15/33 Mr.Adams had no alternative, therefore, but to accept the office, agreeably to the terms of the constitution. Had either of his competitors been elected by the House of Representatives, they would have been, as he was, a minority President. Jackson received fifteen more electoral votes than Mr.Adams, yet it is believed that in the primary assemblies the latter obtained a greater number of the actual votes of the people than the former. Jackson had a plurality in the nominal returns from the electoral colleges, the question is, whether he had a plurality in the popular votes of the States. |