CHAPTER VII.

Presidential Election of 1824-Mr. Calhoun chosen Vice-PresidentCharacter as Presiding Officer-Refusal to leave his seat when a tie vote was anticipated-Decision in regard to the right to call to order -Opposition to the Measures of Mr. Adams-Reëlection of Mr. Calhoun-The Tariff Question-Matured Opinions—Address.

Ir is very common for a certain class of people to lament the degeneracy of the present age, -as common as it is for another class to maintain, that

“Old politicians chime on wisdom past,

And totter on in blunders to the last."

The one are true conservative bigots, wedded to ancient forms and usages, and the other ultra progessionists, fond of overturning for the sake of overturning, and never so well pleased as when the destruction of an old system furnishes the opportunity of substituting some favorite theory of their own. Human institutions are by no means perfect, and it would, perhaps, be impossible to frame a law or a constitution, for one generation, which should be construed by another, under a change of time and circumstances, in the same manner. One abuse is very apt to be followed by a score, and innovation is the prolific mother of a numerous brood. Yet, after all, he has studied the great book of human nature to but little purpose, who imagines that politicians are, in the main, any more corrupt at

this day than they were a hundred years ago. No class of men are more liable to selfishness, and they are not more influenced by that feeling now than they have ever been.

If we examine the political controversies that occurred in the early history of our country, we find them presenting the same characteristics which similar disputes now do. Adams and Jefferson were abused and calumniated, with as much zeal and bitterness, by the cotemporaneous newspaper press, in 1800, as were Polk and Clay in 1844. Madison and Monroe, too, were treated with as little consideration by their opponents as were the younger Adams, General Jackson, or Mr. Van Buren. The contest for the presidency in 1808, or that in 1816, was as earnest and animated, and the opposing candidates and their friends as anxious, as was the case in 1848; and the election of 1840 was not viewed with more interest by politicians than that of 1824. Latterly, the people have more directly participated in the presidential elections, because the candidates are nominated in popular conventions, and the electors are every where chosen, with but one exception, by the popular suffrage; yet it is very doubtful whether the present system is better than the old. Congressional caucuses were bad enough, but it is questionable, whether the inflence that secures the nomination of a particular candidate by a national convention, does not most commonly emanate from the political coteries at Washington.

From the peculiar circumstances attending the contest for the presidency in 1824, it was characterized by as much, if not more, asperity and virulence, than were

usual on such occasions. The course pursued by the federal party in relation to the war of 1812 had completely alienated from them the affections of the people, and their organization was almost entirely lost during the "era of good feeling" introduced by Mr. Monroe. The party as a party split into fragments. Many still. continued to adhere to their old principles, but the greater number henceforth eschewed them, and adopted, in whole or in part, those of the republican school.

Long before the expiration of Mr. Monroe's second term, it was quite evident to every observing mind, that the federalists, as such, were scarcely to be taken into account so far as the question of his successor was concerned. None but a republican could be elected that needed no demonstration. But among the republicans themselves, there was a great diversity of opinion. Six different candidates were in the first place proposed by their respective friends, each one of whom claimed to belong to the republican party. In the northern and eastern states John Quincy Adams was the favorite; Henry Clay was the choice of Kentucky, Ohio, and Missouri; Andrew Jackson was the most popular in the south-west, and the southern states generally were divided between him, and William H. Crawford; while the state of South Carolina presented the name of one of her most distinguished sons, William Lowndes, and Pennsylvania that of another, Mr. Calhoun.

The nomination of Mr. Calhoun was not anticipated by himself; neither was Mr. Lowndes aware of the kind wishes and intentions of his friends till his name was regularly proposed. Between the two there had

long existed a warm personal friendship, and as soon as Mr. Calhoun heard of his nomination, he called on Mr. Lowndes, and assured him that it had been made without his procurement or solicitation, and that he should much regret to have the circumstance of their being opposing candidates produce any change in their private relations. His friendly feelings were cordially reciprocated by Mr. Lowndes, and the canvass would undoubtedly have proceeded to its close without impairing their mutual esteem, had not the untimely death of Mr. Lowndes, in October, 1822, forever removed him from the political arena. The relations of Mr. Calhoun with all the other candidates, except Mr. Crawford, were likewise friendly. In 1816, Mr. Calhoun had preferred Mr. Monroe to Mr. Crawford, and though opposed to the plan of holding a congressional caucus, he attended that which was held and supported the candidate whom he preferred. This occasioned some slight bitterness of feeling, which was heightened by the continued opposition of Mr. Calhoun to Mr. Crawford when the latter was a second time brought forward, as the successor to Mr. Monroe.

It is unnecessary, however, to recapitulate all the circumstances attending the presidential election in 1824. The friends of Jackson, Adams, Clay, and Calhoun, who constituted a majority of the republican members of Congress, refused to go into a caucus, as is well known, whereupon the minority met and nominated Mr. Crawford. As between the other candidates, Mr. Calhoun preferred General Jackson; and as it was likely that a warm contest would spring up between their respective

friends in Pennsylvania, the name of the former was finally withdrawn in compliance with his wishes.

Mr. Calhoun being no longer a candidate for the presidential office, he was instantly taken up by the friends of General Jackson and Mr. Adams as their candidate for the vice-presidency. He also received the support of a portion of the friends of Mr. Clay, for the same office. South Carolina gave her electoral vote to General Jackson and Mr. Calhoun, and her members were unanimous in their preference of the former over Mr. Adams, the successful candidate, when the question came before the House of Representatives for their decision. Mr. Calhoun himself was chosen vice-president by the colleges, he receiving one hundred and eighty-two of the two hundred and sixty-one electoral votes.

On the 4th day of March, 1825, Mr. Calhoun took his seat in the Senate of the United States as its presiding officer. He left the war department, not as he found it, in confusion and disorder, but in every branch regularity and order had been restored or introduced. The great energy and vigor of his mind, as well as the happy combination of his administrative talents, had been displayed in its management; and so apparent were the importance and appropriateness of the reforms which he had originated, that General Bernard, the chief of the Corps of Engineers while Mr. Calhoun was secretary of war, and a favorite officer of Napoleon, often compared him to that great man. His course, too, was calculated to gain the respect, while he did not lose the esteem, of the officers of the army, for he did away entirely with the system of favoritism which had been