The Middle Period 1817-1858 Part 11

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1824

General Character of the Presidential Contest of 1824--John Quincy Adams--DeWitt Clinton--William H. Crawford--John C. Calhoun--Daniel Webster--Henry Clay--Andrew Jackson--The Nomination of Presidential Candidates in 1824--Failure of the Electors to Elect the President--Territorial Distribution of the Electoral Vote--New York in the Election of 1824--South Carolina in the Election of 1824--Pennsylvania in the Election of 1824--The Election in the House of Representatives--Clay Master of the Situation--Clay's Support of Adams, and Kremer's Charge of Bargain and Corruption--The Election of Adams by the House of Representatives--Clay and the Secretaryship of State--Threats of the Organization of an Anti-administration Party--The Bargain between Clay and Adams a mere Suspicion--Clay's Nomination to the Secretaryship of State in the Senate--The Composition of the new Anti-administration Party.

[Sidenote: General character of the presidential contest of 1824.]

As has been pointed out, from 1820 to 1824 the political arena was clear of the combats of principles, and furnished the tilting-ground for the jousts of personal ambition. The "Virginia dynasty" became extinct with the expiration of Monroe's second term, and the way was open for anyone to enter the lists who was willing to risk the shocks of the encounter.

At no time in our history has the roll of our political n.o.bility been more full of brilliant names and characters.

{132} [Sidenote: John Quincy Adams.]

First of all, there was John Quincy Adams, the Secretary of State, the "knight without fear and without reproach," blunt, grim, almost rude, through an unconscious suspicion that politeness might encourage the approach of temptation; now fifty-seven years old, and trained in statecraft and diplomacy almost from childhood; the best equipped statesman and the most experienced statesman that America had up to that time produced; ready to serve his country in any honorable capacity to which that country might freely call him, and just as ready to withdraw from that service when his country indicated the desire to dispense with him; puritanic, austere, and to the last degree patriotic, his one qualification for the presidential office was the capacity to discharge its duties wisely, honestly, and loyally, a qualification which too rarely wins in popular elections.

[Sidenote: DeWitt Clinton.]

Then, there was DeWitt Clinton, n.o.ble in personal appearance, dignified in manners, eloquent in debate, sagacious and far-sighted in business, a lover of science and a scientist himself; the great promoter of the Erie Ca.n.a.l, which was now on the point of completion, and which was destined to revolutionize the commerce of the country; still only fifty-five years of age, although he had been considered more than twenty years before as the most promising man of the nation, and had within that period been United States Senator, mayor of New York City, candidate for the presidency against Mr. Madison, and twice Governor of New York.

[Sidenote: William H. Crawford.]

Then, there was William H. Crawford, a Virginian by birth and a Georgian by education; a man of large wealth and of imposing bearing; enjoying a very great reputation for statesmanship without any easily discoverable foundation therefor; now {133} fifty-two years of age, and having already been United States Senator, Minister to France, Secretary of War, and Secretary of the Treasury, which latter office he still held; with the exception, perhaps, of Martin Van Buren, the most astute politician among the great men of his time. He had the political friendship and support of Van Buren. The two seem to have been attracted to each other by the similarity of their methods. He was the author of the law of 1820, limiting the term of the officials of the Treasury to four years, the first step in the direction of making the United States civil service a political machine, such as Van Buren and his fellows in the "Regency" had made out of the civil service of the Commonwealth of New York. It is not astonishing that he, rather than any of the other aspirants for the presidency, procured the a.s.sembling of a caucus of the members of Congress, and secured a nomination from it, thus making himself the "regular"

candidate. Not a third of the members, however, appeared at the caucus, and the nomination did him more harm than good.

[Sidenote: John C. Calhoun.]

Then, there was Calhoun, grave, pure, and patriotic as Adams himself, and almost as puritanic; South Carolinian by birth, Scotch-Irish by blood, Presbyterian in religion, and New Englander by education; great, both in dialectics and in the administration of affairs; rather more given to introspection than to objective research; speculative, therefore, rather than inductive in his mental processes; most fascinating in conversation, kind and generous in his feelings, and a gentleman everywhere and upon all occasions; a personality to be looked up to with reverence, admiration, and confidence. He was still only forty-two years of age, and yet he had already pa.s.sed fourteen years in public service, first as member of the South Carolina Legislature, then as member of Congress, and {134} then as Monroe's Secretary of War for both terms, which office he still held.

[Sidenote: Daniel Webster.]

Then, there was Webster, of the same age with Calhoun, though as yet only five years in public service; the most majestic personality which America has ever produced, though born of the hardy yeomanry of New England; profound in thought, grandly eloquent in speech, and royally impressive in bearing; full of good cheer, in spite of the puritanism of his ancestry, enjoying his friends and adored by his friends; a splendid lawyer, a great statesman, and an incomparable orator--in a word, a demiG.o.d; by no means so austere in character as in appearance; liable, as genius too often is, to sometimes break over the restraints of customary morality, but doing it in so grand and natural a manner as to make the rule which he had broken seem narrow, insignificant, and mean.

[Sidenote: Henry Clay.]

And then, there was Clay, the most genuine American of them all; rather superficial in thought, entrancing in his oratory, with a voice as winning as the siren's song, elegant and gallant in his manners, perfectly irresistible in conversation, jovial and cheery and happy, the prince of good fellows, loved and worshipped by everybody who knew him; enthusiastic in his patriotism, seeking to make his country not only independent of the world in all its policies but the leader of the world in civilization, a zealous propagandist of American republicanism, the "lion-hearted knight" of American statesmen. He was now in the prime of his manhood, forty-seven years of age. He had been a member of the Senate of the United States at thirty, but it was upon the floor of the House of Representatives, and as Speaker of the House, which office he again held, that he had won his most brilliant laurels. He was at the moment the great champion of the {135} tariff, of national internal improvements, and of the cause of the South American States in their struggle for independence against Spain and Portugal--of what he called the American system of political and industrial independence. Of his compet.i.tors only Crawford differed with him in regard to these principles in anything more than a slight degree. Crawford was considered as rather more particularistic, especially in his views on the question of internal improvements. But Clay, with his genial self-confidence and irresistible self-a.s.sertion, had a.s.sumed in the popular mind, as well as in the Congress, the part of the leading representative of these policies. He had the advantage or the disadvantage of that, whichever it might prove to be.

[Sidenote: Andrew Jackson.]

And lastly, Jackson, the n.o.blest Roman of them all; ignorant and irascible indeed, but virtuous, brave, and patriotic beyond any cavil or question; faithful and devoted in his domestic life, absolutely unapproachable by pecuniary inducements; the best of friends and the most implacable of enemies; quick, hasty in forming his judgments and tenacious beyond expression in holding to them; p.r.o.ne to elevate every whim and impulse to a behest of conscience; earnest, terrible in the inflexibility of his purposes; excited by opposition to an ever-increasing degree of determination; unflinching and recklessly daring in the performance of what he felt to be his duty; restless under the legal restraints which might appear to hinder him in the discharge of duty and the accomplishment of any great enterprise intrusted to him; hostile to all gradations of power and privilege, and inclined to break through any official net-work interposed between himself and the rank and file subject to his command; a great soldier, and yet a man of the people; the military hero of the country and a martyr to the persecutions of the {136} politicians--here were certainly qualities calculated to rouse the enthusiasm of the ma.s.ses, if not of the cla.s.ses. He was now fifty-seven years of age, and was not in strong health. He had shown no qualities of statesmanship, although he had been twice a member of the Senate of the United States, and was at the moment holding that most advantageous position for a display of civic talent; but he had the fortune to live at a time and in a country when and where the lower strata of society were just coming to a full partic.i.p.ation in political power, and when and where high qualifications simply to discharge the duties of an office were beginning to be regarded by the majority of the people as disqualifications for holding the office.

These were by no means all of the great characters from among whom the nation had its choice in 1824, but they were unquestionably the first on the list. Different as they were in personal qualities, they were not yet far apart in political opinions. Crawford leaned more toward "States' rights" than the others. Clay was more p.r.o.nounced in the opposite direction. While Jackson was rather more uncommitted.

[Sidenote: The nomination of presidential candidates in 1824.]

Webster was not put forward by anybody, and did not offer himself as a candidate. Clay was nominated by the legislature of Kentucky. Jackson was nominated by the legislature of Tennessee, and by two Pennsylvania conventions. While Adams had the advantage of the precedent which, for nearly a quarter of a century, had pointed to the Secretary of State as the natural successor to the presidential office.

[Sidenote: Failure of the electors to elect the President.]

As was to be expected, the electors did not choose any one of the four, since the Const.i.tution requires a majority of the whole number of the electors for a choice. Jackson led with ninety-nine votes; Adams was next with eighty-four; {137} Crawford followed with forty-one; and Clay came last with thirty-seven.

[Sidenote: Territorial distribution of the electoral vote.]

The electoral vote was distributed territorially as might have been naturally antic.i.p.ated, except in two particulars. These were, the failure of Van Buren to secure the electoral vote of New York for Crawford, and the solid vote of Pennsylvania and South Carolina for Jackson. These facts had some significance in connection with subsequent developments, and require a little explanation.

[Sidenote: New York in the Election of 1824.]

New York was one of the Commonwealths which, down to 1824, permitted the legislature to choose the presidential electors. In 1823 the legislature was still under the control of Van Buren and his colleagues in the "Regency," the Albany machine, and had the election taken place in 1823 he could doubtless have delivered the electoral vote entire to Crawford. But one of Jackson's shrewdest supporters, probably Clinton, started the scheme for transferring the choice of the electors from the legislature to the voters. This, if successful, would destroy the control of the "Regency" over the electoral vote.

The opposition of the "Regency" to the bill, when it appeared in the legislature, caused its rejection by that body; but the popular indignation was roused to such a pitch against the "Regency" and its adherents in the legislature, in consequence of this act, that, in the Commonwealth elections of 1824, the "Regency" party was driven from power, and the new legislature chose electors who cast the electoral vote of the Commonwealth chiefly for Adams, as the Northern candidate.

[Sidenote: South Carolina in the Election of 1824.]

The fact that South Carolina cast her electoral vote for Jackson instead of for Crawford is good evidence that there was still no question of "States' rights" versus the powers of the Union at issue, or that South {138} Carolina was still nationally disposed; and that, either there was no tariff question at issue, or South Carolina had not yet clearly discovered the hostility of the tariff to her interests, or she believed Jackson to be opposed to the tariff.

Jackson, or rather his manager, William B. Lewis, a most astute politician, had written a letter to a Dr. Coleman, of Warrenton, Va., upon the subject of the tariff. The letter was ostensibly a reply to one from Dr. Coleman, inquiring of Jackson his views upon this question. Very probably, however, Dr. Coleman's letter was also dictated by Mr. Lewis. Jackson's reply contained nothing definite in regard to the subject. It was a first-cla.s.s political doc.u.ment, that is, it was a doc.u.ment which could be interpreted to mean anything which might be made necessary or desirable by time, place, and circ.u.mstances. In a word, Lewis had made for Jackson a sort of _tabula rasa_ record on the subject of the tariff. In such a state of things it is certainly reasonable to ascribe South Carolina's preference for Jackson to the facts that he claimed to be her son by birth, and that Calhoun, rightly discerning Jackson to be the coming man, withdrew from the race for the presidency, and was regarded as running for the vice-presidency on the Jackson ticket.

[Sidenote: Pennsylvania in the Election of 1824.]

It is somewhat more difficult to account for the att.i.tude of Pennsylvania. We are now so accustomed to consider Pennsylvania the "tariff State" _par excellence_, that it is difficult to conceive of a time when she was not such. She was indeed, in 1824, for the tariff, but her interests had not then become so completely linked together with it as after 1840. In 1824 her vast beds of anthracite had not been applied to the preparation of her iron ores, in fact {139} had hardly been discovered. Pennsylvania west of the Alleghanies was then an agricultural country, and was filled with a population intensely democratic and almost lawless. So far as they had any political science it was based upon the most radical postulates of the French philosophy. The princ.i.p.al "plank" of the platform of the Harrisburg convention of March 4th, 1824, which nominated Jackson, read as follows: "This artificial system of cabinet succession to the presidency is little less dangerous and anti-republican than the hereditary monarchies of Europe. If a link in this chain of successive secretary dynasties be not broken now, then may we be fettered by it forever. Andrew Jackson comes pure, untrammelled, and unpledged from the people." Adams, Crawford, and Calhoun were then members of President Monroe's cabinet, and Clay was Speaker of the House of Representatives. Jackson alone of all the candidates seemed to possess the qualifications required by the Harrisburg doctrine. While this may explain the attachment of the Pennsylvania Republicans to Jackson, we must not forget that the remnant of the Pennsylvania Federalists were also for him. In 1816 Jackson had written some letters to President Monroe advising him not to ignore the Federalists in his appointments to office, but to unite the country by showing himself superior to the distinctions of party in his Administration. These letters were now drawn forth and published by Jackson's manager, and the inference which they conveyed was that Jackson would follow this policy, in case he should be chosen to the presidency. Even Webster was inclined to him, and Mrs. Webster was entirely won by his gallantry. Jackson in the role of a fascinating gentleman and a popular ladies' man is hardly the usual character under which the imagination of this generation pictures him. It is, {140} nevertheless, strictly true that the "Old Hero" knew how to make himself very acceptable to the ladies.

Pennsylvania was, chiefly, by this conjunction of influences, carried for Jackson by an overwhelming majority.

[Sidenote: The Election in the House of Representatives.]

The failure of the electors to give a majority to any one of the candidates threw the election into the House of Representatives, which is empowered by the Const.i.tution to choose, in such a case, one of the three who shall have received the highest number of electoral votes.

[Sidenote: Clay master of the situation.]

From the day when it became known that the new President must be chosen in this manner to the day of the election by the House, that is, from about the middle of December to the ninth day of February, the politicians in Washington were "laying pipe," "pulling wires," and "making deals." It soon became manifest that Clay, while he could not be chosen himself, since he could not be legally voted for, was the master of the situation. So great was his popularity with the House that, it is almost certain, he would have been chosen to the great office himself had he been among the three having the highest number of electoral votes. Everybody reasoned, therefore, that not only the Representatives from the Commonwealths which had given their electoral votes to Clay would follow his lead in voting in the House, but that many others from other Commonwealths would act under inspiration from him. After a good deal of talk among the members of the House and the politicians generally as to whether the members were bound to vote as the electors from their respective Commonwealths had voted, and as to whether the legislatures of the respective Commonwealths possessed any power to instruct the members of the House of Representatives from the several Commonwealths in regard to {141} the casting of their votes, the opinion finally prevailed that each Representative was entirely free to vote according to his own judgment and preference; and that meant that the popular and persuasive Speaker would be able to carry enough votes with him to elect the candidate upon whom his favor might fall.

[Sidenote: Clay's support of Adams, and Kremer's charge of bargain and corruption.]

Propositions were made to him from the friends of the different candidates, but he held them all at arm's length. It might have been easily foreseen that he would support Adams. Crawford was a man of exhausted powers, unfit physically and mentally to discharge the duties of the great office. Jackson was only a military chieftain, according to Clay's view a very dangerous character for the presidency. There remained only Adams, probably the best-fitted man in the country for the office. It was generally felt, for several days before the election, that these considerations would determine Clay's course of action. There were those, however, who were ready to ascribe Clay's supposed att.i.tude to other, and more selfish, motives. An insignificant member from Pennsylvania, Kremer by name, gave it out in public print that there was a bargain between Adams and Clay, according to which Clay was to support Adams, and to receive in return the secretaryship of State. This happened on January 28th, 1825, just after the delegations from Ohio and Kentucky in the House had declared their intention of supporting Adams. The small mind of Kremer could not conceive of this att.i.tude on the part of Clay save from the point of view of selfish interests. Clay immediately called for an investigation of the charge by the House, but Kremer sneaked out of it.

[Sidenote: The election of Adams by the House of Representatives.]

On February 9th, 1825, the two Houses of Congress met in joint a.s.sembly to count the electoral vote. It {142} was immediately found that no candidate had a majority, and that, therefore, the choice lay with the House. The House, on the same day, and on the first ballot, elected Adams. The delegations from thirteen of the twenty-four Commonwealths voted for him. The delegations from seven voted for Jackson; and those from four for Crawford. Adams received the votes of the delegations from all of the Commonwealths which had given their electoral votes, or the majority of their electoral votes, to himself and to Clay, and from three of the Commonwealths which had given the majority of their electoral vote to Jackson.

[Sidenote: Clay and the Secretaryship of State.]

The twelfth day of February, 1825, is the date in Mr. Adams' diary under which he recorded his offer of the secretaryship of State to Mr.

Clay. We find in the diary, for the day before this, an account of a visit from a Mr. G. Sullivan, who told Mr. Adams "that the Calhounites said that if Mr. Clay should be appointed Secretary of State, a determined opposition to the administration would be organized from the outset; that the opposition would use the name of General Jackson as its head; and that the administration would be supported only by the New England States--New York being doubtful, the West much divided, and strongly favoring Jackson as a Western man, Virginia already in opposition, and all the South decidedly adverse."

[Sidenote: Threats of the organization of an anti-administration party.]

Exactly who the Calhounites were at that moment, as distinct from the followers of Adams and Clay, is difficult to determine, since all the electors who voted for Adams for President also voted for Calhoun for Vice-President, except eight electors from Connecticut and one from New Hampshire, and of the thirty-seven electors who voted {143} for Clay, at least seven of them voted also for Calhoun. It was Crawford's supporters who had opposed Calhoun for the second place, not one of them having voted for him. This declaration made by Mr. Sullivan meant, therefore, that Jackson's friends were going to organize an opposition party to the Adams-Clay Administration and that the Vice-President was going to cast his lot with them.

This was certainly a threat of danger, but Adams was not the man to be frightened from the course which he had chosen as just and politic. He immediately offered the first position in the cabinet to Clay, and, after some six days of reflection and of consultation with friends, Clay accepted.

[Sidenote: The bargain between Clay and Adams a mere suspicion.]