Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1893-02-01
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES.
rhe Age. at Which some Noted Msu Havf
made the kace-


In speaking of the peculiarities OF
.he men who have secured or sought
.he presidential nomination, writer
Ia the Chicago News says:
Many of those who were candidates
or were prominently mentioned in
connection with the presidency and
TWO or three who served as president
lied in poverty. Stephen A. Doug
las, after his brilliant career, was
practically penniless when he died.
although had he lived a few years
some land which he owned in the
then suburbs of Chicago would have
brought him a fair sum. James
Monroe died in almost absolute pow
erty in New York City. John Tyler
was poor man after he left the
presidency Daniel Webster did not
have much property, except the estate
st MarshfieId, and Henry Clay's place,
ca led Ashland, was about all he left
to his heirs. Jetferson's struggles
with poverty furnish the saddest cpl
sode Of his career and John G. Breck-
inridge struggled hard in his practice
ct the bar to support his family.
A change in the disposition OF con-
! NentiOns respecting the age of candi-
dates has been noticed. Formerly
the tendeZcy was to select men who
were well on in years. Jackson and
Buchanan and William Henry Harri-
son were old men when they were
elected to the presidency. The aver
age age up to 1850 of candidates and
presidents when elected was about 90
years. With the war era, however,
tne tendency to choose younger men
began to be very marked.
Stephen A. Douglas was only Al
when he was nominated. Fremont
was nominated when only 43, but was
the first candidate of new party.
John G. Breckinridge was barely 10
years OF age when he was nominated
in 1860 and he had scarcely passed
the constitutional limit when he was
nominated and elected vice president
in 1855. Gray hairs have not been
the rule with candidates, whether
defeated or elected, since 1860. Nc
Clellan, who was the youngest candi-
date ever nominated for the presi-
dency and who was OF most youthful
appearance, was associated with an-
other young man, George II. Pendle-
ton, who was only AZ years Of age,
while Mcclellan was 80. Grant was
only 40 when he was first elected,
Garfield was 48, and Cleveland Al.
In the earlier DAYS 1t would have
been esteemed rash thing to think
of choosing a president who had not
passed so years, although Henry Clay
was only i6 when he was first a candi'
date, and Alexander Hamilton might
have been a candidate had he per-
mitted it soon after he passed his
35th year; for, although Hamilton
was of foreign birth, yet the Constitu.
tion provided that persons who were
of foreign birth at the time Of the
adoption of the Constitution might
be eligible for the presidency, and il
has always been thought that this
clause was put in for the possible
benefit of Hamilton. Blaine was
only A when he made his exciting
race for the presidential nomination
the first time and but 4S when he
and Grant tested strength for many
days before the Chicago convention
of 1880.
1t will be seen, then, from these
few Illustrations that the tendency
of conventions is to make an uneX.
pected nomination, and also that
men Of great wealth, or even fair
fortunes, are not likely to be put in
nomination, and, moreover, that in
this day of activity conventions are
likely to look for men who have
scarcely entered their prime.