United States: Notes |
Part 1: Office Styles: President of the United States The Constitution of the United States of 1787 entrusts the executive power to a President of the United States of America. Art. II. § 1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. In all further references to the same office, the Constitution speaks of the President or President of the United States. The latter style is mentioned in the oath of office: Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation: A Concurrent Resolution of the U.S. Congress of 14 May 1789 approved the use of President of the United States as an officially accepted alternative to President of the United States of America: From a decent respect for the opinion and practice of civilized nations, whether under monarchical or republican forms of government, whose custom is to annex titles of respectability to the office of their Chief Magistrate; and that, on intercourse with foreign nations, a due respect for the majesty of the people of the United States may not be hazarded by an appearance of singularity, the Senate have been induced to be of opinion, that it would be proper to annex a respectable title to the office of President of the United States; but the Senate, desirous of preserving harmony with the House of Representatives, where the practice lately observed in presenting an address to the President was without the addition of titles, think it proper, for the present, to act in conformity with the practice of that House: Part 2: Terms of Office: President and Vice President of the United States The Constitution of the United States of 1787 provides for the election of a President of the United States of America for the term of four years. Art. II. § 1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and together with the Vice President, chosen for the same term, be elected, as follows: A Concurrent Resolution of the U.S. Congress of 18 May 1790 defined the commencement of terms of the first President and Vice-President of the United States, retrospectively counted from 4 Mar 1789: Resolved, That this House do agree to the said report, amended to read as followeth: For further years and prior to enactment of the 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution (23 Jan 1933), the term of office of President of the United States was considered to have begun on March 4 in accordance with An Act relative to the Election of a President and Vice President of the United States, and declaring the Officer who shall act as President in case of Vacancies in the offices both of President and Vice President (passed 1 Mar 1792): Sec. 12. And be it further enacted, That the term of four years for which a President and Vice President shall be elected shall in all cases commence on the fourth day of March next succeeding the day on which the votes of the electors shall have been given. The Act of 1792 omitted any reference to precise time of expiration of terms of President and Vice President and one may assume that the terms ended at midnight March 3/4. In fact, the debate in the Senate 3 Mar 1851 reflected the existence of such views. However, the actual practice proved that on many occasions President and Vice President continued to exercise their functions on March 4, at least until the moment when a successor was sworn in. For instance, it was a common practice between 1861 and 1933 that the outgoing Vice President of the United States administered an oath of allegiance to his successor before the Senate adjourned sine die on March 4. Part 3: Election: President of the United States A condition frequently overlooked in proceedings of the Congress and related literature is that the basis for a majority necessary for election of President of the United States is the number of appointed electors, not the number of electoral votes cast. Such requirement is included in the Constitution of the United States and supported by its Twelfth Amendment: Art. II. § 1. (...) The Person having the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; For instance, in the elections of 1789 and 1793, three electors did not vote, thus reducing the number of those voted to 69 and 132 respectively; most sources overlook the Constitutional requirement based on the number of appointed electors and erroneously cite 35 and 67 as the number of votes required for a majority. See also "The Number of Electors Necessary for the Election of a President", by Edwin Meese III, Todd F. Gaziano, and Matthew Spalding, Ph.D. (web site, web site) |