88 
Indiana University 
ly declined, and the Jackson sentiment was very much in evi- 
dence, especially with the then new relief partyJ®^ 
The issues in Kentucky were between relief and anti-relief 
parties relative to the laws already noted, and particularly as 
to whether the judg:es of the court of appeals should be sus- 
tained in their decisions or be forced to resign or be expelled. 
General Joseph Desha, who had an honorable record as an 
officer in the War of 1812 and who had been defeated as 
candidate for governor in 1820, was the candidate of the 
relief party and made a vigorous, spirited campaign. The 
anti-relief candidate was Judge Christopher Tompkins, a good 
man but not nearly as well known as Desha. Besides pres- 
idential electors and governor, a House of Representatives 
and one-fourth of the Senate were to be chosen; also the 
legislature that was to be chosen that year would elect a 
United States senator. The campaign of 1824 was a typical, 
exciting, pioneer one with plenty of fighting and riots. Desha 
won by a vote of 38,378 to 22,499 for Tompkins. General Rob- 
ert McAfee was chosen lieutenant-governor.^®^ The relief party 
also sent a good majority to each house of the legislature.^®^ 
The economic situation was still far from good. The total 
valuation of the property in Kentucky in 1824 was $123,885,- 
118, on which the tax collected for that year was but $77,- 
425.^®® The treasury was threatened with embarrassment, 
taxable property was to be valued in the depreciated Bank 
of the Commonwealth notes, property to be sold under execu- 
tion by court order was to be valued in specie, and there was 
heavy emigration from the state to Illinois and Missouri.^®® 
This situation presented hard problems, and statesmanship of 
the highest order was needed to free Kentucky from its 
largely self-inflicted misery. But it was too soon to expect 
the fog of discord to be dissipated by the light of calm reason. 
McElroy, Kentucky in the Nation's History, 389-394 ; Collins, History of Kentucky, 
I, 31. The “new-court” party had, before adjournment of the legislature in January, 1825, 
recommended to members of Congress from Kentucky that they vote for Jackson in the 
contest for president in the House of Representatives. See also National Intelligencer, 
January 28, 1825. 
Niles' Register, XXVII, 16 ; Collins, History of Kentucky, I, 31. 
House Journal of Kentucky, 1824, 437 ; Kerr (ed.). History of Kentucky, 629, 630. 
Niles' Register, XXXI, 130. 
Collins, History of Kentucky, I, 25. 
