Election follies used to be trickier

Q: During a pre-Republican-convention interview, boxing promoter Don King brought up a historical point I have frequently wondered about. He urged that the country go back to when the president and vice president did not run as a team. He said that there was a time when the person who got the most votes became president, but the person who received the second-most became vice president. This appears to have been the case in 1864, when Republican Abraham Lincoln became president but Democrat Andrew Johnson became vice president. This only made the assassination of Lincoln worse because Johnson, who was later impeached but not removed from office, was harsh on the South and unleashed the so-called carpetbaggers and others to steal what was left instead of rebuilding it as Lincoln intended. Can you explain?

A: He may have never climbed into the ring, but Mr. King sounds as if he has taken too many Ali jabs to the ol’ noggin.

If you think there’s gridlock in Washington today, just imagine a Clinton-Pence or perhaps a Trump-Warren “team” taking over in January. Not only would you have two foes at loggerheads in the White House, you would also have the party that won the presidency petrified over the prospect of its person being targeted for assassination just to allow the opposition to perhaps suddenly take over both the executive and legislative branches.

Put it all together and you realize why our Founding Fathers’ original scheme quickly turned into a disaster, and, thanks to the 12th Amendment, it was down for the count by 1804. So, no, the 1864 election was not an example of this country’s short-lived experiment in electing its top two executives, but more on that in a minute. First, some background to show you why King might want to stay out of the political ring:

As first laid out in the Constitution, the people picked to represent their states at the Electoral College (the “electors”) simply voted for the two people they thought were most qualified to become president. They could not say “I want X to be president and Y for vice president.” Their only limitation is that they had to vote for at least one person who lived outside their state. The man who received a majority of the votes was named president. The runner-up became vice president.

What could be simpler? Unfortunately, this simplicity quickly became a headache as a new entity began to emerge — the political party. Already in 1792, the Democrat-Republicans recognized they would never be able to unseat George Washington as president, so they worked to topple the incumbent vice president, Federalist John Adams. They failed, but George Clinton lost by only 27 votes.

It was an omen of what would happen four years later. In the nation’s third presidential election, Adams squeaked past Thomas Jefferson 71-68 to become the nation’s commander in chief. But Jefferson was a Republican-Democrat, resulting in the only election in U.S. history that truly produced a president and vice president from opposing parties. Immediately after the results were announced, South Carolina Rep. William L. Smith called for a constitutional amendment that would require electors to vote separately for president and vice president. But perhaps figuring the results were a fluke or maybe failing to see the influence of political parties in the nation’s future, Congress took no action.

It quickly changed its mind four years later. In short, the 1800 election turned into a debacle that, under the Constitution as written, was settled only by 36 ballots in a lame-duck House of Representatives that finally saw Jefferson beat fellow Democrat-Republican Aaron Burr. On Dec. 2, 1803, the U.S. Senate passed the 12th Amendment, requiring, in part, the Electoral College to choose the president and vice president on separate ballots. The House of Representatives followed suit a week later and by June 15, 1804, three-fourths of state legislatures had ratified it. So, for the past 212 years, it has been almost a certainty that the top two names on the ballot would belong to the same party.

Almost.

In 1864, the nation’s two political parties were both as fractured as the country was by the ongoing Civil War. As Abraham Lincoln began fighting for his re-election, a group of Republican dissidents broke away to form the Radical Democracy Party, nominating John C. Frémont as its presidential candidate. At the same time, the opposition was bitterly split between War Democrats and Peace Democrats, who, in turn, came in various flavors from demanding negotiated peace to peace at any price. At their convention, the Democrats compromised by selecting pro-war Gen. George McClellan as its presidential standard bearer and peacenik Rep. George Pendleton for the veep slot. Muddling matters even more, the Democrats adopted a peace plank in its platform, which McClellan opposed.

Eventually, another compromise won the day when a number of War Democrats joined Lincoln’s Republicans to form the National Union Party. On June 7-8 in Baltimore, Md., the new party picked Lincoln for a second term, but paired him with Democrat Andrew Johnson to make the ticket more inclusive and widely appealing. Their goals, as stated in the platform: pursuit of the war until the Confederacy surrendered unconditionally; a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery; aid to disabled Union veterans; enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine; encouragement of immigration; and construction of a transcontinental railroad. It also praised the use of black troops and Lincoln's management of the war.

When Frémont later withdrew from the race to further solidify Republican support, Lincoln won in a landslide, taking 22 states and 212 electoral votes to three states and 21 votes for McClellan. So while technically Lincoln and Johnson were from different parties, they joined forces in this election to further their shared goal of winning the war and reuniting the country. Of course, had Lincoln been able to see a just a few months into the future, he might have asked for one of the other potential running mates, such as Sen. Daniel Dickerson or Major Gen. William Rosecrans.

As more states began choosing their electors by popular vote as opposed to appointment, candidates began to see the advantage of running as a team for president and vice president. As you know, this new system became so entrenched that presidential nominees began choosing their VP running mates. Unlike King, I would bet few people would want to return to the potential chaos of our initial elections.

Today’s trivia

Who edited “Moonwalk,” Michael Jackson’s autobiography?

Answer to Saturday’s trivia: On Jan. 13, 1999, the Associated Press reported that the National Security Administration had saved the country from its newest threat: the Furby. If you don’t remember this brief toy craze from Tiger Electronics, the Furby was a furry electronic robot whose embedded computer chip allowed it to learn language. To ease stress, NSA employees began bringing them to the agency’s Maryland headquarters. However, fearing that such toys could record and later transmit security secrets, the NSA officially banned the Furby (as well as all other video and audio recording equipment) from its premises.

This story was originally published July 23, 2016 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Election follies used to be trickier."