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  3. To broaden their voting appeal in the Presidential election of 1796, the Federalists selected Thomas Pinckney, a leading South C

To broaden their voting appeal in the Presidential election of 1796, the Federalists selected Thomas Pinckney, a leading South C

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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 Newt Englander John Adams. But Pinckney’s Southern friends chose to ignore their party’s intentions and regarded Pinckney as Presidential candidate, creating a political situation that Alexander Hamilton was determined to exploit. Hamilton had long been wary of Adams’s 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 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.
Why does the author refer to the election procedure established by the original Constitution?
选项 A、To prove to the reader that New England as a whole had more electoral votes than the state of south Carolina.
B、To persuade the reader that Thomas Pinckney’s defeat could have been avoided.
C、To alert the reader that the procedure used in 1796 was unlike what is presently used.
D、To encourage the reader to study Constitutional history.
答案C
解析 这是一道逻辑推理题。该题问的是为什么作者提及美国总统1796年选举要按照最初的宪法规定这一事实。C提供了最好的解释。按照美国现在的选举规则，一票投给总统候选人，另一票投给副总统候选人。美国原来的选举制度对选举人投票给谁不做规定，候选人获得票数最多的当选为总统，第二名则为副总统。如果没有这条关键的信息，那文章作者对1796年选举的分析就变得模糊不清，所以作者在第二段的第一句里就特别向读者交代了这一事实情况。由此可见其他的A,B，D三种答案都是错误的。A说的是美国整个New England地区的选票当然要比South Carolina一个州的选票多，无须证实。B说的 Pinckney的失败与宪法的规定无关。D让读者学习美国宪法不是本文的目的。
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