At the beginning of November, Jackson, accompanied by his wife and traveling in a handsome coach drawn by four of the finest Hermitage thoroughbreds, set out for Washington.  Hostile scribblers lost no time in contrasting this display of grandeur with the republican simplicity of Jefferson, who rode from Monticello to the capital on the back of a plantation nag without pedigree.  But Jackson was not perturbed.  At various points on the road he received returns from the elections, and when after four or five weeks the equipage drew up in the capital Jackson knew the general result.  Calhoun had been elected vice president with little opposition.  But no one of the presidential candidates had obtained an electoral majority, and the task of choosing among the highest three would, under the terms of the Constitution, devolve upon the House of Representatives.  When, by the middle of December, the returns were all in, it was found that Jackson would have 99 votes in the electoral college, Adams 84, Crawford 41, and Clay 37.

The country awaited the 9th of February—­the day of the official count—­with great interest.  Clay was, of course, eliminated.  Crawford likewise, by reason of his poor showing and the precarious state of his health, could not expect to do more than hold his own.  The contest had narrowed to Jackson and Adams, with Clay holding the balance.  There were twenty-four States in the Union; the successful candidate must command the votes of thirteen.

The choice that Clay now had to make was distasteful, although not really difficult.  Jackson had obtained a substantial plurality of the electoral votes; he probably had a plurality of the popular vote, although in the six States in which the electors were chosen by the Legislature the popular vote could not be computed; the Legislature of Clay’s own State called upon the Congressmen from the State to give the Tenneseean its support.  But Clay had felt very bitterly about the candidacy of “this military chieftain.”  Furthermore, he knew that if Jackson were to be elected, the country would not be disposed to take his successor from the West.  Besides, Calhoun had put himself in line for the Jacksonian succession.  On the other hand, Clay was not without grievances against Adams.  The New Englander had captured the coveted Secretaryship of State in Monroe’s Cabinet; he had taken no pains to conceal his dislike of the Kentucky “gamester in politics”; his foreign policy had been the target of many of Clay’s keenest oratorical thrusts.  But the country would be safe in his hands; and a popular westerner might well hope to become his successor.  The decision in favor of Adams was reached with little delay and was confided to intimates almost two months before the House balloted.  Though Clay’s choice did not insure the election of Adams, it made that outcome extremely probable.