288.  Adams chosen President, 1824.—­The election was held.  The presidential electors met in their several states and cast their votes for President and Vice-President.  The ballots were brought to Washington and were counted.  No candidate for the presidency had received a majority of all the votes cast.  Jackson had more votes than any other candidate, next came Adams, then Crawford, and last of all Clay.  The House of Representatives, voting by states, must choose one of the first three President.  Clay, therefore, was out of the race.  Clay and his friends believed in the same things that Adams and his friends believed in, and had slight sympathy with the views of Jackson or of Crawford.  So they joined the Adams men and chose Adams President.  The Jackson men were furious.  They declared that the Representatives had defeated the “will of the people.”

[Illustration:  JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.]

[Sidenote:  Adams appoints Clay Secretary of State.]

[Sidenote:  Charges of a bargain.]

[Sidenote:  Weakness of Adams’s administration.]

289.  Misfortunes of Adams’s Administration.—­Adams’s first mistake was the appointment of Clay as Secretary of State.  It was a mistake, because it gave the Jackson men a chance to assert that there had been a “deal” between Adams and Clay.  They called Clay the “Judas of the West.”  They said that the “will of the people” had been defeated by a “corrupt bargain.”  These charges were repeated over and over again until many people really began to think that there must be some reason for them.  The Jackson men also most unjustly accused Adams of stealing the nation’s money.  The British government seized the opportunity of Adams’s weak administration to close the West India ports to American shipping.

[Sidenote:  Early tariff laws.]

[Sidenote:  The tariff of 1816.]

[Sidenote:  Tariff of 1824.]

290.  Early Tariffs.—­Ever since 1789 manufactures had been protected (p. 155).  The first tariff rates were very low.  But the Embargo Act, the non-intercourse law, and the War of 1812 put an end to the importation of foreign goods.  Capitalists invested large amounts of money in cotton mills, woolen mills, and iron mills.  With the return of peace in 1815, British merchants flooded the American markets with cheap goods (p. 220).  The manufacturers appealed to Congress for more protection, and Congress promptly passed a new tariff act (1816).  This increased the duties over the earlier laws.  But it did not give the manufacturers all the protection that they desired.  In 1824 another law was drawn up.  It raised the duties still higher.  The Southerners opposed the passage of this last law.  For they clearly saw that protection did them no good.  But the Northerners and the Westerners were heartily in favor of the increased duties, and the law was passed.

[Sidenote:  Agitation for more protection, 1828.]

[Sidenote:  Scheme of the Jackson men.]