clear winner of the 1824 election. The outcome was assured when
Henry Clay, one of the front-runners, threw his support to Mr.
Adams so that Andrew Jackson's candidacy would fail. General
Jackson had polled more popular votes in the election, but he did
not gain enough electoral votes to win outright. The oath of
office was administered by Chief Justice John Marshall inside the
Hall of the House of Representatives.

***

In compliance with an usage coeval with the existence of our
Federal Constitution, and sanctioned by the example of my
predecessors in the career upon which I am about to enter, I
appear, my fellow-citizens, in your presence and in that of Heaven
to bind myself by the solemnities of religious obligation to the
faithful performance of the duties allotted to me in the station
to which I have been called.

In unfolding to my countrymen the principles by which I shall be
governed in the fulfillment of those duties my first resort will
be to that Constitution which I shall swear to the best of my
ability to preserve, protect, and defend. That revered instrument
enumerates the powers and prescribes the duties of the Executive
Magistrate, and in its first words declares the purposes to which
these and the whole action of the Government instituted by it
should be invariably and sacredly devoted--to form a more perfect
union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide
for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure
the blessings of liberty to the people of this Union in their
successive generations. Since the adoption of this social compact