| John Quincy Adams. |
First of all, there was John Quincy Adams, the Secretary of State, the "knight without fear and without reproach," blunt, grim, almost rude, through an unconscious suspicion that politeness might encourage the approach of temptation; now fifty-seven years old, and trained in statecraft and diplomacy almost from childhood; the best equipped statesman and the most experienced statesman that America had up to that time produced; ready to serve his country in any honorable capacity to which that country might freely call him, and just as ready to withdraw from that service when his country indicated the desire to dispense with him; puritanic, austere, and to the last degree patriotic, his one qualification for the presidential office was the capacity to discharge its duties wisely, honestly, and loyally, a qualification which too rarely wins in popular elections.
| DeWitt Clinton. |
Then, there was DeWitt Clinton, noble in personal appearance, dignified in manners, eloquent in debate, sagacious and far-sighted in business, a lover of science and a scientist himself; the great promoter of the Erie Canal, which was now on the point of completion, and which was destined to revolutionize the commerce of the country; still only fifty-five years of age, although he had been considered more than twenty years before as the most promising man of the nation, and had within that period been United States Senator, mayor of New York City, candidate for the presidency against Mr. Madison, and twice Governor of New York.
| William H. Crawford. |
Then, there was William H. Crawford, a Virginian by birth and a Georgian by education; a man of large wealth and of imposing bearing; enjoying a very great reputation for statesmanship without any easily discoverable foundation therefor; now fifty-two years of age, and having already been United States Senator, Minister to France, Secretary of War, and Secretary of the Treasury, which latter office he still held; with the exception, perhaps, of Martin Van Buren, the most astute politician among the great men of his time. He had the political friendship and support of Van Buren. The two seem to have been attracted to each other by the similarity of their methods. He was the author of the law of 1820, limiting the term of the officials of the Treasury to four years, the first step in the direction of making the United States civil service a political machine, such as Van Buren and his fellows in the "Regency" had made out of the civil service of the Commonwealth of New York. It is not astonishing that he, rather than any of the other aspirants for the presidency, procured the assembling of a caucus of the members of Congress, and secured a nomination from it, thus making himself the "regular" candidate. Not a third of the members, however, appeared at the caucus, and the nomination did him more harm than good.