the 21st Congress. Jennings continued to promote internal infrastructure improvements throughout his term in Congress. He introduced legislation to build more forts in the northwest, to grant federal funding for improvement projects in Indiana and Ohio, and led the debate in support of using federal funds to build the nations longest canal, Wabash and Erie Canal, through Indiana. He introduced a legislative amendment that made a provision to locate and survey the National Road to the west, toward the Mississippi River, so the people living in Indiana and Illinois would have some assurance that the road's large federal appropriation would benefit them directly. Jennings helped secure appropriation of funds to survey the Wabash River and make it more accessible to year-round steamboat travel. In his reelection as the Second District congressman, Jennings supported tariff protection and internal improvements and vowed to support the presidential candidate that his constituents preferred if the election went to the House to decide the winner. Jennings won reelection to Congress in a close race, beating Jeremiah Sullivan of Madison. In the presidential election of 1824 American political parties organized around three candidates: Andrew Jackson running against John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay. Jennings favored Adams, and later, Clay; however, when the contested presidential election passed to the House in 1825, Jennings voted with the majority and gave his political support to Jackson, but he was defeated in the House and Adams became president. Indiana voters who supported Jackson hoped for a victory in the next election. Jennings, seeking to advance his political career, ran for the Senate twice, but was defeated in both attempts. In 1825 he was a senate candidate at a time when the Indiana General Assembly elected the state's senators to Congress. On the first ballot Isaac Blackford came in first, the incumbent governor, William Hendricks, came in second, and Jennings was third. On the fourth ballot Hendricks won the senate seat. In his second attempt Jennings lost to James Noble. Jennings's wife died in 1826 after a protected illness; the couple had no children. Jennings was deeply saddened by her loss and began to drink liquor more heavily. Later that year he married Clarissa Barbee, but his drinking condition only worsened and he was frequently inebriated. While serving in Congress, Jennings's health continued to decline as he struggled with alcohol addiction and suffered from severe rheumatism. In 1827 ceiling plaster from