[929] This was true in most of the States at that period.
[930] This method of electing public officials was continued until the Civil War. (See John S. Wise's description of a congressional election in Virginia in 1855; Wise: The End of An Era, 55-56. And see Professor Schouler's treatment of this subject in his "Evolution of the American Voter"; Amer. Hist. Rev., ii, 665-74.)
[931] This account of election day in the Marshall-Clopton contest is from Munford, 208-10. For another fairly accurate but mild description of a congressional election in Virginia at this period, see Mary Johnston's novel, Lewis Rand, chap. iv.
[932] Henry, ii, 598.
[933] Randall, ii, 495.
[934] Washington to Marshall, May 5, 1799; Writings: Ford, xiv, 180.
[935] As a matter of fact, they were not far wrong. Marshall almost certainly would have been made Secretary of State if Washington had believed that he would accept the portfolio. (See supra, 147.) The assertion that the place actually had been offered to Marshall seems to have been the only error in this campaign story.
[936] Marshall to Washington, May 1, 1799; Writings: Ford, xiv, footnote to 180-81; also Flanders, ii, 389.
[937] Washington to Marshall, May 5, 1799; Writings: Ford, xiv, 180.
[938] Marshall to Washington, May 16, 1799; Washington MSS., Lib. Cong.