The Senate ratification of the nomination of Clay (March 7,
1825) foreshadowed the alliance of southern interests with those of
Pennsylvania; [Footnote: Adams, Memoirs, VI., 525, VII., 69.] but
only fourteen votes, including that of Jackson, were mustered
against him, while among the twenty-seven who ratified the
nomination was Van Buren. By the opening of the nineteenth Congress,
in December, 1825, however, the situation might well have convinced
Adams of the need of caution. Taylor, the administration candidate
for speaker, was elected by a majority of only five against his
opponents' combined vote, and, in the Senate, Calhoun appointed
committees unfriendly to the president.
Nevertheless, in his first annual message [Footnote: Richardson,
Messages and Papers, II., 299.] Adams challenged his critics by
avowing the boldest doctrines of loose construction. The tide of
sentiment in favor of internal improvements was so strong [Footnote:
Jefferson, Writings (Ford's ed.), X., 348.] that, to insure its
complete success, it would have been necessary only for the
executive to cease to interpose the checks which Monroe had placed
upon this movement.
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