Part 32 (2/2)

[Sidenote: The House chooses Adams.]

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 Was.h.i.+ngton 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.”

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 a.s.sert 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 s.h.i.+pping.

[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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.sed.

[Sidenote: Agitation for more protection, 1828.]

[Sidenote: Scheme of the Jackson men.]

[Sidenote: Tariff of 1828.]

291. The Tariff of Abominations, 1828.--In 1828 another presidential election was to be held. The manufacturers thought that this would be a good time to ask for even higher protective duties, because the politicians would not dare to oppose the pa.s.sage of the law for fear of losing votes. The Jackson men hit upon a plan by which they would seem to favor higher duties while at the same time they were really opposing them. They therefore proposed high duties on manufactured goods. This would please the Northern manufacturers. They proposed high duties on raw materials. This would please the Western producers. But they thought that the manufacturers would oppose the final pa.s.sage of the bill because the high duties on raw materials would injure them very much. The bill would fail to pa.s.s, and this would please the Southern cotton growers. It was a very shrewd little plan.

But it did not work. The manufacturers thought that it would be well at all events to have the high duties on manufactured goods--perhaps they might before long secure the repeal of the duties on raw materials. The Northern members of Congress voted for the bill, and it pa.s.sed.

[Sidenote: Election of 1828.]

[Sidenote: Jackson elected President. _McMaster_, 301.]

292. Jackson elected President, 1828.--In the midst of all this discouragement as to foreign affairs and this contest over the tariff, the presidential campaign of 1828 was held. Adams and Jackson were the only two candidates. Jackson was elected by a large majority of electoral votes. But Adams received only one vote less than he had received in 1824. The contest was very close in the two large states of Pennsylvania and New York. Had a few thousand more voters in those states cast their votes for Adams, the electoral votes of those states would have been given to him, and he would have been elected. It was fortunate that Jackson was chosen. For a great contest between the states and the national government was coming on. It was well that a man of Jackson's commanding strength and great popularity should be at the head of the government.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

CHAPTER 25

---- 260-262.--_a_. Explain by a map the American plan of campaign and show its advantages and disadvantages.

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