“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.