Perleys Reminiscences, v. 1-2 | Page 4

of the Senate--John
Slidell, of Louisiana--Senator Douglas Opposes the
Administration--Ben Wade's Bon Mot--Meeting of the House--Election
of Speaker--Investigation of the Wolcott Attempts at Bribery--Debates
on the Admission of Kansas--Nocturnal Row in the House--The North
Victorious.
CHAPTER XLIV.
POLITICIANS, AUTHORS, AND HUMORISTS. Wade, of
Ohio--Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi--Johnson, of Arkansas --Anthony,
of Rhode Island--Trollope, of England--One of Mike Walsh's

Jokes--Albert Pike's Wake--The Sons of Malta.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS [omitted]
LIST OF AUTOGRAPHS
ANDREW JACKSON JOHN QUINCY ADAMS WILLIAM HARRIS
CRAWFORD EDWARD EVERETT HENRY CLAY JOHN
CALDWELL CALHOUN SILAS WRIGHT, JR. DANIEL WEBSTER
THOMAS HART BENTON RICHARD MENTOR JOHNSON
ALEXANDER HAMILTON STEPHENS ANDREW STEVENSON
WILLIAM RUFUS KING MARTIN VAN BUREN TRISTRAM
BURGESS WILLIAM LEARNED MARCY THOMAS CORWIN
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON THOMAS EWING FRANKLIN
PIERCE RUFUS CHOATE FELIX GRUNDY CALEB CUSHING
STEPHEN ARNOLD DOUGLAS JAMES KNOX POLK HENRY
STUART FOOTE ZACHARY TAYLOR ROBERT CHARLES
WINTHROP WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD MILLARD FILLMORE
ROBERT JAMES WALKER JEFFERSON DAVIS JOHN JORDAN
CRITTENDEN THADDEUS STEVENS JOHN TYLER LEWIS
CASS GEORGE WASHINGTON ABBOTT LAWRENCE
NATHANIEL PRENTISS BANKS WINFIELD SCOTT JOHN
BUCHANAN FLOYD PETER FORCE HOWELL COBB GEORGE
BANCROFT
PERLEY'S REMINISCENCES.
VOL. I.
CHAPTER I.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS BECOMES PRESIDENT.
John Quincy Adams was elected President of the United States by the
House of Representatives on February 9th, 1825. At the tenth popular
election for President, during the previous autumn, there had been four
candidates: Andrew Jackson, then a Senator from Tennessee, who
received ninety-nine electoral votes; John Quincy Adams, of

Massachusetts, then Secretary of State under President Monroe, who
received eighty-four electoral votes; William H. Crawford, of Georgia,
then Secretary of the Treasury, who received forty-one electoral votes,
and Henry Clay, of Kentucky, then Speaker of the House of
Representatives, who received thirty-seven electoral votes--in all two
hundred and sixty-one electoral votes. As neither candidate had
received the requisite majority of one hundred and thirty-one electoral
votes, the election of a President devolved upon the House of
Representatives, in which body each State would have one vote. As the
Constitution required that the choice of the House be confined to the
three highest candidates on the list of those voted for by the electors,
and as Mr. Clay was not one of the three, he was excluded. Exercising,
as he did, great control over his supporters, it was within his power to
transfer their strength to either Adams or Jackson, thus deciding the
election. The Legislature of his State, Kentucky, had to a certain degree
instructed him, by passing a joint resolution declaring its preference for
Jackson over Adams, and Jackson always believed that had he accepted
overtures made to him, for the promise of the Department of State to
Mr. Clay, that would have insured his election.
Mr. Clay decided, however, to request his friends to support Mr.
Adams. To one of them he wrote: "Mr. Adams, you well know, I
should never have selected if at liberty to draw from the whole mass of
our citizens for a President. But there is no danger of his election now
or in time to come. Not so of his competitor, of whom I cannot believe
that killing two thousand five hundred Englishmen at New Orleans
qualifies for the various, difficult, and complicated duties of the Chief
Magistracy." Many believed, however, that a bargain was made
between Adams and Clay by which the latter received, as a
consideration for transferring to the former the votes of Kentucky, Ohio,
and Missouri, the position of Secretary of State. The charge was
distinctly made by Mr. George Kremer, a Representative from
Pennsylvania, and as positively denied by Mr. Clay. General Jackson
wrote to Major Lewis: "So, you see, the Judas of the West has closed
the contract and will receive the thirty pieces of silver. His end will be
the same. Was there ever witnessed such a barefaced corruption in any
country before?"

When the Senate and the House of Representatives met in joint
convention to count the electoral votes it was found (as every one
present had known for months) that no one had received the requisite
majority. This was formally announced by Vice-President Daniel D.
Tompkins, who also declared that John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina,
had been elected Vice-President. The Senate, headed by the Vice-
President and its Secretary, Charles Cutts, then retired, and the House
proceeded to ballot for President.
The election was by States. Each State delegation appointed one of
their number to act as chairman, collect their votes, and report the result.
Whoever in each delegation received the most votes was reported as the
choice of that delegation to the tellers--one from each State--who sat in
parties of twelve at two tables. Daniel Webster, the teller of
Massachusetts, was appointed by the tellers at one of the tables to
announce the result of the ballot, and John Randolph, the teller