Even by his best biographers Jackson has often been described as illiterate, and for that reason the attempt has been made to make these letters as nearly exact copies of the originals as it is possible to secure with type. Every error of grammar, spelling, and the use of capitals has been faithfully copied, and even his peculiar punctuation is given. The proofs have been carefully compared with the original letters, to make sure that the proof-reader or compositor had not taken it upon himself to correct apparent errors. The reader will therefore be able to judge for himself just how illiterate Old Hickory really was. Of the thirty-four presidential elections that have been held under the Constitution only three have been in doubt when the Electoral Colleges have voted: those of 1800, 1824, and 1876. The second of these was from a variety of reasons the most interesting. It was the second time the election had been thrown into the House of Representatives; but in 1800 Jefferson and Burr had received a large majority of the electoral votes, and only because they had received the same number was Congress required to decide which should be the President. In the election of 1824, four candidates received electoral votes and no one had a majority of all. By the provision of the Constitution it became the duty of the House of Representatives to choose a President from the three who had received the highest number of electoral votes. Jackson had ninety-nine votes, Adams had eighty-four, Crawford forty-one, and Clay thirty-seven. Clay who was Speaker of the House of Representatives was out of the race, but on account of his position had a con trolling influence on the result.