USA > New York > History of the state of New York, political and governmental, Vol. II 1822-1864 > Part 4
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"That we have sought in vain for any palliating circumstances to mitigate this most glaring outrage, and that we can only regard it as the offspring of that malignant and insatiable spirit of political pro- scription which has already so deeply stained the annals of our State;
"That the perpetrators of this act of violence and ingratitude are utterly unworthy of public confidence and justly deserve the reproba- tion of an injured and insulted community ;
"That for the boldness with which he planned, the patriotic devo- tion with which he undertook, and the high and commanding talents and unremitted ardor with which he has successfully prosecuted a scheme of internal improvement surpassing in magnitude all that had ever been conceived on this side of the Atlantic, and no less useful than it is grand, this distinguished citizen is entitled to the admiration, gratitude, and applause of his country, and especially of the State of New York."
A numerous and distinguished committee was ap- pointed to express to Clinton on behalf of the meeting its sentiment of appreciation and gratitude. A similar meeting was held in New York as soon as the news of Clinton's removal reached that city, like resolutions were adopted, and a committee headed by Thomas Addis Emmet was sent to wait on Clinton at Albany and convey to him suitable expressions of sentiment. In other places throughout the State even more forci- ble declarations were made, and some members of the Legislature narrowly escaped violence. General Tall-
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madge was hissed and hooted as he went from the Capitol to his hotel, and a throng of wrathful citizens invaded the hotel and their shouts of denunciation penetrated to the room in which, stricken with remorse and terror, he had locked himself for safety.
The Regency-or Van Buren-had achieved the aim of defeating Tallmadge's candidacy. That was sure. But it was equally sure that in his place a far more formidable candidate had been brought into the field. Everywhere men were saying that Clinton must be the next Governor of New York. That would be the only adequate atonement for the monstrous wrong that had been done him; that would be the only way of vindicating the honor of the State; that would be the only way of recording the popular detestation of the crime of his removal; that would be the only way of thwarting the despotic designs of the Regency -or of Van Buren. Clinton himself did not discour- age the movement. He exulted in it and felt assured of its success. He also spoke and wrote to his friends with characteristic vigor concerning his foes in the People's party. James Tallmadge, he declared, could hardly get a vote in his own county, which was prob- ably true; adding that he was "the prince of scoun- drels," if Henry Wheaton did not exceed him. Of Wheaton he again wrote, "There is but one opinion, that he is a pitiful scoundrel."
Then came another sensation, from another quarter. We have seen that Governor Yates bitterly resented being incontinently dropped by the masters whom he had served. He realized that he had made a great
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mistake in not strongly recommending a new Electoral law, and he conceived the notion that if he gave the Legislature another chance to enact one he might regain popular favor. If not, he might at least throw Colonel Young's candidacy into confusion. When it was intimated that he might call the Legislature together in special session for such a purpose the Regency laughed the idea to scorn. The convening of the Legislature in special session was a serious mat- ter, for which Governor Yates was thought not to have sufficient courage.
But the Regency was mistaken. Governor Yates did have the courage to do the thing, and thus, while not recouping his own political fortunes, he made much trouble for his foes. On June 2 he issued a procla- mation calling the Legislature to meet on August 2 to take action upon the method of choosing Presidential Electors. He adroitly represented that at the time of his former message he had reason to expect that Con- gress would take action toward a constitutional amend- ment dealing with the matter, but Congress had ad- journed without doing so. At the last regular session, he continued, the Assembly had almost unanimously passed a bill giving to the people the right to choose Electors, but the Senate had postponed it to a date too late to permit the right to be exercised that year. The people were justly alarmed lest their "undoubted right" of choosing the Electors should be withheld from them. Therefore he called the extraordinary session in order to give an opportunity for putting into effect the will of the people.
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The special session met on August 2, with nearly every member present. The Governor sent in a mes- sage elaborately discussing the need of a new Electoral law to give the choice of Electors to the people. He added that if the Legislature had time to give to other matters it might well take some action to guard steam- boat traffic from the common peril of exploding boilers, and also to assure a suitable reception and entertain- ment of Lafayette, who was about to visit the United States. Before the message was read the Senate, under the direction of the Regency, adopted a resolution cen- suring the Governor for calling the special session. The Assembly waited until the message had been read, and then, on motion of Azariah C. Flagg, declared that the calling of the session was unnecessary and unwarranted by the Constitution and that the transaction of legis- lative business would "sanction a precedent of danger- ous tendency," and, subject to the concurrence of the Senate, moved for immediate adjournment. During the protracted and acrimonious debate that followed, a resolution was passed declaring that an Electoral law ought to be passed, but no step was taken toward passing such a law. After four days of controversy, on August 6 the Legislature adjourned to the first Monday in November without having performed a single legis- lative act.
So far as the Governor had aimed at rehabilitating himself, the session was a failure. It brought renewed and increased criticism and ridicule upon him, and con- vinced him that he had reached his political end. But so far as he aimed at injuring Colonel Young's candi-
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dacy for the Governorship, it largely succeeded. Pos- sibly also it helped General Tallmadge a little. It gave him an opportunity for some effective oratory in the Assembly, of which art he was a master, and encouraged him and his friends to undertake a canvass of the State to secure support for him in the Utica convention.
The Regency "stood pat" on the nomination of Colonel Young. The People's party, led by General Tallmadge, Henry Wheaton, and others, conducted a campaign against Clinton and strove to push Tallmadge to the fore in spite of the popular odium that had fallen upon him. Clinton and his friends, including especially his secretary, Charles G. Haines, meanwhile worked straight for Clinton's nomination, confident of success. So matters moved along until the time set for the Utica convention. When that body met, with 122 members, it was found that just about one-fourth of them be- longed to the People's party and favored the nomination of General Tallmadge. The venerable John Tayler was chosen chairman; Alexander Coffin, of Hudson, was vice-chairman; and Samuel Stevens, of Washing- ton county, was secretary.
Finding themselves in a minority and despairing of the nomination of General Tallmadge, the People's party men tried to put forward John W. Taylor, of Saratoga, who had been Speaker of the national House of Representatives and was regarded as a friend of Clinton. But a letter was read from Mr. Taylor posi- tively refusing to accept the nomination. This left the opposition to Clinton without a candidate and in a state of demoralization. The result was that on the second
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day of the convention, September 22, 1824, DeWitt Clinton was nominated for the Governorship and Gen- eral Tallmadge for the Lieutenant-Governorship. The convention adopted a resolution condemning the Legis- lative caucuses for nomination of candidates for Gov- ernor and demanding the election of Justices of the Peace by the people.
This result was so unacceptable to the People's party men that they bolted the convention, under the lead of the vice-chairman, Alexander Coffin, and organized a rump convention of their own. But they found them- selves in an impossible plight so far as making nomina- tions was concerned. They were fully committed against both Colonel Young and DeWitt Clinton, and their own candidate, General Tallmadge, had accepted the second place on Clinton's ticket. There was no other candidate worth mentioning, so they named none. Instead, they protested against the candidacy of Clin- ton and pledged themselves to vote for General Tall- madge for Lieutenant-Governor. This action probably aided Clinton more than it injured him, since it dis- pelled the notion, which the Regency sought to prop- agate, that there was a secret compact between him and the People's party.
As if to add to the wonders and blunders of this unique campaign, Colonel Young next made a des- perate bid for the support of those Democrats who favored a new Electoral law and who were opposed to the nomination of Crawford for the Presidency. Before the Utica convention he had written a letter to Edward Hudson, an Assemblyman from Madison county, de-
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claring himself in favor of a new law and in favor also of the nomination of Henry Clay. Three or four days after the Utica convention he again wrote to the same effect to Jesse Clark, a Senator from Seneca county. These letters were widely published throughout the State but utterly failed of the effect which Colonel Young desired and expected. They did not free him from the imputation of being the candidate of the Regency, which he of course was, and of being in the last analysis ready to do its bidding. On the other hand, they subjected him to the suspicion, in many minds, of being a trimmer and lacking in sincerity. The net result was seriously to damage his canvass.
The campaign was one of the most animated in the history of the State and was conducted with extraordi- nary ability, so far as public speaking was concerned, by the two rivals. Colonel Young was one of the most effective orators of his day, possessed of scholarship, dramatic power, irresistible humor, cutting sarcasm, and the supreme quality known as personal magnetism, which unfailingly won the attention, interest, and sym- pathy of his audience. In the gifts of the orator he was far superior to Clinton. But Clinton had the unrivalled authority of long experience in constructive statesman- ship, unsurpassed amplitude of knowledge, irrefra- gable logic, and, through his gigantic achievements as a canal-builder, "the arduous greatness of things done." This last consideration appealed with supreme force to the people of the State and was naturally strengthened by the conviction that he had been made the victim of a wanton outrage, the unrebuked success of which would
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probably establish it as a precedent and encourage its perpetrators to repeat the performance whenever par- tisan ends were thus to be served.
It was a duel of giants, the outcome of which, had it depended solely upon the two candidates, might have been doubtful. But Young was handicapped by his backers, the Regency at Albany and Tammany Hall in New York, two of the most adroit, formidable, and generally successful political organizations in the his- tory of the State, both of which had at this time, how- ever, incurred the suspicion and resentment of a large proportion of the electorate. Clinton, on the other hand, was backed by the people without regard to party. He had indeed no party behind him, for the Utica con- vention made no pretense of partisanship of any kind. Above all he stood for popular choice of candidates and against nominations by Legislative caucus, and had himself been nominated by the first truly popular State convention ever held in New York, while his rival had been named by a Legislative caucus, the last such that ever was held.
The result was seen weeks in advance, though not in its full proportions. A fortnight before the election Young himself, as also the Regency and Van Buren, realized that he was beaten, though there was no thought of the magnitude of Clinton's victory. The vote stood : Clinton, 103,452; Young, 87,093-a major- ity for Clinton of 16,359. The influence of the People's party in supporting Tallmadge but not Clinton was seen in the fact that Tallmadge, for Lieutenant-Gov- ernor, ran far ahead of Clinton and secured a majority
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of 32,409 over the gifted and popular Erastus Root, the Regency candidate. Nor was the Regency beaten only for the two leading offices. Two years before every Senatorial district in the State had been carried by Regency candidates. But now the Regency carried only two of the eight, the Second and Sixth, the other six being won by candidates favorable to Clinton. Of the seventeen Senators who had done the bidding of Van Buren in postponing consideration of the Electoral law, only one, Byram Greene of the Seventh district, had ventured to seek reëlection, and he was beaten by more than ten to one-it being whimsically said of his successful opponent, John C. Spencer, that he "had got a bigger majority than if he had run alone." In the Assembly the result was no less decisive, the Regency securing scarcely a third of the members. It was one of the most impressive and emphatic political revolutions in the history of the State, and perhaps the one of all in which the issues were simplest, most clearly defined, and most generally understood.
We must not, however, overlook the progress of the Presidential campaign, with which the State politics of New York had been from the first so inextricably inter- woven. DeWitt Clinton himself had cherished Presi- dential aspirations, as we have hitherto seen, and in 1824 had by no means abandoned them; though he held them in abeyance, probably until he could complete the Erie canal and then resume his candidacy strength- ened with the prestige of that tremendous achievement. Meantime he stood practically alone among leading New Yorkers in advocating the nomination of Andrew
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Jackson. That was not because of personal friendship or political association, for he and Jackson had never met and had exchanged no correspondence. The two men were drawn together by similarity of disposition and by sympathy. Both were proud, yet democratic; both were iron-willed; both possessed tremendous ex- ecutive ability and driving force in effecting great achievements; both were indifferent to popular favor; neither would compromise a principle or alter an opinion for the sake of votes. That they should admire each other above all other contemporaries was natural.
Clinton appears to have been confident of Jackson's success. He thus repeatedly expressed himself during the spring and summer of 1824, long before he himself secured the nomination for Governor. And in his ad- vocacy of Jackson he indulged in unsparing condemna- tion of all his rivals. Those who in later years have had occasion-as they have only too often-to deplore the license of the press in reviling political opponents, will do well to recall the diatribes and lampoons which a century ago statesmen of the highest rank personally directed against each other. The spiteful Vivien, in the Wood of Broceliande, never raged against the Knights of the Round Table more venomously than did DeWitt Clinton against all who opposed his idol, Jackson. In Clinton's own letters to Henry Post, and in the authori- tative writings of the venerable John Bigelow, are re- called expressions which savor of a Gutter Gazette rather than of exalted statesmanship. Thus, John Quincy Adams was the son of a "scamp" and was him- self "an apostate, and everything but amiable and hon-
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est." On the other hand, Adams's chief foe, Crawford, was "as hardened a ruffian as Burr." John C. Calhoun, whom he already perceived to be Jackson's arch-enemy, was "treacherous, hollow-headed, and base, a thorough- paced political blackleg." Tantaene animis coelestibus irae?
It was amid the prevalence of such passions that the Legislature reassembled on November 2 for its third meeting, with the special purpose of choosing Presi- dential Electors after a national campaign so closely contested that a few votes in the College might turn the scale. This was, of course, the old Legislature, with the seventeen Regency Senators still in their seats ready to vote for Crawford Electors at the bidding of Van Buren. In fact, that was precisely what they did; the Crawford Electors received seventeen votes in the Sen- ate, and the Adams Electors and Clay Electors seven each.
No message was delivered by the Governor at the meeting of the Legislature. The usual party caucus was called, of the Bucktail members of both houses, to nominate an Electoral ticket. Erastus Root was the chairman and directed the Clerk in calling the roll to omit the names of all who had participated in calling the Utica convention. An appeal was made against this order, and Mr. Root refused to submit the appeal to the vote of the caucus. The result was that after a stormy session the caucus adjourned without any action. It was not until November 10 that the Crawford ticket was nominated, as already related, by the Senate. But to hold two wavering Senators in line it was found neces-
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sary to include in the ticket six men who were favorable to Clay and would vote for him if thus he could be named.
In the Assembly there was more confusion. No one candidate had a majority, and indecisive ballots were taken while leaders strove to effect combinations and compromises. On the first ballot Adams Electors re- ceived fifty votes, Crawford forty-three, and Clay thir- ty-two. Then the Adams and Clay men negotiated for union of some sort against Crawford. It was generally conceded that there would be no choice of President by the Electoral College, but that the election would be thrown into the House of Representatives, and the struggle therefore was to secure for each candidate enough Electoral votes to place him among the highest three, who alone could be considered by the House. It was reckoned that Jackson and Adams were sure of get- ting before the House, and the chief fight was for Clay to beat Crawford and also to get in as the third candi- date. To assure that, Clay needed seven Electoral votes from New York.
Thurlow Weed, the young journalist who was rising into prominence and power as one of the ablest political managers in the State, and who was the leader of the Adams forces outside the Legislature, conducted nego- tiations to the effect that the friends of Clay in the As- sembly should vote for thirty Adams Electors and that the Adams men in return should vote for six Clay Elec- tors-the same six who had been put on the Crawford ticket in the Senate. The Adams men also agreed, in case Clay carried Louisiana and thus needed only seven
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votes from New York to get him before the House, that they would see to it that he got the seven. Clay, how- ever, failed to carry Louisiana, and the Adams men were thus released from their promise. Another com- plication arose when it was discovered that three of the Adams men had been bribed by a wealthy New Yorker to vote for Crawford. Henry Wheaton and Thurlow Weed confronted them with charges and evidence of their guilt, threatened them with exposure, and com- pelled them to promise to vote for Adams and Clay. But others also were corruptly influenced, so that upon joint ballot of the two houses only thirty-two out of the thirty-six Electors were chosen, and on the next ballot four Crawford men were elected. This was fatal to Clay, for it excluded him from competition in the House of Representatives and let Crawford in instead to contest the election with Adams and Jackson.
The joint balloting was attended with a most dra- matic incident. Thurlow Weed and the others had kept the compact between the Adams and Clay men for a fusion ticket a profound secret, Weed personally print- ing the ballots which were to be distributed among the Senators and Assemblymen just before they were to be cast. When the balloting was completed and the votes were to be counted the Lieutenant-Governor, Erastus Root, who presided, on opening the first fusion ballot exclaimed in astonishment that here was a printed split ticket. Some of the Regency Senators cried "Treason !" and there was a movement to break up the joint session and for the Senators to return to their own chamber. But General Tallmadge in a fiery speech demanded
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that the two houses continue in the performance of their constitutional duty, as they did.
The Electoral vote of New York was, in consequence of these transactions, divided among four candidates, as follows: Adams, 26; Crawford, 5; Clay, 4; and Jack- son, 1. In the nation Jackson received a plurality though not a majority of the popular vote, but no candi- date secured a majority of the Electoral College for the Presidency, though Calhoun was elected Vice-President by more than two-thirds of all the Electoral votes. The Electoral votes were counted by Congress on February 9, 1825. Jackson had 99, Adams 84, Crawford 41, and Clay 37. Thereupon the House of Representatives proceeded to choose the President from among the highest three, Jackson, Adams, and Crawford. The voting was by States, each State having one vote, de- termined by the majority of its Representatives. Of the New York Representatives 18 were for Adams, 14 for Crawford, and 2 for Jackson; and the vote of the State was consequently cast for Adams. The final out- come was the election of Adams by thirteen States, to seven for Jackson and four for Crawford. Of the indi- vidual Representatives 87 were for Adams, 71 for Jack- son, and 54 for Crawford.
There is reason to believe that still other devious and corrupt influences than those above referred to were at work in the New York contest. At the preceding regular session of the Legislature several new banks had been chartered, among them the famous Chemical Bank of New York. In this November session charges were made that some of those charters had been pro-
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cured by corrupt means, and investigation showed that there was only too much ground for the accusation. At least one Senator was found to have said that he would vote for Crawford only on condition that a certain bank charter was granted.
The outcome of all this belongs to the history of the United States rather than to that of New York, yet it also pertains to that of New York for the reason that it was left for a single New York Representative in Congress to determine, in the last analysis, who should be President. The election was thrown into the House of Representatives, Adams, Crawford, and Jackson being the candidates. The vote was by States, each State casting one vote, and was determined as to each State by the majority of its Representatives. The one State in doubt was New York. Of its thirty-four Representatives, seventeen, or just one-half, favored Adams, sixteen favored other candidates, and one was non-committal. That one was Stephen Van Rensselaer, the "last of the patroons." He was a man of eminent public services as legislator, Lieutenant-Governor, soldier, and educator. In the year 1824 he founded the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, while at the same time he was serving his first term in Con- gress. He was a brother-in-law of Alexander Hamil- ton, and of course an old Federalist. But he shared Hamilton's antipathy to John Adams and, with many other Federalists, resented the action of John Quincy Adams in going over to the Democracy. As a close friend of DeWitt Clinton he might have been sup- posed to favor Clinton's candidate, Jackson. Strongly
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opposed to Van Buren, he was assumed to be against Crawford.
Down to the last moment his course in the election was known to nobody in the world but himself. We may be confident also that it was dictated by nobody but himself and was decided upon on grounds of the highest patriotism, conscientiousness, and honor. Day and night he was besieged by men of all parties with pleadings and petitions and with questions as to his pur- pose. To all he was as incommunicable as the Sphinx. But the day came at last. It was February 9, 1825. The hall of the House of Representatives was crowded. Every member was there save one who was too ill to be present. Governors of States, Justices of the Supreme Court, Ministers from foreign lands, and other distinguished spectators thronged the gallery and the aisles. The most quiet and apparently uncon- cerned man in the whole assemblage was Stephen Van Rensselaer as he walked calmly to his place in the New York delegation. The Speaker announced that since no candidate had received a majority of the Electoral votes the House must proceed to elect a President of the United States from among the three leading candidates. The Clerk called the roll of States and the vote of each State, inscribed upon a bal- lot, was deposited in a box. When all votes had been cast the tellers, Daniel Webster and John Randolph of Roanoke, proceeded to count the ballots. There were twenty-four States. Only four voted for Craw- ford; seven voted for Jackson; and thirteen, a clear majority of all, voted for Adams.
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