To the House of Representatives: I transmit a report from the Secretary of State in answer to a resolution of the House of Representatives of yesterday, making inquiry as to the States which have ratified the amendment to the Constitution proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress.
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My object in this communication is to suggest certain defects in the Constitution which seem to me to require correction.
Strongly impressed with the truth of these views, I feel called upon by an imperative sense of duty to revive substantially the recommendation so often and so earnestly made by President Jackson.
The danger of a defeat of the popular choice in an election by the House of Representatives is no greater than in an election made nominally by the people themselves.
I would therefore recommend such an amendment of the Constitution as may remove all intermediate agency in the election of the President and Vice-President.
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