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  3. To broaden their voting appeal in the Presidential election of 1796, the Fed

To broaden their voting appeal in the Presidential election of 1796, the Fed

游客2025-04-24  3
问题     To broaden their voting appeal in the Presidential election of 1796, the Federalists selected Thomas Pinckney, a leading South Carolinian, as running mate for the New Englander John Adams. But Pinckney’s Southern friends chose to ignore their party’s intentions and regarded Pinckney as a Presidential candidate, creating a political situation that Alexander Hamilton was determined to exploit. Hamilton had long been wary of Adams’ stubbornly independent brand of politics and preferred to see his running mate, over whom he could exert more control, in the President’s chair.
    The election was held under the system originally established by the Constitution. At that time there was but a single tally, with the candidate receiving the largest number of electoral votes declared President and the candidate with the second largest number declared Vice President. Hamilton anticipated that all the Federalists in the North would vote for Adams and Pinckney equally in an attempt to ensure that Jefferson would not be either first or second in the voting. Pinckney would be solidly supported in the South while Adams would not. Hamilton concluded if it were possible to divert a few electoral votes from Adams to Pinckney, Pinckney would receive more than Adams, yet both Federalists would outpoll Jefferson.
    Various methods were used to persuade the electors to vote as Hamilton wished. In the press, anonymous articles were published attacking Adams for his monarchial tendencies and Jefferson for being overly democratic, while pushing Pinckney as the only suitable candidate. In private correspondence with state party leaders the Hamiltonians encouraged the idea that Adams’ popularity was slipping, that he could not win the election, and that the Federalists could defeat Jefferson only by supporting Pinckney.     Had sectional pride and loyalty not run as high in New England as in the deep South, Pinckney might well have become Washington’s successor. New Englanders, however, realized that equal votes for Adams and Pinckney in their states would defeat Adams; therefore, eighteen electors scratched Pinckney’s name from their ballots and deliberately threw away their second votes to men who were not even running. It was fortunate for Adams that they did, for the electors from South Carolina completely abandoned him, giving eight votes to Pinckney and eight to Jefferson.
    In the end, Hamilton’s interference in Pinckney’s candidacy lost even the Vice-Presidency of South Carolina. Without New England’s support, Pinckney received only 59 electoral votes, finishing third to Adams and Jefferson. He might have been President in 1797, or as Vice President a serious contender for the Presidency in 1800; instead, stigmatized by a plot he had not devised, he served a brief term in the United States Senate and then dropped from sight as a national influence. [br] It can be inferred that had South Carolina not east any electoral votes for Jefferson, the outcome of the 1796 election would have been a ______.
选项 A、larger margin of victory for John Adams
B、victory for Thomas Jefferson
C、Federalist defeat in the Senate
D、victory for Thomas Pinckney
答案 A
解析 可以推断，如果南卡罗来纳州没有为杰斐逊投票，1796年的选举结果就会为约翰·亚当斯取得胜利带来更大的余地。南卡罗来纳州投了16票，为平克尼投了8票，为杰斐逊投了8票。因此，每位选举人为平克尼和杰斐逊均投了1票。如果他们没有为杰斐逊投票，他们可能为谁投票呢?他们不可能再为平克尼投票，因为他们已为他投过票。他们有可能为亚当斯或另外一位不知名的候选人投票。杰斐逊失去选票，亚当斯就不会失去一些选票。因此，最后结果为亚当斯取得胜利留下了更大的余地。
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