Their election is even more unlike what such a vote would be than that
of the representatives, who in numbers at least represent the strength
of their respective States. In the election of President and
Vice-President the Constitution (Article II) prescribes that "_each
State_ shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may
direct, a number of electors" for the purpose of choosing a President
and Vice-President. The number of these electors is based partly upon
the equal sovereignty, partly upon the unequal population of the
respective States.
It is, then, absolutely true that there has never been any such thing as
a vote of "the people of the United States in the aggregate"; no such
people is recognized by the Constitution; and no such political
community has ever existed. It is equally true that no officer or
department of the General Government formed by the Constitution derives
authority from a majority of the whole people of the United States, or
has ever been chosen by such majority. As little as any other is the
United States Government a government of a majority of the mass.
[Footnote 35: Bancroft's "History of the United States," vol. i, chap.
ix.]
[Footnote 36: Bancroft's "History of the United States," vol. i, chap.
ix.]
[Footnote 37: "American Archives," fourth series, vol. i, p. 908.]
CHAPTER V.
The Preamble to the Constitution.--"We, the People.
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