At the term's start in December, he found the chamber in debate over the impending presidential election of 1824. The congressional nominating caucus, an early system for choosing presidential candidates, was still used despite its growing unpopularity. Tyler tried to convince the lower house to endorse the caucus system and choose William H. Crawford as the Democratic-Republican candidate. Crawford captured the legislature's support, but Tyler's proposal was defeated. Secretary of State Daniel Webster sent word to Tyler of Harrison's illness on April 1; two days later, Richmond attorney James Lyons wrote with the news that the president had taken a turn for the worse, remarking that 'I shall not be surprised to hear by tomorrow's mail that Gen'l Harrison is no more.' Historian Edward P. Crapol later wrote that 'Prior to the Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln', the Princeton disaster 'unquestionably was the most severe and debilitating tragedy ever to confront a President of the United States'.
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