of the United States after arriving at the age of twenty-one years, provided they had resided five years in the United States. The presidential question was at this time the all-absorbing subject of interest, both among members of Congress and the people. One great point, about which the members of Congress were divided, was whether an attempt should be made to nominate candidates for president and vicepresident by a congressional caucus, as had been the uniform practice of the democratic party. The friends of Mr. Crawford, with Mr. Van Buren at their head, were in favor of a caucus, and disposed to denounce all those who were opposed to this mode, which they called "regular nomination," as enemies of the democratic party. A committee of members opposed to Mr. Crawford stated, in the National Intelligencer newspaper, that of two hundred and sixty-one members, it was ascertained one hundred and eighty-one were opposed to a caucus; and it was added, that many others would not attend should such a meeting be called. Notwithstanding this statement, a meeting of the democratic members of Congress was called by the friends of Mr. Crawford, and on the 14th of February, 1824, the assemblage took place. Only sixty-six members attended, of whom forty-eight were from the four states of New York, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. On a ballot for president, Mr. Crawford received 64 votes, Mr. Adams 2, General Jackson 1, and Mr. Macon, of North Carolina, 1. Mr. Gallatin was nominated for vice-president, but afterward declined. The issue of this attempt to nominate Mr. Crawford proved injurious to his prospects, and about the same time his health became so much impaired that serious doubts were entertained of his capability on that account to perform the duties of the office of president in case of his election. In the state of New York the Crawford party became very unpopular, in consequence of some of their leading men having rejected a law proposed by the people's party in the legislature, providing for the choice of presidential electors by the people. The electors in the state of New York were therefore chosen by the legislature but owing principally to the efforts of General James Tallmadge, the champion of the people's party in the legislature on that occasion, with the aid of Mr. Henry Wheaton and other zealous members of that body, the friends of Mr. Crawford met with an unexpected defeat, and the electoral vote of the state was given as follows for Adams 26, for Crawford 5, for Clay 4, for Jackson 1. : This election in New York, with the result in other states, showed that no choice had been made for president by the electoral colleges, and according to the provisions of the constitution, the decision was referred to the house of representatives. The total votes of the colleges of electors for president, were, for Jackson 99, Adams 84, Crawford 41, Clay 37. John C. Calhoun was elected vice-president, having received 182 votes, against 78 for all others. The choice of president by the house of representatives was, as the constitution requires, confined to the three highest candidates. The election by the house was held in February, 1825, when Mr. Adams received the votes of 13 states on the first ballot, General Jackson 7 states, and Mr. Crawford 4 states. John Quincy Adams was therefore declared elected president of the United States for four years, from the 4th of March, 1825. The second session of the eighteenth Congress was held from the 6th of December, 1824, to the expiration of their term on the 3d of March, 1825. But few acts of general interest were passed; among them was one to reduce into one the several acts regulating the postoffice department. An act was also passed respecting drawbacks of duties on goods re-exported; another to provide for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States; and an act concerning wrecks on the coast of Florida. A resolution was offered in the senate, in February, 1825, by Mr. King, of New York, proposing that after the payment of the public debt, for which the public lands were pledged, should be made, the proceeds of the sales should be applied to the emancipation of such slaves within any of the United States, and to aid in the removal of such free persons of color as by the laws of any state were allowed to be emancipated or removed, to any territory without the limits of the United States. The resolution, which did not receive the sanction of the senate, was not designed to interfere with the laws and usages of any state relating to slaves. Had it been adopted, the effect would have been similar to that the Colonization Society have in view; and would have secured funds for the purpose. The last year of Mr. Monroe's administration was distinguished by the visit to the United States of the Marquis de Lafayette, the friend and ally of the Americans during their struggle with Great Britain in the war of the revolution. The administration of Mr. Monroe, which closed on the 3d of March, 1825, was eminently prosperous and advantageous to the nation. At no period in our history has party spirit been so much subdued, and the attention of the national legislature more exclusively devoted to objects of public benefit. In the language of his successor, Mr. Adams, President Monroe "strengthened his country for defence, by a system of combined fortifications, military and naval, sustaining her rights, her dignity and honor abroad; soothing her dissensions, and conciliating her acerbities at home; controlling by a firm though peaceful policy, the hostile spirit of the European alliance against republican Southern America; extorting, by the mild compulsion of reason, the shores of the Pacific from the stipulated acknowledgment of Spain; and leading back the Imperial Autocrat of the north, to his lawful boundaries, from his hastily-asserted dominion over the southern ocean. Thus strengthening and consolidating the federative edifice of his country's union, till he was entitled to say, like Augustus Cæsar of his imperial city, that he had found her build of brick, and left her constructed of marble." |