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Electing a President/ The Process

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every four years in the United States a remarkable contest takes place chicken tenders in this contest travel all across the country they meet some people I'm they give hundreds of speeches intubate and spend millions of dollars on television commercials they are vying for the support and vote for the American people and the stakes are high play the winner is a change the most powerful position in the United States and probably the world presidency of the United States you understand the history of how we elect our President we need go back over 200 years in 1787 delegates from 12 of the 13 original states gathered in Philadelphia they're they wrote the Constitution the document that outlines how our country is governed the Constitution established a few rules according to at least 35 years old president hats been born in the United States and the president has to has worked in this country for at least 14 years that's it only three simple things that are required by law but while millions of them Ken's need these legal requirements only one is elected becoming president is not easy and the process has changed somewhat since the Constitution was written over 200 years ago for example I'll take it for granted that the American people choose their president by going to the polls and voting in 1787 many of the delegates who wrote the Constitution didn't trust most people to vote wisely so the authors of the Constitution decided that I need state only specially selected officials called electors could vote for president they called these electors together the Electoral College watch democracy many of the founders commented about this fact and that they were greatly concerned that the general population could not be trusted to directly make a choice for example of president that is one reason why we have an electoral college because of a sense that if the people have an opportunity to judge directly they're liable to make the wrong judgment for each state was to be equal to the number of senators and representatives in Congress since the number of representatives of the state is based on its population States like Pennsylvania with a large number of people had more electoral votes and States like fewer people in the beginning electors in Most states were chosen by the state legislature the people had no say whatsoever today while people can still vote for president the electoral college system is still in place when people vote they are actually voting for electors who are pledged to vote for the candidate the people want the number of electoral votes each state has is still determined how many people it has in the 2000 election for example California the state with the most people had 54 electors Wyoming with very few people living in it had only three Electoral in Most states who ever wins most of the people's votes get all of that State's electoral votes did Pennsylvania in the 2000 election Pennsylvania has the electoral votes Albert Gore won 51% of the votes cast by people going to the polls George W bush won 46% and the third candidate danger had 2% but even though War 1 only slightly more than half the popular vote the votes cast by citizens he got all of Pennsylvania's electoral votes Nationwide however 32 states with 271 electoral vote divorce 18 states with 266 electoral votes total was more than the majority of electoral votes for president the two election however illustrates how the electoral college system has led to some pretty strange results more people across the country voted for Gore then for bush in fact for head over 500,000 votes more what Bush won by a small margin the popular vote in several key States and consequently received all of their electoral votes Florida in particular made a critical difference. final official tally showed Bush eating more like only enough 506 million votes cast the Florida results for week as for demanded a recount of the votes Austin several Florida counties for several weeks after the November election Americans still did not know who the next president would be as officials laborious Lee examined disputed balance in a controversial decision the Supreme Court intervened and stuff the recounting as a result of electoral votes and because of this he was able to win by a very the majority of the electoral votes Nationwide why the electoral college system is still in place for example today candidates almost they have the backing of the political party for many years the two main parties have been the Republicans and the Democrats however when George Washington was elected our first president in 1788 Cornell political parties the framers of the Constitution disapproved a political party because the support of a single-party rather than the good of the whole country the framers supported statesmanship which they thought was best exemplified by Washington they thought the Statesman was the man who Rose about partisan factions episode of father of the country kind of an idea because the role of the father is to let us all reason together let us bring the family together let's find a consensus and the Statesmen is the man who not too good of a part of the country the partisan position by the election of 1796 Thomas Jefferson political party by people who had different ideas about the role of the Federal Government Jefferson and his supporters were called Democratic Republicans they didn't because they felt the states should have more power to John Adams and his supporters were called Federalist Federalists believed that the national government should be very strong Adams won the election although Jefferson and his Democratic Republicans would win 4 years later by the 1830s and 40s delegates from all states would gather at national conventions to decide on their Party's candidate for president repeat the conventions were usually controlled by party bosses who told the delegates how to vote sometimes even the candidate had little say in 1868 the Democratic party bosses Horatio Seymour should be there candidate even though Seymour had told them he didn't want to be after Seymour left the convention hall one night the boss is quickly nominated him and the delegates voted unanimously in his finger the boss has been ended the convention before Seymour could turn the nomination and Seymour heard that he had been nominated he reportedly broke down in tears see more however was spared being president because he lost the election to Ulysses as friend pretty boss has also played a pivotal role in the 1920 Republican convention in Chicago for the delegates couldn't agree on a candidate a small number of Party bosses name the hotel Berry are they decided among themselves that Warren Harding should be the Republican candidate Harding was been elected by the delegates on the convention floor and went on to become president throughout the 1930s 40s and 50s conventions continue to be largely controlled by party bosses the delegates to these conventions has little real power ordinary citizens had the way candidates were chosen at national conventions offered Democrats and Republicans alike little say about who would be the Party's candidate for president but the way the parties choose their candidates has changed today states have special elections called primaries in which ordinary Republicans and Democrats can vote on whom they would like as their Party's candidate for president in early 2000 Frank Zappa there were several different who wanted to be the Republican candidate each of them had to appeal for the votes of Republicans in states that held primaries this men seeking the support of ordinary citizens in the New Hampshire primary John McCain senator from Arizona W bush Steve Forbes and several others but Bush won several important after that and eventually most of the other Sanders drop out of the race pushes good showing the primaries ensured that by the time of the national Republican convention in June and not delegates were pledged to him a lock up his party's nomination the primaries have usually determine who will be a Party's candidate long before the convention even starts but convention serve other purposes for both cars and his Democratic opponent Al Gore the national party convention was an opportunity to get a lot of publicity particularly when giving the speech accepting the party's nomination for Vice President Bill Clinton dressed his experience while Bush argued that the country needed a change in ministration had his chance they have not LED we will after the conventions the campaign quickly intensified as Bush Gore and Party candidate fascinator criss cross the country looking for support from voters before the election in November the candidates met with thousands of people and gave hundreds of speeches in a nonstop ever to win the running for president wasn't always like this our first President George Washington didn't campaign at all in fact in many ways Washington to be president is inauguration when he was sworn in as President Washington can find his misgivings to a friend's going to the place of execution for many years after Washington candidate spelled it was a dignified to campaign when John Quincy Adams the son of John Adams run for a second term as president in 1828 he didn't campaign you like most of his supporters campaign for him if my country wants me she must ask for me a war hero who helped defeat the British at the Battle of new in the War of 1812 I am supporters however describe Jackson is a gambler drunkard and see it was one of the first examples of negative campaigning where candidates attacks the cat despite the attacks on his character Jackson was able to win by appealing to thousands of ordinary citizens who after that time table 2018 Jackson was born in it was declared a victory for democracy Jackson victory Martha turning point in American politics from that on people running for president try to appeal to a larger number of Voters to do this often a candidate would claim that he came from a humble and core background take William Henry Harrison in the election of 1840 Harrison was wealthy and had been raised by a well-off southern planter Harrison's campaign portray him as someone who had been born in a log cabin the idea was to build an image of him as plain and down-to-earth in the election of 1860 the Republicans Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin Lincoln made no speeches and stayed home in Springfield Illinois like other candidates before him he lets his campaign for him Stephen Douglas shows a different strategy instead of staying at home he became the first presidential candidate to campaign extensively throughout the nation although Douglass lost the election changed forever how people ran for president so Chris was able to tour the United State be caused by 1860 many new railroads have been built at links different parts of the country railroads made what's called a whistle-stop campaign in a whistle-stop campaign the candidate strandwood phone to town and blow its whistle to announce its arrival the candidate would speak from the back of the last part at the end of the speech the train would pull out of the station to go on to the next campaign stop left-handed a 2 campaign extensively this way was Harry Truman in 1948 truly made up to 20 speed his train called The Truman special but even before Truman the invention of the radio allowed a candidate to speak to a far larger number of Voters when Franklin Delano Roosevelt ran for president in 1932 speak not only to the people in the auditorium or convention hall where he was making the speech but also to millions of radio listeners all across the country style Hughes radio to convince the voters that he would be the best person to leave the country Great Depression the worst economic crisis in the nation's history 20 years later in 1952 Dwight Eisenhower ran against Adlai Stevenson another invention once again changed American politics For the First Time The Republican and Democratic conventions were televised television to influence voters became obvious later and that's named election Eisenhower's running mate Richard Nixon was accused of improperly except get some money from several wealthy supporters and using the money for his personal expenses but Nixon went on National Television to defend himself $15,000 or any other money of that type ever went to leave for my personal use Nixon also talked about his humble upbringing and he didn't mention one of the kids getting him by a supporter a dog named Checkers history who is known as the Checkers speech Nixon's appearance on television was a great success people all across the country Express their support and sympathy for Nixon and Eisenhower caption as his vice presidential running mate 8 years later however call Vision hurt Nixon when he ran for president in a close race against John Kennedy Kennedy came across as being relaxed Abraham Lincoln said the? cosplay vorhoff read operation appear tired and nervous understand the power of Television Car-Mart in Mission Kennedy won the election in one of the closest races in American history many historians have held that Nixon might have one except for the debates since the Nixon Kennedy it has become common for candidates to me than televised debates these debates have all the important issues like the economy relations to other countries television makes presidential politics in presidential elections much more personal a focus is much more on the traits of the individual running for office secondly it is to television has helped away from the political parties in the decision-making process candidates go out directly making appeal to voters when they're trying to win a nomination or trying to be elected president and they're aligned much less on traditional political party or Malaysian political party resources to win an election salvation has changed presidential politics in still another way billions of dollars are spent on television ads to reach voters throughout the country saying that these ads try mainly to build a candidate as a family man or a strong leader rather than explain his views on different issues television City arises me political process because it focuses on image rather than on issues it matters on television if you're photogenic he had matters on television if you have a freezing if you have a calming voice I think that there were a series of really extraordinary really find candidates who were elected in the past who would not have been elected modern times in the one that comes most to mind is Abraham Lincoln who am I I told as a rather High your singing voice and was considered ugly by a lot of the people at this time there have been other criticisms about the presidential election process if we look back over the last 200 years that the people who become president we see the all of them shared certain characteristics the most obvious is that up to now all presidents have been men all our presidents have been wife and there's some other similarities that can't be seen in pictures and films all presidents have been Christians and almost all have been it was only in 1960 that we elected our first Catholic President John Kennedy many people complain that while the United States is a country of men and women of many cultures races Dimensions the leaders we choose don't reflect this diversity part of the reason is that for a long time most Americans didn't have any say in choosing their president we saw earlier that one Constitution was written in 1787 most of its didn't want the American people to make wise choices in which electors from each state voted who would be president gradually electors in all states were selected on the basis of how people voted but not all people which in Practical terms Robert to less than 10% of the adult population of the United States supporting is very restricted in the early Decades of our country sister it wasn't until about 1828 that most white men could vote no matter how rich or poor daughters however had to wait much longer for this privilege it took until 1922 for the Constitution was amended or changed so that the right to vote could not be denied a person on the base email while being a woman could no longer prevent a person from voting race would it would take years of organizing marching and protesting for African American men and women would be able to vote it wasn't until 1965 when President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act that African Americans were finally able to have a real say in choosing their president just as more people can Angel dear is about who can become president have also begun to change example in 1984 Democrat Geraldine Ferraro became the first woman to be the vice presidential candidate of them 44 years later in 1988 and a crack Jesse Jackson was a serious Contender to be the first African American candidate for president finding mm Albert Joseph Lieberman was the first Jewish candidate for the vice-presidency people might not want to vote for somebody because they are you know I think those ideas are banishing and I think the day will come when we will have a female president ethnic president presidents from backgrounds different from what we have seen up until now in this program we've seen how the authors of the Constitution set up the Electoral system by which special electors vote for president he also saw how the number of electors each state has depends on how many people live there today when people vote for president they are really voting for all who are pledged to cast their ballots according to how people in their state voted we looked at how people wanted to become president have usually had the backing of a political party we examine the role of party convention mpsomaha for a long time they were dominated by party bosses who determined among themselves who the candidate would be but we also saw how the process has changed to give ordinary citizens of Greater say today presidential hopefuls must win support in primary elections before they can become their party's candidates we seen her campaigning for the presidency has changed over the years for many years candidates like Abraham stayed home and let others campaign for them but when more railroads were Bill candidates to crisscross the country in Whistle Stop campaign we saw two how radio made it possible for candidates millions of listeners across the country and how television forever changed American politics we looked at how in the early days of the United States not all people have the right to vote I have gradually more and more people won this fight finally we saw how our views about who can become president are changing so that in the future it may be possible for men and all Races and religions to occupy the highest office in the United States

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Electing a President/ The Process

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