PRESIDENT 



PRESS 



397 



preside over the senate, where he has no vote 

 unless in the case of a tie ; and in practice he has 

 little influence on the administration, and is 

 regarded only as an 'under-study,' in readiness to 

 take the presidency in the event of its being 

 vacated by the president's removal, death, resigna- 

 tion, or inability. Five vice-presidents Tyler, 

 Fillmore, Johnson, Arthur, Roosevelt have suc- 

 ceeded in this way. In the event of the removal, 

 death, resignation, or inability of both the presi- 

 dent and the vice-president, the secretary of state, 

 and after him, in their order, other members of 

 the cabinet, would act as president until the dis- 

 ability of the president was removed, or a new 

 president elected. On the death of a vice-president 

 the duties of his office are fulfilled by the president 

 pro tempore of the senate. 



The election of president and vice-president is 

 controlled by the electoral system, under which the 

 people do not vote directly for the candidates, but 

 for electors from their separate states who are 

 pledged to cast their votes for particular candidates. 

 Each state is entitled to a number of electors equal 

 to its number of senators (two in each case) and 

 representatives in congress ; these latter range from 

 one to thirty-four (see table below). At first the 

 electors simply voted for two candidates, and the 

 one who received the second highest number of 

 votes for president became vice-president ; but 

 since 1804 provision has been made for a separate 

 election of the vice-president. In the event of no 

 candidate having a majority of the electoral votes 

 the House of Representatives chooses a president, 

 voting by static, each state having one vote ; if no 

 vice president is elected the senate chooses a vice- 

 iiivsiilent, voting as usual. Such cases occurred 

 in 1800-1, when Jefferson and Burr had tied, and 

 tin- funnel- was marie president and the latter vice- 

 president; in 1824-25, when none of the four 

 candidates for the presidency had a majority, and 

 John Q. Adams, who had received eighty-four 

 electoral votes, was chosen by the House over 

 Andrew Jackson, who bad ninety-nine ; and finally 

 in 1836-37, when Richard M. Johnson, who had 

 obtained a plurality of electoral votes for the vice- 

 presidency, was elected by the senate. The terri- 

 tories have no vote in any case. 



For other presidents, see the articles on the 

 several republics. 



The presidents of the United States have been George 

 Washington ( 1789-97 ), John Adams ( 1797-1801 ), Thomas 

 Jefferson (1801-9), James Madison (1809-17), James 

 Monroe (1817-25), John Quincy Adams (1825-29), 

 Andrew Jackson ( 1829-37 ), Martin Van Buren ( 1837-11 ), 

 William Henry Harrison I March-April 1841), John 

 Tyler ( 1841-45), James Knox folk (1845-49), Zachary 

 Taylor ( 184U-50 1, Millard Fillmore (1*50-53), Franklin 

 Pierce ( 1853-57 ). James Buchanan ( 1857-fil ), Abraham 

 Lincoln ( W.I -(). Andrew Johnson (MS I!!)), Tlysses S. 

 Grant (1869-77), liutlierford liirchard Hayes (1877-81), 

 James Aliram Garrteld (March-September 1881), Chester 

 Aln Arthur (1881-85), Grover Cleveland (1885-H'J and 

 1893-97 ), Benjamin Harrison ( 1889-93), William M'Kin- 

 ley ( 18U7-1901, March-September 1 901 ), Theodore Roose- 

 velt ( 1901- ). See separate articles. Table of electoral 

 vote* by states, according to census of 1900. 



Presidio, a Spanish word for 'a fort," applied 

 especially to four Spanish fortified posts on the 

 coast of Morocco Ceuta, Melilla, Alhucemas, and 

 Penon de Velez. 



I'ross, FREEDOM OF THE, the expression used 

 to denote the absence of any official restraint on 

 the publication of books and other printed matter. 

 In England, at the Reformation, the control of the 

 press came to be centred in the crown, the eccle- 

 siastical in addition to the secular government 

 being vested in Henry VIII. as temporal head of 

 the church. The Company of Stationers, who 

 came to have the regulation of printing and pub- 

 lishing, were servants of the government, subject 

 to the control of the Star Chamber. The censor- 

 ship of the press was enforced by the Long Parlia- 

 ment, in spite of Milton's eloquent protest (see his 

 Areopagitica), and was re-established more rigor- 

 ously at the Restoration. It was continued at the 

 Revolution, and the statute regulating it was 

 renewed from time to time till 1693, when the 

 Commons by a special vote struck it out of the list 

 of temporary acts to be continued. Since that 

 time the censorship of the press has ceased to exist 

 in Britain. But, though there are no official 

 restrictions on what shall and what shall not be 

 published, the authors and publishers of criminal 

 or injurious matter are amenable to the law of 

 libel ; and there are certain statutory requirements 

 in force to enable them to be traced. Every person 

 who prints anything for hire or reward must, 

 under a penalty of 20, keep one copy at least of 

 the matter printed, and write on it the name and 

 place of abode of the person who employed him to 

 print it. Every person who prints any paper 

 meant to be publislied must print on the first or 

 last leaf his name and usual place of business ; and 

 on failure to do so he forfeits -the sum of 5, and so 

 does any pel-son publishing the same. There are 

 a few printed papers exempted from conforming to 

 the above requirement as, for instance, papers 

 printed by parliament or in government offices, 

 engravings, auction lists, bank-notes, bills of 

 lading, receipts for money, and a few other similar 

 matters. In the case of a libel legal publication 

 is constituted by sending or showing a copy printed 

 or in manuscript to any person ; the sale of a 

 newspaper or other publication in a shop, or 

 its delivery to an officer at the Stamp-office, is 

 also considered an act of publication. The truth 

 of the statements published may be urged as a 

 plea of defence in an action for libel ; in criminal 

 proceedings truth is a defence if the publica- 

 tion is for the public benefit. The publisher of a 

 book or newspaper may also defend himself by 

 showing that the matter complained of was pub- 

 lished by order of either House of Parliament, that 

 it is a fair criticism on a public person or act, or 

 tliat it represents the honest belief of the defendant, 

 and is published by him in the course of his official 

 or moral duty. If a bill shall be filed in any court 

 for the discovery of the name of the printer, pub- 

 lisher, or proprietor of a newspaper or other publi- 

 cation, with the view of rendering him liable in 

 damages for slanderous matter, the defendant is 

 bound to make the discovery required, which, 

 however, cannot be made use of against him in any 

 other proceeding than that for which it has been 

 made. The penalties against newspapers can only 

 be sued for in the name of the Attorney-general 

 or Solicitor-general, or Lord Advocate. Certain 

 regulations also exist regarding the exhibition of 

 Plays (q.v.). Subject to these restrictions, the 

 freedom of the press has subsisted in Britain since 

 1693. At least an equal degree of freedom obtains 

 in the United States, where privilege is much more 

 widely extended. See LlBEL. 



A more or less rigorous censorship of the press 



