ELECTION #10. 1824. The NASTY-METER jumps to 6.

QUOTE from John Quincy Adams: "Every liar and columniator was at work day and night to destroy my reputation."

CHANGE CAME TO AMERICA IN THE 1824 ELECTION.

1. Residents of the new western states of Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, and Illinois wanted the people to be more involved in choosing the presidential candidates instead of having the nominee picked by a bunch of Congressional elitists from Virginia and other east coast states. As a result, for the first time, 18 of the 24 states in 1824 let the people vote on who they wanted their presidential candidate to be. This meant that the electors would no longer be chosen by the state legislatures. It is the same system we have today - when we vote for president we are actually voting for electors. Most electors today are chosen by their political party at state conventions.

2. Our democracy was improving but we had a long way to go. People were finally getting some say in who the presidential candidates would be (I should amend that and say "some people.") Women and slaves could not vote so the only people getting to vote were white-skinned men.


ELECTION #10, 1824. The CANDIDATES.

Their were four CANDIDATES and they were all from the Democratic-Republican Party. The Federalists were no longer a viable political party.

ANDREW JACKSON. Jackson was born to poor Irish immigrants on a hard scrabble farm in the boondocks of South Carolina. He was a true "backwoods" candidate which made him very popular in the newer western states. He became a successful lawyer, politician, and general; and had become a national hero by defeating the British in the battle for New Orleans in 1815. He was tall, handsome and ruthless.

JOHN QHINCY ADAMS. Adams was the son of our second president. He was very bright and had had a remarkable career. Up to this time he was our best scretary of state. But he was short, bald, and had a tough time relating to people.

HENRY CLAY. He was a native Kentuckian and a brilliant Speaker of the House, a great compromiser and an ardent partiot. He liked to gamble and was known to hold card games that lasted until all hours.

WILLIAM CRAWFORD. Crawford was a former U.S. Senator, minister to France, secretary of war and secretay of treasury. He was the dream candidate of the establishment Republicans in Congress. They did hold their caucus to pick a candidate and they unanimously chose Crawford. He was good-looking affable, and gregarious - a perfect candidate. But he suffered a stroke before the election that left him paralyzed and nearly blind - that was the straw that broke the camels back for Crawford.

The CAMPAIGN in 1824.

It was NASTY.
Adams was accused of selling future patronage appointments in return for votes. The mud slingers even made fun of the way he dressed - he was not an elegant dresser.

Clay was called a drunkard.

Jackson was accused of murder for having executed mutineers in 1813. Henry Clay said Jackson was a rash and boneheaded military thug for killing 2,500 English soldiers in New Orleans.

Crawford - he still ran even though he was paralyzed- he was accused of malfeasance as treasury secretary.

One politician noted that, "If all these charges were true, our presidents, secretaries, and senators are all traitors and pirates."

The WINNER was John Quincy Adams.

The voting of the electors took place in December - it was a horse race.

Jackson had the most electoral votes with 99 and the most popular votes in the first ever popular vote election with 153,544.

Adams had 84 electoral votes and 108,740 popular votes.

Crawford had 41 electoral votes and 46,618 popular votes.

Clay had 37 electoral votes and 47,136 popular votes.

Nobody had a majority. There were 261 total electoral votes and 131 were needed to become president. With no one having a majority this meant it had to go to the House of Representatives. Each state got one vote. The voting was scheduled for February 9, 1825. The candidates tried to line up support among the congressmen in each state.

Adams was declared the president when 13 states went for him. Jackson got 7 states and Crawford got 4. The reason Adams got 13 states is that Henry Clay pulled out and gave his 3 states of Ohio, Missouri, and Kentucky to Adams. Adams was accused of promising a cabinet position to Clay if he dropped out and gave his 3 states to him. This was known as the "Corrupt Bargain". Adams denied that he ever made a deal.

Jackson's supporters were angry because he had gotten the most popular votes in the first ever popular election and he also got the most electoral votes. They insisted he should be president even if the constitution disagreed. The constitution won out.

AND TO TOP OFF THIS NASTY ELECTION öf 1824 JACKSON HAD SOME FINAL WORDS FOR ADAMS AND CLAY. When Adams announced after the election that Henry Clay would be his secretary of state Jackson made this statement: "So you see, the Judas of the West (Clay) has closed the contract and will receive the thirty pieces of silver. His end will be the same. Was there ever witnessed such a bare-faced corruption in any country before?