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number in 1808; and that in 1824, 1828, and 1832, also, the vote of the State was divided. This was a very peculiar case. For while in several States the system of elections by districts prevailed a long time, it was in vogue in 1824, in Maine, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Tennessee, and other States, there was rarely a division of the votes. Yet Maryland, having by her district system given only eighteen effective votes altogether at the five elections 1796-1812, both inclusive, clung to it for twenty years longer.

IX.

THE FOURTH VIRGINIA PRESIDENT.

THE first election of Mr. Monroe possesses but little interest, and the second one still less. But his administration is noteworthy for a movement, at one time quite promising, to amend the Constitution in respect to the manner of choosing the President. The matter of rendering a President ineligible for a second term, sometimes coupled with a proposition to extend the term to six years, and sometimes independent of it, was also much urged at this time, as it has been frequently since. It is mentioned here as a matter of record only, for it does not come within the scope of this book.

The war of 1812, and the peace of 1814, which became known in the country in February, 1815, virtually destroyed the Federalist party. Not to enter upon any discussion of the Hartford Convention, it was certainly deemed unpatriotic by a very large majority of the people; and, as the Federalist leaders in New England had been active agents in it, as well as bitter opponents of the war, the party fell into discredit, became a hopeless minority, and then was extinct, except in the Northern States. It still controlled Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, and Maryland, and occasionally New Hampshire and Rhode Island; but in the South and West it had no organization whatever. The ascendancy of the Republican party was assured; the prospect that the Federalists would exert any influence in national politics was gone forever.

At this distance of time, remembering only the almost

"nopposed election and second election of Mr. Monroe, we are apt to think of him as the natural and easy choice of the people. As a matter of fact he was not a great favorite with Republican politicians. He was first nominated by a narrow majority. A meeting was called by an anonymous notice, dated March 10, 1816, inviting Republican senators and members of Congress to meet in the Representatives' Hall, on the 12th, "to take into con sideration the propriety of nominating persons as candidates for President and Vice-President of the United States." Fifty-eight members attended this meeting, by which it was resolved to call a caucus for the 16th of the month, in the hope of a large attendance. Out of 141 Republican members, 118 attended the second caucus. The number was doubtless larger than it would have been, if there had not been a fear that the intrigues going on at the time in favor of Mr. Crawford might possibly succeed. The popular wish was for Mr. Monroe, beyond all question, but among the politicians the advocates. of Crawford were numerous and active. Their exertions caused not a little anxiety; but the "National Intelligencer," while admitting by implication the chance that strategem might gain a preliminary victory, said, that, "If ever doubted, the public opinion has been recently so decidedly expressed as to leave little doubt that the prominent candidate will, in the end, unite the suffrage of the whole Republican party."

Notwithstanding the inducements to attend the caucus, there were twenty-four Republican absentees, of whom fifteen were known to be opposed to the caucus system of nomination. Immediately after an organization of the meeting was effected, Mr. Clay moved a resolution that it is inexpedient to present candidates. This motion was rejected-it is not recorded by what majority. But the

fact that it was made by Mr. Clay in 1816, eight years before the grand revolt against the caucus, is enough to exonerate him from the charge of having opposed it in 1824 because he knew that he could not be nominated. The vote for a candidate for President was taken, and resulted in the selection of Mr. Monroe, by the narrow margin of eleven majority. Monroe had 65; Crawford, 54. The strength of the Crawford movement was chiefly in New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Kentucky, and his own State of Georgia, which five States gave him forty of his fifty-four votes. A ballot for a candidate for Vice-President gave Governor Daniel D. Tompkins of New York 85 votes, and he was nominated.

These proceedings startled everybody, not so much because of what had been done, for that the people were ready to approve, but because the members who had assumed the right to make nominations had come near making recommendations which would not have been accepted. Numerous meetings were held in various parts of the country to protest against the caucus system, the most noteworthy of which, perhaps, was held in Baltimore, in which meeting Roger B. Taney, afterward Chief Justice, took a most prominent part.

The nomination being made, the presidential election was practically decided. There was no canvass, worthy of the name. In New England, the Federalists still had partial control, but it was already slipping away from them. It is a remarkable fact that all the electoral votes cast against Mr. Monroe were given by electors who owed their appointments to State legislatures; for on this occasion, Massachusetts, which had given the people the privilege of appointment from the first election of Washington, repealed the law, and the legislature appointed all the electors. In Connecticut and Delaware the legisla

tures had exercised the right of appointment from the first, and continued to do so on this occasion.

The number of States whose votes were counted at this election was nineteen. Indiana, which had adopted a constitution in June, 1816, was admitted to the Union December 11, of that year. The question whether or not its electoral votes should be counted gave interest to the joint meeting of the two Houses of Congress in February, 1817. The table of electoral votes was as follows: