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.