While a candidate for the presidency, Mr. Adams received a letter inquiring his views on the subject of internal improvement. The following is an extract from his reply:

"On the 23rd of Feb., 1807, I offered, in the Senate of the United States, of which I was then a member, the first resolution, as I believe, that ever was presented to Congress, contemplating a general system of internal improvement. I thought that Congress possessed the power of appropriating money to such improvement, and of authorizing the works necessary for making it—subject always to the territorial rights of the several States in or through which the improvement is to be made, to be secured by the consent of their Legislatures, and to proprietary rights of individuals, to be purchased or indemnified. I still hold the same opinions; and, although highly respecting the purity of intention of those who object, on constitutional grounds, to the exercise of this power, it is with heartfelt satisfaction that I perceive those objections gradually yielding to the paramount influence of the general welfare. Already have appropriations of money to great objects of internal improvement been freely made; and I hope we shall both live to see the day, when the only question of our statesmen and patriots, concerning the authority of Congress to improve, by public works essentially beneficent, and beyond the means of less than national resources, the condition of our common country, will be how it ever could have been doubted."

On another occasion, Mr. Adams expressed himself on the subject of internal improvements in the following manner :

"The question of the power of Congress to authorize the making of internal improvements, is, in other words, a question whether the people of this Union, in forming their common social compact, as avowedly for the purpose of promoting their general welfare, have performed their work in a manner so ineffably stupid as to deny themselves the means of bettering their own condition. I have too much respect for the intellect of my country to believe it. The

first object of human association is the improvement of the condition of the associated. Roads and canals are among the most essential means of improving the condition of nations. And a people which should deliberately, by the organization of its authorized power, deprive itself of the faculty of multiplying its own blessings, would be as wise as a creator who should undertake to constitute a human being without a heart.”

In addition to other claims, the friends of Mr. Adams urged his elevation to the presidency on the ground of locality. During the thirty-six years which had passed since the adoption of the constitution, the General Government had been administered but four years by a northern President. It was insisted with much. force that the southern portion of the Republic had thus far exerted a disproportionate influence in the executive department of the nation. While the north, although far the most populous, and contributing much the largest portion of the means for defraying the national expenditures, would not claim to monopolize an undue degree of power in controlling the measures of administration, yet it could justly insist that its demands for an equitable share of influence should be heeded. These suggestions unquestionably possessed a weight in the minds of the people, favorable to the prospects of Mr. Adams.

The Presidential campaign of 1824, was more spirited and exciting than any that had taken place since the first election of Mr. Jefferson. It was novel in the number of candidates presented for the suffrages of

the people, and was conducted with great zeal and vigor by the friends of the different aspirants. Strictly speaking, it could not be called a party contest. Mr. Monroe's wise and prudent administration had obliterated party lines, and left a very general unanimity of sentiment on political principles and measures, throughout the Union. The various candidates-Adams, Jackson, Clay, Crawford-all subscribed, substantially, to the same political creed, and entertained similar views as to the principles on which the General Government should be administered. The struggle was a personal and sectional one, more than of a party nature.

It had long been foreseen that a choice of President would not be effected by the people. The result verified this prediction. Of two hundred and sixty-one electoral votes, Gen. Jackson received ninety-nine, Mr. Adams eighty-four, Mr. Crawford forty-one, and Mr. Clay thirty-seven. Neither of the candidates having received a majority in the electoral colleges, the election devolved on the House of Representatives. This took place on the 9th of Feb., 1825.

On the morning of that day, the House met at an earlier hour than usual. The galleries, the lobbies, and the adjacent apartments, were filled to overflowing with spectators from every part of the Union to witness the momentous event. It was a scene the most sublime that could be witnessed on earth. The Representatives of the People, in the exercise of the highest right of

freemen, were about to select a citizen to administer the Government of a great Republic.

All the members of the House were present, with the exception of one, who was confined by indisposition. The Speaker (Henry Clay) took his chair, and the ordinary business of the morning was attended to in the usual manner. At 12 o'clock, precisely, the members of the Senate entered the hall, preceded by their Sergeant-at-arms, and having the President of the Senate at their head, who was invited to a seat on the right hand of the Speaker. The Senators were assigned seats in front of the Speaker's chair.

The President of the Senate (Mr. Gaillard) then rose, and stated that the certificates forwarded by the electors from each State would be delivered to the Tellers. Mr. Tazewell of the Senate, and Messrs. John W. Taylor and Philip P. Barbour on the part of the House, took their places, as Tellers, at the Clerk's table. The President of the Senate then opened two packets, one received by messenger and the other by mail, containing the certificates of the votes of the State of New Hampshire. One of these certificates was then read by Mr. Tazewell, while the other was compared with it by Messrs. Taylor and Barbour. The whole having been read, and the votes of New Hampshire declared, they were set down by the Clerks of the Senate and of the House of Representatives, seated at different tables. Thus the certificates from all the States were gone through with. At the conclusion,

the Tellers left the Clerk's tables, and, presenting themselves in front of the Speaker, Mr. Tazewell delivered their report of the votes given.

The President of the Senate then rose, and declared that no person had received a majority of the votes given for President of the United States: that Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and William H. Crawford, were the three persons who had received the highest number of votes; and that the remaining duties in the choice of a President now devolved on the House of Representatives. He further declared, that John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, having received 182 votes, was duly elected Vice President of the United States, to serve four years from the 4th of March next. The members of the Senate then retired.

The Speaker directed the roll of the House to be called by States, and the members of the respective delegations to take their seats in the order in which the States should be called, beginning at the right hand of the Speaker. The delegations took their seats accordingly. Ballot-boxes were distributed to each delegation, by the Sergeant-at-arms, and the Speaker directed that the balloting should proceed. The ballots having all been deposited in the boxes, Tellers were named by the respective delegations, being one from each State, who took their seats at two tables.

Mr. Webster of Massachusetts was appointed by those Tellers who sat at one table, and Mr. Randolph