PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

With less than two months remaining in this presidential election campaign, we searched the collection's data base for books on that subject. Here's one that covers the first 24 elections in our country:

A History of the Presidency, from 1788 to 1897,  written by Edward Stanwood and published in 1912 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

We tried to remember the 24 names of the people who made up that distinguished list, and resorted to an online search titled "presidents of the United States." In case you may have difficulty recalling all of them, here's the list (last names only ...  can you remember all of the first names?):

Washington (1989-1797), Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Adams, Jackson,  Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Grant, Buchanan, Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison, Cleveland (1893-1897)

The first chapter of this book covers the establishment of the electoral system and we learned some very interesting facts from scanning through those pages. For example, did you know that, in answer to the question "In how many persons should the executive power be vested?", "one voice was raised in favor of three, -- one to be chosen from the North, one from the Middle States, and one from the South." (pages 2-3). And we think our current system is complicated!?! 

So we suggest you stop by and give this book a few minutes of your time. It's informative and thought-provoking -  a good combination.