Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-09-23

! features of each of the presidential
campaigns from 1924 to 1920. This
series of articles will be valuable to
everybody interested in the present
campaign for president, and will con-
tain much interesting historical in
formation Of the kind usually over
looked in the histories-the incidents
and the stories of the campaign. TAX
en- as a whole, this series will form
a complete history of the quadren-
NAL struggles of the American people
| to choose a president. Cut them out
| and paste them in your scrap book.)
| w WASHINGTON, Sept. 1S.--When
| M the citizens of Blount coun-
| w ty, Tennessee, held a mass
meeting at Maryville early in
| the year 1923 they little thought that
methods of choosing a president Of
| the United States; that they were to
be- responsible for the beginning of
political party organizations in this
| the first step in the movement which
succeeded in obtaining. recognition Of
the fact that a man has a right to
aspire to the office of president,
whether trained or unframed in
statecraft. These vitality important
|
| the Blount county mass meeting be-
| came issues in the campaign of 1924
and caused that contest to be the first
in which the American nation select
| ed president according to the gen.
| eral methods still obtaining.
| This Blount county mass meeting
| started all the trouble. 1t refused TO
| be bound by the then recognized rules
| that a president must be selected
| from among those schooled in state
| craft and experienced in adminiStra-
| ton. Every president up to that time
| had been man directly connected
with the separation from England
| and formation of the republic under
| the constitution. Each president had
| been either vice president or cab
| met officer in the administration pre-
| ceding his selection. The people had
| practically nothing to say in the mat
! ter of choosing electors and such a
| thing as popular interest in pres1-
| Dental campaign was unknown. Fur
! thermore, with the exception of the
| four years of John Adams admins
! tration, the head Of the government
| had been a Virginian and q repre-
| sentative of an exclusive clique which
set much store by knowledge and Gull
ture, however democratic they may
| have been in their theories Of gov
eminent.
The Four Candidates
The idea of the succession to the
presidency was firmly fixed in the
minds of the politicians. 1t happen
ed that four candidates appeared on
the horizon. They were John Quincy
Adams, of Massachusetts, secretary
of state; William H. Crawford, of
Georgia, secretary of the treasury;
John c.. Calhoun, of South Carolina,
| secretary of war, and Henry cay OF
Kentucky, speaker of the house of
representatives. So it appeared that
the country was safe, whatever the
outcome, for every one or the asplr.s
ants was a trained statesman OF
prominence in the administration.
Then this Blount county mass
| meet meeting appeared on the scene.
1t pow-wowed awhile one first Mon
day." and then adopted a resolution
| formally nominating for president OF
the United States, Andrew jackson,
| of Tennessee. Thus orlginateu WA t!,1,,
would be known in twentieth century
political nomenclature as the Ten
nessee Idea" Andrew jackson had
| been a great soldier. Everybody rec
! ognized that fact and everybody
praised him for the strategy of The
of the Battle Of New Orleans But
| he had little or no experience IN
statecraft, Notwithstanding snort
service in both houses of congress
| The conservatives all over tne coun-
try held up their hands in holy nor.
| ro1 and cried out: This man Is NOT
! fit to be president. He is undlgn1neq::
He can't speak French. He d0esn
know the classics. He wouldn't Know
| how to act at a dinner party he 10
| unspeakable. -
For a time the three members OF
| Monroe's cabinet and the speaker
| of the house who were running TOT
| president declined to pay muGn az
| tention to the Jackson canoloacy,
which was REGARDED as a JOKE n'harea,
| there was only one party. The old
FederaI party organization had dis
ap ep and Monroe had received
vote IT. 1 HHt one The II th6
party had everything. it's own way.
King Caucus Canned
The Tennessee idea was crystall1z-
ed in a set of resolutions passed py
| the state legislature, and sent to the
legislatures of other states for ap-,
provaI, denouncing king Caucus"
Presidential nomination. had been
| dictated by the congressional caucus,
coming unpopular. The Tennessee
Idea spread. and with its spread
stronger. The Hero of New Orleans
appealed to the popular mind, even
| if he was unpopular with the states
| men.
his last stand, only Sc Of the 2o1
members of congress attending the
meeting which solemnly declared
William H. Crawford. secretary OF
the treasury, to be the regular
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS nominee Tor
president ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
was the official name Of the. party,
although either name was used popu-
larly. The old conservative organi-
cation made a firm stand for Craw-
ford. He had the support of Thomas
Jefferson. the founder of the party.
of President Monroe, and Of all the
ultra-conservative forces. But Jack
sons strength began to be anparent
and some Of the practical politicians
of the East were not slow to recos-
nize the fact A Jackson conven-
ton was held at Harrisburg, Penn
sylvania, which adopted resolution
denouncing the scheme of succession
Ger. George A. Dallas was then
boss in Pennsylvania and he handed
the state over to Jackson. Where
upon Calhoun. whose main strength
had been in Pennsylvania, withdrew
from the race and was accented b"
everybody as candidate for vice
president.
Jackson was hailed as the "Pec
nle's Candidate on the one side and
denounced as an audacious and pre-
surnptuous ignoramus on the other
There were then "a states In the
Union. In 10 of these, presidential
electors were chosen by ponular vote
now universally prevailing. In
seven, the electors were voted on bv
districts And in the other seven
the electors were chisen by the leg
is1atures and the people had no vote
for president at all. These states
Louisiana. South Carolina. Vernon