Edmund Ross

Johnson succeeded the presidency in 1865 after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. A former Democrat who ran as a candidate alongside Lincoln, President Johnson’s relationship with the GOP leadership quickly crumbled.

A faction called the Radical Republicans, led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner, dominated the GOP.

On February 24, 1868, President Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives. The House charged Johnson with violating the Tenure of Office Act.

The alleged violation stemmed from Johnson’s decision to remove Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, a prominent Radical Republican left over from the Lincoln Cabinet. To block Johnson from removing Cabinet members without its approval, the House passed the Tenure of Office Act in 1867.

Johnson challenged the act by firing Stanton and appointing an interim replacement. The House quickly filed 11 impeachment charges, sending the case to the Senate for disposition.

Two-thirds of the Senate was needed to convict Johnson, and the Republicans made up more than two-thirds of its members. Chief Justice Salmon Chase presided over the trial, which started in March and ended in  late May. Thaddeus Stevens was one of the House prosecutors.

In the end, however, seven Republican senators voted against impeachment.

The dramatic scene would have fit right in with the movie Lincoln, with the outcome seemingly in doubt until the last undecided vote was cast.

“It is a singular fact that not one of the actors in that high scene was sure in his own mind how his one senator was going to vote, except, perhaps, himself,” said historian David Miller Dewitt.

The key day in the trial was May 16. The anti-Johnson forces were counting on a guilty vote on 11th and last article of impeachment. It was the first order of business and a summary of the other 10 articles. If President Johnson was found guilty in the first vote, he was out of office.

Senator Edmund Ross of Kansas cast the deciding vote, and for all purposes, he was expected to vote against Johnson, up until the night before the final roll call.

The chamber was stunned when Ross said “Not guilty.” The Radical Republicans asked for an adjournment until May 26, partly because of an upcoming party conventions, but also because they had no plan of attack after assuming Johnson wouldn’t survive the first vote. After failing at two other attempts on May 26, two more articles failed, and the trial ended.

The controversy, to this day, is why did Ross change his mind?

There were two serious constitutional issues involved in the trial. One was that some people didn’t think the Tenure of Office Act was constitutional. The other was that the Constitution, at that point, didn’t specify who became vice president when the president died or couldn’t serve.

If Johnson had been impeached, the Senate president pro tempore, Benjamin Wade, would have assumed the duties of the office until the next election. Wade had his own enemies within the Republican Party, including Ross (who saw Wade taking away his patronage powers in Kansas).

One theory is that Ross didn’t follow his constitutional conscience—he followed the cash. Ross may have been the beneficiary of a $150,000 slush fund set up by Johnson’s supporters.

In a 1999 article for Slate, writer David Greenberg pointed out another fact: Ross’s vote may not have been needed.

“At least four other senators were prepared to oppose conviction had their votes been needed–a fact that has been forgotten, maybe, because it doesn’t square with the High Noon portrait of Ross as the man of principle facing down the mob,” Greenberg said.

In later years, Ross was portrayed as a hero in John F. Kennedy’s book Profiles in Courage. Others, like historian David O. Stewart, paint a less flattering portrait of Ross when it comes to allegations of bribery and patronage spoils.

Ross lost re-election after the Senate trial and later switched to the Democratic party. He blamed the Senate trial vote for hurting his political career.

Then in 1885, the first Democratic president to take office since the Civil War, Grover Cleveland, named Ross as the governor of the New Mexico territory.

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The show was well known for its intellectual bent, but it didn’t get everything right. Here are a few constitutional mistakes you can point out to your friends—for bonus points, try to display your know-how with the smug charm of Sam Seaborn.

1. Cabinet meetings aren’t required

President Jed Bartlet grumbles, “I find these Cabinet meetings to be a fairly mind-numbing experience, but Leo assures me they are constitutionally required” (“Enemies,” Season 1, Episode 8).

In reality, the Constitution doesn’t even mention the president’s Cabinet. It says in Article II, Section 2 that the president “may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices.”

This phrase was the foundation for the Cabinet, but there’s certainly nothing about a required meeting schedule. In fact, the Cabinet was primarily set in motion by the precedent of President George Washington, who selected four department heads when he took office.

2. The Supreme Court doesn’t love only prime-numbered amendments

White House counsel Oliver Babish comments, “My staff’s work on the analysis of HR 437 ignored the Fourth Amendment implications and instead became fascinated with the Third, Seventh, and 11th. You gotta be a prime number to get the attention of the U.S. Supreme Court” (“Bad Moon Rising,” Season 2, Episode 19).

Some prime-numbered amendments do indeed get the attention of the Supreme Court—particularly the First Amendment. But an even-numbered amendment is right up there with the First as the amendment most frequently cited by the court: the 14th Amendment, which deals with equal protection of the laws and due process of law.

Also, HR 437 must be a very interesting bill if it has Third Amendment implications, since it is among the least cited by the Supreme Court. Though it did mention the amendment in the ruling for Griswold v. Connecticut, the court has never ruled directly on the meaning of the Third Amendment.

3. Don’t blame inauguration on Jefferson

In the series finale (“Tomorrow,” Season 7, Episode 22), this happens:

Actually, Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin were dead when inauguration was slated for January. The original Constitution scheduled the  inauguration for March. And by the way,  Jefferson and Adams were not drafters of the Constitution—they were both serving as ambassadors abroad during the Constitutional Convention. It was in 1933 with the ratification of the 20th Amendment that inauguration was moved to January, to shorten the “lame duck” term for the president and Congress.

4. You can’t be appointed to a House seat

In the show, the White House staff encounters Congressman Willis, who was supposedly appointed to fill his deceased wife’s seat in the House of Representatives (“Mr. Willis of Ohio,” Season 1, Episode 6).

In reality, Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution requires that a vacant House seat be filled by a special election, not an appointment: “When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.”

Because elections are expensive to run and House terms are only two years, some governors have actually declined to call for a special election to fill a seat.

However, a vacant Senate seat can be filled by appointment. The 17th Amendment—which changed the Constitution so that senators would be directly elected by the people, not state legislatures—provides that a state governor may appoint a replacement to serve until a special election is called (Senate terms last longer than the House, for six years) or until the next general election.

It’s not unheard of, though, for a widow or widower to assume their spouse’s seat through election or appointment. Throughout American history, nearly 20 widows have filled the Senate or House seat left vacant by a deceased husband.

5. A presidential memo isn’t the only 25th Amendment option

When President Bartlet goes under general anesthesia to treat an injury from a shooting, confusion ensues about who is commander in chief in his stead. Several characters mention the 25th Amendment, saying it requires the president to write a memo to temporarily transfer power to the vice president. Staff member Toby says incredulously, “He’s hemorrhaging and he’s supposed to draft a memo?”

Section 3 of the 25th Amendment does provide that the president may offer a written declaration to temporarily defer power to the vice president. (We’ll revisit Bartlet’s use of that option another West Wing Wednesday…) But Section 4 provides another option: The vice president and “a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments” (generally understood to be the Cabinet) can declare the president incapacitated. The president could then resume power by submitting a written declaration stating he was no longer incapacitated.

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USS Constitution

The Navy in its earliest form dates back to 1775, when it was established by the Continental Congress on October 13 in session in Philadelphia. The Navy considers this as its official birthdate.

However, after the Revolutionary War, the new nation sold its ships and sent its sailors home. It wasn’t until 1789 that the newly ratified Constitution empowered Congress to bring the Navy back.

Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution allowed Congress “to provide and maintain a Navy” as part of its enumerated powers. In Article II, the Constitution named the president as the commander in chief of the Army and the Navy.

It took until 1794 for Congress to approve money to buy new ships. Relations with the British, French, and Barbary pirates forced Congress to plan to build six frigates. Three of the ships were completed before hostilities died down: the USS United States, the USS Constellation, and the USS Constitution.

The start of the Quasi-War with France in 1798 led to the official creation of the Department of the Navy on April 30. The undeclared war on France involved raids on U.S. merchant vessels by French privateers and warships (which were too weak to take on British shipping).

Benjamin Stoddert, the first secretary of the Navy, played a critical role in establishing the new Navy. He secured funding for more ships, sent the Navy on attacks against the French in the Caribbean, and made sure the best officers and sailors were in the service. Stoddert also set up the first six Navy shipyards in the country.

Stoddert left office in 1801 as the Federalists were removed from power and Thomas Jefferson took over as president from John Adams. Although funding for ships was scaled back, Jefferson sent the Navy to the Mediterranean to protect American interests against the Barbary pirates in Tripoli and other areas. It fought well using the tactics adopted under Stoddert.

But in the War of 1812, the Navy was undersized compared with the British, which had the largest, finest naval forces in the world. While the Navy had several isolated, spectacular victories over the British, it couldn’t stop the empire from imposing blockade conditions.

Even worse, British forces were able to land in Washington, D.C., burning the White House and even the U.S. Navy Yard. At the war’s end, it became apparent that an active Navy was needed to protect merchant shipping, at the very least.

Since Stoddert’s appointment in 1798, there has always been a secretary of the Navy. The secretary was a member of the president’s cabinet until 1949. Currently, the secretary serves in the Defense Department.

A civilian serves as the secretary of the Navy. Currently, former Mississippi governor Ray Mabus is the secretary.

In the past, historian George Bancroft served as secretary and played a key role in establishing the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1845.

Bancroft came into office about one year after the USS Princeton disaster of 1844. Secretary of the Navy Thomas Gilmer and the former Navy secretary (and active secretary of state) Abel Upshur were killed when a gun exploded on the Princeton during a demonstration.

Secretary Gilmer had only been in office for 10 days. His predecessor, David Henshaw, escaped the Princeton tragedy because Congress didn’t approve his recess appointment by President John Tyler.

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Senator Richard Durbin, an Obama supporter (on issues other than drones), chaired the subcommittee hearing on Tuesday.

Durbin was openly disappointed that the Obama administration didn’t send a witness to talk about the secretive program.

“I do want to note for the record, my disappointment that the administration declined to provide a witness to testify at today’s hearings. I hope that in future hearings we’ll have an opportunity to work with the administration more closely,” he said.

Durbin also said he hoped the administration understood its newfound technological killing power “is still grounded in words written more than 200 years ago.”

Related Link: Read the complete testimonies

Political opponents Ted Cruz and Al Franken agreed with Durbin that the scope of the executive branch’s power was under question.

The administration says it has the power to undertake the drone tactics per a 2001 congressional resolution in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

The Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights has released the official testimony of the six witnesses, which show a cross-section of concerns and justifications about the program. here’s a brief look at what they said.

General James Cartwright

The retired general, a former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, explained that drones are cheap, at an average cost of $4 million to $5 million, compared with a conventional jet fighter, at $150 million. They are also cheap to fly and have advanced optics.

“[They’re] not hard to see why military operations are significantly improved by this technology. Drones offer many advantages over other conventional forces in counterterrorism,” he said.

“Legitimate questions remain about the use, authorities, and oversight of armed drone activities outside an area of declared hostility,” he acknowledged. “While I believe based on my experience all parties involved in this activity have acted in the best interests of the country, as with other new technologies, adaptation of policy and law tends to lag implementation of the capability.”

Farea Al-Muslimi

Al-Muslimi, a Yemini activist who was partly educated in the United States,  told the committee how drone attacks hurt the reputation of the United States in his country.

“Just six days ago, my village was struck by a drone, in an attack that terrified thousands of simple poor farmers. The drone strike and its impact tore my heart much as the tragic bombings in Boston last week tore your hearts and also mine,” he said.

Al-Muslimi said the drone attacks, especially those that killed innocent civilians, made his job as an advocate for America in Yemen “almost impossible.”

“Even when drone strikes target and kill the right people, it is at the expense of creating the many strategic problems I have discussed today,” he added.

Al-Muslimi also believes the United States should compensate the families of civilians killed or injured in the attacks.

Peter Bergen

The former CNN national security analyst is now at New America Foundation, a Washington think tank on security issues.

He testified that based on his foundation’s estimates, between 2,003 and 3,321 people were killed by drone strikes in Pakistan between 2004 and April 2013, with most of the fatal attacks undertaken by the Obama administration.

Many of those attacks, he said, were on low-level militants. There were differing estimates for civilian casualties.

Bergen also said much of the information about drones is out in public after years of questions.

“As of early 2013, the drone campaign was no longer Washington’s worst kept secret; it was, for all intents and purposes, out in the open. This new openness is a good thing. As U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis observed a century ago, ‘Sunlight is the best disinfectant.’”

Rosa Brooks

A Georgetown professor and senior fellow at the New America Foundation, Brooks said the United States needs to address legal and procedural issues.

“I believe that the president and Congress can and should take action to place U.S. targeted killing policy on firmer legal ground,” she said.

“In particular, we need to address the rule of law implications of U.S. targeted killing policy. Every individual detained, targeted, and killed by the U.S. government may well deserve his fate. But when a government claims for itself the unreviewable power to kill anyone, anywhere on earth, at any time, based on secret criteria and secret information discussed in a secret process by largely unnamed individuals, it undermines the rule of law.”

Colonel Martha McSally

Retired Air Force Colonel Martha McSally served for 22 years and is familiar with the tactics involved in drone attacks.

McSally said the use of drones can help due process in some ways: “You actually have the lawyers sitting side by side with you” as a drone remains in position, unlike conventional aircraft. “You can wait until the moment you have positive identification and all the criteria have been met,” she said.

“For targeted strikes of fleeting targets in low air defense threat environments, an RPA [remotely piloted aircraft] is the best platform to choose to ensure precision, persistence, flexibility, and minimize civilian casualties,” she said.

McSally also quoted Air Force Lieutenant General David Deptula, the first general responsible for overseeing drones, about the advantages of using the aircraft.

“Adversary falsehoods regarding inaccuracy and collateral damage divert attention from the fact that the massive intentional damage, intentional killing of civilians, and intentional violations of international law are being conducted by Al Qaeda and the Taliban–not U.S. ‘drones,” said Deptula, in a passage used by McSally in her remarks.

Ilya Somin

The law professor from George Mason University said that “serious constitutional and other problems arise if the U.S. government fails to take proper care to ensure that the use of drones is strictly limited to legitimate terrorist targets.”

Somin doesn’t have an issue with the Obama administration targeting senior terrorist leaders who are American citizens.

“Given the existence of a state of war, I believe that the Obama administration was correct to conclude in its recently released white paper that it is legal for the government to target U.S. citizens who are ‘senior operational leader[s] of al Qa’ida or an associated force,’” he said.

Somin said the “procedural safeguards” need to be established.

“What we can hope to achieve is an oversight system that greatly diminishes the risk of serious abuse: targeted killings that are undertaken recklessly or worse still–for the deliberate purpose of eliminating people who do not pose any genuine threat, but are merely attacked because they are critics of the government, or otherwise attracted the wrath of policymakers.”

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James Buchanan. Source: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

Today, most people know Buchanan for three things: He was single for his entire presidency; he’s the only president from Pennsylvania; and he was the president before Abraham Lincoln.

It’s that final point that has been the lasting part of the Buchanan presidency, with his apparent indifference to the onset of the Civil War, that has riled up so many academics.

Of course, Lincoln was a hard act to precede or follow: Lincoln’s successor Andrew Johnson is usually cast as Buchanan’s biggest rival for the title of worst president (along with the scandal-plagued Warren Harding from the early 1920s).

Buchanan came to the presidency under somewhat traditional but trying circumstances.

He was a five-time member of the House of Representatives, the secretary of state under President James Polk, and the U.S. minister to Great Britain.

At the Democratic convention in Cincinnati in 1856, Buchanan took the lead from the incumbent president, Franklin Pierce, on the first ballot and then battled Senator Stephen Douglas from Illinois for the presidential nomination.

Buchanan won on the 17th ballot and defeated John C. Fremont, of the newly formed Republican Party, in the 1856 presidential election.

It was all downhill from there for President Buchanan.

Buchanan became severely ill and almost died from an illness that was spread throughout his hotel in Washington, where he traveled for meetings as president-elect.

In his inaugural address, Buchanan called the territorial issue of slavery “happily, a matter of but little practical importance.” He had been tipped off about the Supreme Court’s decision in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case, which came shortly after the inauguration. Buchanan supported the theory that states and territories have a right to determine if they would allow slavery. (There were also reports Buchanan may have influenced the court’s ruling.) The Dred Scott decision angered and solidified Buchanan’s Republican opponents, and it drove a wedge into the Democratic Party. The country also went into an economic recession as the Civil War approached.

By 1860, it was apparent that Buchanan wasn’t going to be a candidate for re-election. At the Democratic convention, he managed to derail Douglas’ campaign to be the sole nominee who would take on Abraham Lincoln. (Douglas defeated Lincoln in the 1858 senate election in Illinois.)

The Democrats were left with two presidential nominees (Douglas and John Breckinridge), which almost ensured Lincoln’s election.

Within three months after the election, seven states had left the Union as Buchanan remained as a lame-duck president until Lincoln could take office in March 1861.

In his State of the Union message to Congress, Buchanan said he believed the South’s secession wasn’t legal, but the federal government didn’t have the power to stop it.

“All for which the slave States have ever contended, is to be let alone and permitted to manage their domestic institutions in their own way. As sovereign States, they, and they alone, are responsible before God and the world for the slavery existing among them. For this the people of the North are not more responsible and have no more fight to interfere than with similar institutions in Russia or in Brazil,” Buchanan said.

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Buchanan also explained why he wasn’t actively involved in the secession battle as president.

“It is beyond the power of any president, no matter what may be his own political proclivities, to restore peace and harmony among the states. Wisely limited and restrained as is his power under our Constitution and laws, he alone can accomplish but little for good or for evil on such a momentous question.”

Buchanan did little else during the crisis. Part of his Cabinet resigned. And although he wouldn’t give up Fort Sumter, his inaction gave the new Confederacy time to organize.

He rode to Lincoln’s inauguration with the new president, and reportedly told Lincoln, “If you are as happy entering the presidency as I am leaving it, then you are a very happy man.”

Buchanan had other issues during his presidency, including an obsession with Cuba and a controversy involving a war with Mormon settlers in the Utah territory.

The New York Times’ Nate Silver said earlier this year that based on composite rankings from four recent surveys, Buchanan was the lowest-ranked president among those polled.

In fact, Buchanan has been ranked among the three worst presidents in every poll and survey conducted since 1948 and in the past decade, and replaced Harding as the usual last-place finisher in these studies.

Buchanan retired to his estate in central Pennsylvania and lived to see the end of the Civil War. Just before his death in 1868, he said, “History will vindicate my memory from every unjust aspersion.”

See, it’s about The West Wing. Ever since Netflix and Amazon began instant-streaming the show a few months ago, the political-drama series has reinvigorated its original fans of the early 2000s—and quickly found a new wave of loyal devotees.

And why not? The West Wing offers soaring idealism, sharp-witted banter, swelling theme music, charismatic characters, and an unfailingly inspiring commander in chief. (Proof: Last year, Constitution Daily readers voted Jed Bartlet the best fictional president of all time.)

But the show also offers a look at the Constitution in action. So for all you West Wing-ers, old and new, join Constitution Daily for West Wing Wednesday. We’ll be looking at the top constitutional lessons, mistakes, and moments from the show.

Today’s topic: constitutional zingers.

1. Article I, Section 2 of what?

TOBY: Cathy, I need a copy of Article I, Section 2.

CATHY: Article I, Section 2 of what?

TOBY: The Constitution.

CATHY: Is that something I’m supposed to have at my desk?

TOBY: Does anybody have a copy of the Constitution? [No one responds.] This is discouraging.

CATHY: Bonnie, would you get Toby a copy of the Constitution?

BONNIE: Is it still in print?

TOBY: Oh for crying out loud! Try Amazon.com. If they don’t have it then just bust into the glass display case at the National Archives!

(“Mr. Willis of Ohio,” Episode 6, Season 1)

2. The men’s room

HOYNES: You want me to consider it a directive from this office?

LEO: Yes.

HOYNES: Well, let me consult Article II of the Constitution, ’cause I’m not a hundred percent sure where this office gets the authority to direct me to the men’s room!

(“Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc,” Episode 2, Season 1)

3. Maharajas

LEO: Lord Marbury, under our Constitution, our President is not empowered to create maharajas.

(“He Shall, From Time to Time,” Episode 12, Season 1)

4. Blame the Constitution

BARTLET: Are you being brusque with me?

LEO: It’s 3 o’clock in the morning.

BARTLET: I’m just saying you can’t blame me. It’s what you get from having an even number of senators.

LEO: Yeah, you should blame the constitution.

BARTLET: That’s what I usually do.

LEO: Yep.

(“20 Hours in L.A.,” Episode 16, Season 1)

5. A pulse

JOSH: You’ve got a Constitutional obligation, that comes first.

HOYNES: Last time I checked, my Constitutional obligation was to have a pulse.

(“Swiss Diplomacy,” Episode 9, Season 4)

Adams and Hamilton.

Hamilton was picked over Thomas Jefferson, and Adams edged out former secretary of war Henry Stimson in the semifinals of our competition.

Hamilton was the nation’s first treasury secretary, and Adams was the first vice president.

The winner gets the first seat at a “dream team” Cabinet table consisting of the following members, as selected by Constitution Daily readers:

Vice president (historical): John Adams
Vice president (modern): Al Gore
Secretary of state (historical): Thomas Jefferson
Secretary of state (modern): Hillary Clinton
Secretary of war (historical): Henry Stimson
Secretary of defense (modern): Caspar Weinberger
Attorney general: Robert Kennedy
Secretary of the treasury: Alexander Hamilton

You can vote in the poll below until Tuesday morning, when we will reveal the winner.

Note: If you can’t see the poll above, use this link: http://poll.fm/46iao

Get into Presidential Madness by downloading a bracket [PDF] and predicting who you think will make it to the finals as best Cabinet member of all time. Check in and vote each day at Constitution Daily for the latest round of polling.

Our annual Presidential Madness contest has picked the best real-life and fictional presidents in past years, but this time, we set out to select the ultimate presidential Cabinet—and the best Cabinet member of all time.

So far, Thomas Jefferson was named by readers as their favorite secretary of state, edging out Hillary Clinton, while Henry Stimson, the War Department’s leader in World War II, bested Caspar Weinberger for defense secretary. Alexander Hamilton was picked over Robert Kennedy in a battle of close presidential advisers.

Today, the last position in our cabinet Final Four is up for grabs, as Adams and Gore have survived a vice presidential battle royale. But only one candidate will advance.

In earlier voting, Adams won a hard-fought victory over Teddy Roosevelt as best historical vice president. Gore won a very close four-man race that included Joe Biden, Gerald Ford, and Richard Nixon in the modern vice president category.

John Adams was the first vice president, serving under President George Washington for eight years before becoming president himself. Adams was a key figure in the American Revolution as a statesman and theorist.

Al Gore was the close adviser and political ally for President Bill Clinton for eight years. He came to the job well-prepared, being raised in a political family. Gore’s wide range of expertise and his background similar to Clinton’s gave him a unique role as an engaged vice president.

Vote for your favorite in our poll below. And starting on Friday, you can pick the finalists in Presidential Madness as the last four contenders go head-to-head in two votes. It will be Jefferson vs. Hamilton, in a battle of the Founding Fathers, and Stimson vs. the Adams/Gore winner.

Note: If you can’t see the poll above, use this link: http://poll.fm/46bw7

Get into Presidential Madness by downloading a bracket [PDF] and predicting who you think will make it to the finals as best Cabinet member of all time. Check in and vote each day at Constitution Daily for the latest round of polling.

Our annual Presidential Madness contest has picked the best real-life and fictional presidents in past years, but this time, we set out to select the ultimate presidential cabinet—and the best cabinet member of all time.

So far, Thomas Jefferson was named by readers as their favorite secretary of state, edging out Hillary Clinton, while Henry Stimson, the War Department’s leader in World War II, bested Caspar Weinberger for defense secretary.

Round 11: Treasury secretary vs. attorney general

In this contest, Treasury Secretary Hamilton and Attorney General Kennedy vie to make the semifinals as a top presidential adviser.

Indeed, Hamilton and Kennedy were more than Cabinet members. They were the closest presidential advisers to the chief executive on all matters of state, including domestic and global matters.

And both were controversial in their time, as well as dynamic.

Vote for your favorite on below in our poll.

Note: If you can’t see the poll above, use this link: http://poll.fm/468pw

Get into Presidential Madness by downloading a bracket [PDF] and predicting who you think will make it to the finals as best Cabinet member of all time. Check in and vote each day at Constitution Daily for the latest round of polling.

Round 9: Best secretary of state ever!

In earlier voting, our readers chose the best historical and modern secretaries of state from a star-studded field of diplomats.

In the historical division, Thomas Jefferson edged out James Madison in the fight between the Founding Fathers. William Seward and John Quincy Adams were also contenders in a four-way battle of big historical names.

In the modern division, Hillary Clinton had an easier time, taking an impressive 46 percent of the vote in defeating Henry Kissinger, George Marshall and Condoleeza Rice.

So in our next round, readers will need to make a tough decision.

Jefferson was the nation’s first official secretary of state. He was personally appointed by his fellow Virginian, George Washington, to the post. Jefferson’s clashes within the cabinet, with Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, led to the formation of the nation’s first opposition party.

After leaving Washington’s cabinet, Jefferson was chosen as vice president in 1796 and won two elections as president.

Clinton’s career included early legal positions in the Watergate investigation; public roles in the Arkansas administration of her husband, William Jefferson Clinton; her very high-profile turn as first lady; election as a U.S. senator from New York; and a four-year term as secretary of state for President Barack Obama.

Clinton is often named in polls ranking the most influential people in national and international politics, and she’s often mentioned as a potential 2016 presidential candidate.

Pick your favorite in our polls below, and check back each day to see a new Presidential Madness vote!

Note: If you can’t see the poll above, use this link: http://poll.fm/465v1