of President during
the term. Mr. Adams had no alternative, therefore, but to accept the
office, agreeably to the terms of the constitution. Had either of his
competitors been elected by the House of Representatives, they would have
been, as he was, a minority President. Notwithstanding Gen. Jackson
received fifteen more electoral votes than Mr. Adams, yet it is believed
that in the primary assemblies the latter obtained a greater number of the
actual votes of the people than the former.

"Although Gen. Jackson had a plurality in the nominal returns from the
electoral colleges, the question is, whether he had a plurality in the
popular votes of the States. In North Carolina, the Crawford men had a
great plurality over either of the Jackson and Adams sections; but the two
latter joining their forces, gave the electoral vote of the State, it
being fifteen, to Gen. Jackson. Deduct this from Gen. Jackson's
plurality--as it should be, if the principle of plurality is to
govern--and it leaves him eighty-four, the same as the vote of Mr. Adams.
But Mr. Adams had a great plurality of the popular vote of New York, and
on this principle should be credited the entire thirty-six votes of that
State, whereas, he received only twenty-six. This adjustment would carry
Mr. Adams up to ninety-four, and leave Gen. Jackson with eighty-four.
Besides, the popular majorities for Mr. Adams in the six New England
States were greatly in excess of the Jackson majorities in the eight
States which gave their vote for him; which largely augments Mr. Adams'
aggregate plurality in the Union over Gen. Jackson's. Then deduct the
constitutional allowance for the slave vote in the slave States, as given
by their masters. It will not be pretended that this is a popular vote,
though constitutional. Gen. Jackson obtained fifty-five electoral votes,
more than half his entire vote, and Mr. Adams only six from slave States.
It will therefore be seen, that on the principle of a popular plurality,
carried out, and carried through, (it ought not to stop for the advantage
of one party,) Mr. Adams, in the election of 1824, was FAR AHEAD of Gen.
Jackson." [Footnote: Colton's Life and Times of Henry Clay.]

On the 4th of March, 1825, John Quincy Adams was inaugurated as President
of the United States, and took the executive chair, which had been entered
twenty-eight years before by his venerated father. The declaration of that
father in reference to the son, when a l