WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1824~1825
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not a majority of the votes in the Electoral College. Nor had he a majority of the members of the House of Representatives, but only a majority of the States.. As our Government is, in all other respects, a representative Republic where the 'voice of the people governs, there must be a manifest defect of the Constitution in relation to the election of a President. During the present Con- gress, various resolutions have been submitted to the House of Representatives proposing amendment, but none have yet been adopted. That there is need for amendment of the Constitution we can not doubt, when we advert to the facts in the last election. One candidate had a decided preference in eleven out of twenty- four States by the peop!e; yet, when the power passed from their hands and devolved on the House of Representatives, the voice of the people was not, in many instances, regarded by their repre- sentatives, but their individual inclinations were, for some cause or other, pursued without reference to the will of their con- stituents. The individual who was manifestly the choice of the majority of the people·• was not elevated to that distinguished situation for which his qualifications so preeminently fitted him, and to which the important services he had rendered to his country so richly entitled him. Another was chosen by the House of Repre- sentatives who had in his favor less expressions of national con- fidence, as manifested in the Electoral College. This is a subject of serious consideration for the citizens of the United States, and it will be for them to say, on some subsequent occasion, whether their voices shall be heard and their rights respected, or whether they will tamely yield those inestimable rights to the unhallowed dictation of politicians, who may choose to barter them for their own individual aggrandizement, or otherwise dispose of them contrary to the known will of their constituents." 1 Niles Register, May 28, 1825. William Carey Crane, The Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston, 179-181. These sources are identical, but both are mere extracts; the circular from which they were taken has not been found. :?Henry Clay (April 12, 1777-June 29, 1852), lawyer, politician, statesman, was born in Hanover County, Virginia, but rendered most of his life service for Kentucky. He died at Washington, D.C., but his body was carried to his Kentucky home for burial. See the Dictionary of American Biography, IV, 173-179. 3 Namely, John Quincy Adams. ·1 Andrew Jackson.
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