected president. The slave letter was one of several dozens written by Hamilton during the campaign, all attacking Jefferson. The incident was one of the first instances where the race card was played in a presidential election. It was the first presidential race in America with two political parties: the Federalists (led by Adams and Hamilton) and an opposing group, later to be called Republicans, or Democratic-Republicans (led by Jefferson and James Madison). Washington was so popular that he won his two elections without meaningful opposition. But Washington said in September 1796 he wouldnt seek a third term, giving Americans about three months notice to find a replacement. Adams defeated Jefferson by three electoral votes in the short but nasty 1796 election, which shocked contemporaries in its use of dirty tactics and back-door maneuvering. Adams gained an electoral majority by just one vote. The ever-scheming Hamilton, says Chernow, caused more problems for himself and Adams, even though Adams won the election by a narrow margin. Adams wound up blaming Hamilton and Jefferson for his close victory, and he particularly targeted Hamilton for plotting Adams near-defeat by trying to funnel votes to a third candidate, Thomas Pinckney of South Carolina. One theory advanced by historians is that Hamilton secretly lobbied in the South for Federalists to elect Pinckney as president by withholding just a handful of votes for Adams. Bad election system leads to political parties, mud slinging In the original election system set up in 1787, each elector cast two votes, and the top two candidates became president and vice president. Six states had direct popular elections, but 10 others let state legislatures choose the electors. That would have made Pinckney the president and Adams the vice president, if several Federalists voted for Pinckney and another lesser candidate, like Samuel Adams. Recent Constitution Daily Stories Mitt Romney takes lead in projected electoral vote count Google Trends shows growing Romney interest among swing state voters Romneys ace could come from a mystery swing state Instead, Hamiltons secret was discovered by some in New England, a region that had many more Federalists. Some electors refused to cast their second vote for Pinckney. Others had turned on Pinckney, without knowing about the plot, because he was pro-slavery. The result was that Adams became president and his former-friend-turned rival, Jefferson, became vice president. Jeffersons folks had been using their own strong campaign tactics in the fight against Adams. Adams was accused of wanting to be king and starting a dynasty, and sucking up to England, too, in the process. He was also accused of being overweight. In the Saturday Evening Post in 1976, the legendary columnist Jack Anderson wrote about response from Adams people. Adamss opponent, Thomas Jefferson was accused of being the son of a half-breed Indian and a mulatto father. Voters were warned that Jeffersons election would result in a civil war and a national orgy of rape, incest, and adultery, Anderson said. The Adams folks also said Jefferson was godless and wanted to spread the French Revolution to America. They also said Jeffersons supporters were cut-throats who walk in rags and sleep amid filth and vermin. But in 1796, it was unsuitable for a candidate to actually campaign directly, and only one candidate did so, the lesser known Republican vice presidential candidate Aaron Burr. Surrogates were the first embryonic factions that soon evolved into political parties. Many Americans werent happy with the discourse in the 1796 election, having never seen party politics in action before. George Washington stated his disgust in his farewell address, given three months before the election. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community, he said. They are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion. Washington wouldnt live to see his prediction come true in the 1800 presidential election, where an Adams-Jefferson rematch led to an unforeseen constitutional crisisa tied electionfueled by deeply partisan tactics and more plotting by Hamilton, Jefferson, and Burr. The result was the passage of the 12th Amendment, which changed the original presidential voting system passed in 1787. It was ratified in June 1804, just a month before Burr killed Hamilton in their famous duel. Scott Bomboy in editor-in-chief of the National Constitution Center. ------------------------------------ Yahoo! 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