President Barack Obama 44 th President of the United States

 35 Years Old  Natural Born Citizen  Resident of the United States for 14 years

 Currently, Title 8 of the U.S. Code fills in the gaps left by the Constitution. Section 1401 defines the following as people who are "citizens of the United States at birth:“Section 1401

 Anyone born inside the United States *  Any Indian or Eskimo born in the United States, provided being a citizen of the U.S. does not impair the person's status as a citizen of the tribe  Any one born outside the United States, both of whose parents are citizens of the U.S., as long as one parent has lived in the U.S.  Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year and the other parent is a U.S. national  Any one born in a U.S. possession, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year  Any one found in the U.S. under the age of five, whose parentage cannot be determined, as long as proof of non-citizenship is not provided by age 21  Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is an alien and as long as the other parent is a citizen of the U.S. who lived in the U.S. for at least five years (with military and diplomatic service included in this time)  A final, historical condition: a person born before 5/24/1934 of an alien father and a U.S. citizen mother who has lived in the U.S.  * There is an exception in the law — the person must be "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States. This would exempt the child of a diplomat, for example, from this provision.  Anyone falling into these categories is considered natural-born, and is eligible to run for President or Vice President. These provisions allow the children of military families to be considered natural-born, for example.

 First elected President of the United States? John Hanson

 In November 1781, Hanson became the first President of the Continental Congress to be elected for an annual term as specified in the Articles of Confederation

 No – it’s the process for Electing the President  538 Total Electors today ◦ 100 to represent each Senator ◦ 435 to represent each Representative ◦ 3 to represent the District of Columbia ◦ 27 0 is the magic number for election  Eliminates direct election of the President  Winner takes all!!! (not mandated by the Constitution)  But Why???

When one candidate of a state wins the popular vote, they win all of the electoral votes

 Fear of mob rule  Insurance – the electors could rectify a poor decision  Small States vs. Large States

 Election of 1788  Each elector had two votes – one for President and one for Vice President – at least one vote was required to be for a person outside of the elector’s State 69 Votes 9 Votes 34 Votes

 Washington again elected unanimously  Growth of partisan politics  Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans 132 Votes 77 Votes 50 Votes

 Washington tired – wanted to retire  Declined a third term (setting an important precedent)  Washington’s Farewell Address  Avoid political Parties  Avoid entangling alliances  Maintaining the Union – avoiding discussion of secession

 "If ever a nation has been debauched by a man, the American nation has been debauched by Washington. If ever a nation has been deceived by a man, the American nation has been deceived by Washington. Let his conduct, then, be an example to future ages. Let it serve to be a warning that no man may be an idol.” ◦ Aurora – Philadelphia 1797

Federalists Democratic-Republicans 71 Votes Adams 59 Votes Pinckney 68 Votes Jefferson 30 Votes Burr

Hamilton 73 votes 65 Votes 64 Votes

 As per the Constitution, the election decision was thrown into the House  Jefferson vs. Burr  36 Ballots over 5 days  Federalists (who controlled the lame duck Congress) originally supported Burr to defeat Jefferson  Hamilton (powerful in the Federalist Party) convinced members of Congress to back Jefferson

 Under the Twelfth Amendment, each elector must cast distinct votes for President and Vice President, instead of two votes for President  The Twelfth Amendment explicitly precluded those constitutionally ineligible to be President from being Vice President  Ratified on June 15, 1804

U.S. House of Representatives

Andrew Jackson Independent (Dem-Rep) John Quincy Adams Independent William Crawford Democratic-Republican Henry Clay Independent Disintegration of Federalists Prior to this election

 John Quincy Adams –  84 electoral votes  113,122 popular vote  30.9% of popular vote  Andrew Jackson  99 Electoral Votes  151,271 popular vote  41.3% of popular vote William Crawford  41 Electoral Votes  40,856 pop vote  11.2% of pop vote Henry Clay  37 Electoral Votes  47,531 pop vote  13% of pop vote

 Decision went to the House ◦ Only the top three candidates could be considered ◦ This left out Henry Clay who said of Jackson ◦ “I cannot believe that killing 2,500 Englishmen at New Orleans qualifies for the various, difficult, and complicated duties of the Chief Magistracy.” ◦ Henry Clay threw his support behind Adams and the House of Reps gave the election to Adams ◦ Adams then selected Clay as his Secretary of State ◦ Jackson called it the “corrupt bargain”

 Adams – 13 Electoral Votes  Jackson – 7 Electoral Votes  Crawford – 4 Electoral Votes

 1876 – Tilden (Democrat) v. Hayes (Republican)  51% of popular vote vs. 48%  Electoral College 184 vs 165  20 votes undecided  An unprecedented commission was set up (8 republican and 7 democrats voted on who should receive the disputed votes)  Tilden only needed one vote to win; Hayes needed all 20  Hayes won

 "I can retire to public life with the consciousness that I shall receive from posterity the credit of having been elected to the highest position in the gift of the people, without any of the cares and responsibilities of the office.“  After losing the presidency by 889 votes

Grover Cleveland –  50.8% of popular vote  170 Electoral Votes Benjamin Harrison  49.2% of popular vote  233 electoral votes

George W Bush Republican 50,456,002 pop vote 47.9% of pop vote 271 Electoral Votes Al Gore Democrat 50,999,897 pop vote 48.4% of popular vote 266 electoral votes

Most of the post-electoral controversy revolved around Gore's request for hand recounts in four counties as provided under Florida state law. Florida, Secretary of State, Katharine Harris announced she would reject any revised totals from those counties if they were not turned in by November 14, the statutory deadline for amended returns. The Florida Supreme Court extended the deadline to November 26, a decision later vacated by the U.S. Supreme Court.

 No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. Franklin Delano Roosevelt Elected 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944