] It was the new counties of New York, particularly those
of the western and northeastern frontier, which were the stronghold
of the reform movement in that state. The abolition of the council
of appointments and the council of revision by the New York
convention contributed to the transfer of power to the people. But
under the leadership of Van Buren a group of politicians, dubbed
"The Albany Regency," controlled the political machinery as
effectively as before. [Footnote: McMaster, United States, V., 373-
432; ibid., Rights of Man, 61; MacDonald, Jacksonian Democracy (Am.
Nation, XV.), chap. iv.]
The campaign for the presidency of 1824 may be said to have begun as
early as 1816. [Footnote: Adams, Memoirs, V., 89.] Adams observed in
1818 that the government was assuming daily the character of cabal,
"and preparation, not for the next Presidential election, but for
the one after"; [Footnote: Ibid., IV., 193.] and by 1820, when the
political sea appeared so placid, and parties had apparently
dissolved, bitter factional fights between the friends of the rival
candidates constituted the really significant indications of
American politics.
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