Noah Feldman, Columnist

Why Losing Candidates Should Concede

Nothing in the U.S. Constitution requires losers to be gracious. But the health of democracy does.

October 21, 2016 at 4:34 PM UTC

Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People."

A for effort.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

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If Donald Trump loses the election and doesn’t concede, it won’t violate the U.S. Constitution. But it would break a tradition of concession that dates back more than a century and has achieved quasi-constitutional status. And like most enduring political customs, its value goes beyond graciousness: It helps ensure the continuity of government and offers a legitimating assist to democracy itself.

It’s a matter of interpretation exactly when the practice of concession began. Thomas Jefferson drafted a letter of concession to John Adams even before the election of 1796 was complete, in which he said he expected to lose and warned Adams to be careful lest Alexander Hamilton cheat him of his “succession by a trick.” In the end, Jefferson didn’t send the letter, but instead gave it to James Madison, who passed on its contents indirectly to Adams.