A SHORT HISTORY OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CRISES (AND HOW TO PREVENT THE NEXT ONE)
by Alan Hirsch ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 7, 2020
The noted law historian, author of Impeaching the President, examines the handful of seriously problematic presidential elections in American history and what the Constitution elucidates about the process of undoing such an event—namely, nothing.
Like many historians and political analysts, Hirsch believes the Electoral College is direly flawed and should be abolished.
In his latest book, he begins with an overview of the presidential election process, set out in Article II of the Constitution, which was soon to be revealed by Alexander Hamilton as a “defect.” In the election of 1800, between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, each received the same votes, and the crisis resulted in the 12th Amendment, creating a distinct ballot for president and vice president.
However, in 1824, the race between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson resulted in a tie and had to be brokered by the House of Representatives, as per the Constitution. It came down to the wheedling of charismatic Speaker of the House Henry Clay to throw his support behind Adams—perhaps in return for his appointing him secretary of state, the so-called “corrupt bargain.”
In the 1876 election, Samuel Tilden received 250,000 more votes than Rutherford B. Hayes, yet three states were “too close to call” (South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana)—an eerie similarity to the future 2000 nail-biter between Al Gore and George W. Bush, which came down to one state, Florida, and was thrown to the courts for a decision.
Hirsch quotes election law expert Edward Foley: “the Hayes-Tilden dispute exposed structural frailties in the nation’s constitutional order that…were unchanged in 1876 and remain unchanged today”—decidedly unnerving news as we approach the 2020 election. In the concluding chapters, the author delineates the “fraud and chaos” rampant in the EC and argues for a constitutional amendment for handling future crises.
A highly relevant study featuring much food for thought and prospects for change.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/alan-hirsch/a-short-history-of-presidential-election-crises/
