PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 4811 PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 



overwork, he was obliged to give up the study 

 of law, and it was only under tremendous diffi- 

 culties that he wrote his great works. The 

 different parts of these, when taken together, 

 constitute a history of Spain in its relations 

 to America and to the Reformation. He gath- 

 ered his material 

 from all possible 

 sources, but he 

 had to acquire it 

 through the eyes 

 of a reader. 



Archaeo- 

 logical work in 

 America has pro- 

 gressed greatly 

 since the publica- 

 tion of his his- 

 tories, and some 

 Of his judgments WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT 

 have been in consequence overthrown; but his 

 work still stands as a most striking success. In 

 his own day it was received with the greatest 

 enthusiasm. His most brilliant work is a His- 

 tory of the Conquest of Mexico, on which he 

 spent six years. His other books include The 

 Conquest of Peru and the History of the Reign 

 of Ferdinand and Isabella, and he was working 

 on the third volume of a History of the Reign 

 of Philip II when a stroke of apoplexy caused 

 his death. Prescott's chief merits as an historian 

 are his breadth of view and the accuracy of his 

 information. In general he is impartial in his 

 judgments, but at times he does rather more 

 than justice to his heroes. He ranks as one of 

 the greatest of American historians, with Mot- 

 ley and Parkman. 



Consult Tlchnor's Life of William Hickling 

 Prcacott. 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 

 the chief executive officer of the United States 

 government. He is the only official who is 

 directly responsible to the whole nation. The 

 Secretary of State and the heads of the oil in- 

 executive departments are responsible to him, 

 and only indirectly to the people. A member 

 of Congress, on the other hand, is responsible 

 only to the state or district which he serves. 

 unique character of the President's posi- 

 tion has made him one of the most powerful 

 rulers in the world. He not only has far-reach- 

 ing authority, but has the added influence of 

 the moral cfTcct which those powers confer. 



Who May Be President. The qualifications 

 for President are few; they are fixed by the 

 Constitution. He must be a native-born citizen 



of the United States; he must be not less than 

 thirty-five years of age, and must be a resident 

 of the United States for fourteen years preced- 

 ing his election. The youngest President ever 

 elected was Roosevelt, who was not quite forty- 

 three when he succeeded to the Presidency on 

 the death of McKinley, and was only forty-six 

 when he was elected to that office to succeed 

 himself. William Henry Harrison, the oldest 

 President, was sixty-eight when he was inaugu- 

 rated. The Constitution further requires the 

 President, before entering on the duties of his 

 office, to swear (or affirm) that he will faith- 

 fully perform the duties of the office, and that 

 he will, to the best of his ability, preserve, pro- 

 tect and defend the Constitution of the United 

 States. A President is legally eligible for re- 

 election an infinite number of times, but no 

 one has served more than two terms, thus ob- 

 serving the precedent set by Washington. It 

 is noteworthy, however, that determined efforts 

 were made to elect Grant and Roosevelt to 

 third terms. 



How a President Is Elected. The machinery 

 for electing a President is simple. The candi- 

 dates are nominated by the political parties in 

 national conventions, and one of them is chosen 

 by "electors," who have been previously named 

 in each state in such manner as the legislature 

 has determined. The balloting for electors oc- 

 curs on the Tuesday following the first Mon- 

 day in November of every fourth year. At one 

 time the Presidential electors had considerable 

 freedom of choice, but now they are morally 

 pledged to the party's candidate, and the elec- 

 toral balloting is merely a matter of form. On 

 the second Monday in January following their 

 election, the electors meet in their respective 

 state capitals to cast their votes for President. 

 These ballots are sent to Congress, which meets 

 in joint session to receive them on the second 

 Wednesday of February. The President is 

 inaugurated on the fourth of March, or on the 

 fifth, if the fourth falls on Sunday. 



It is the electoral vote which determines who 

 shall be President, but in every account of a 

 Presidential campaign one is almost certain to 

 read about the "popular vote." This, as a 

 matter of fact, is the vote, cast by the public, 

 for electors. Voting for electors is so much a 

 matter of form, however, that no one says that 

 he voted for John Smith, or James Jones, elec- 

 tors, but that he voted for the candidate for 

 President. What he actually does is to vote for 

 electors who will vote for the candidate named 

 by his political party. 



