ELECTION #11, 1828. The NASTY-METER goes to 9/10..

QUOTE from Andrew Jackson: "There are no necessay evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses."

Before I write about the election of 1828 I want to add two interesting bits of early American history.

The first one is from the 1800 election. In that election Republican Thomas Jefferson defeated Federalist John Adams. After that election, a Federalist writer decided that his party's defeat could be blamed on the MEDIA, which (in his opinion) clearly favored the Republican Party.

(Does that sound familiar or does that sound familiar? The MEDIA was a scapegoat/whipping boy then and it still is today. Some things never change, do they?)

The second bit of trivia is good for a laugh and should make women who are reading this proud for how the lady in the story stood up for herself and got her way. This story is from the John Quincy Adams presidency.
John Quincy liked to rise before dawn and do some exercising. Sometimes he walked or rode, and sometimes he went down to the Potomac River for a swim. The only thing is he liked to take off his clothes and swim in the nude. On one occasion, female reporter Anne Royal followed him and sat on his clothes, refusing to move until he agreed to an interview. She got the interview and became the first woman to interview a president, a naked one at that.

Now it's time to get to the ELECTION of 1828.

(I haven't written anything for two weeks. Ruth Ann and I went to Denmark to see our son.)

The campaign for the 1828 presidency began immediately after John Quincy Adams was elected president in 1824. Jackson was angry and he was not a guy you wanted to piss off. Jackson was convinced the "corrupt bargain" Adams entered into with Henry Clay had given the presidency to Adams. The Tennessee delegation eagerly nominated Jackson for president as early as 1825. Jackson resigned his Senate seat and started campaigning.

Adam's presidency was a disaster, one biographer said, "It was a hapless failure and best forgotten." In fairness to Adams he had to endure constant criticism from Jackson and even his own vice-president, John C. Calhoun. He came to feel he was surrounded by "conspirators," including a spiteful opposition in Congress.

With so much strife the Democratic-Republican Party split in to two factions. The old-line Republicans, the wealthy merchants and the landed aristocracy stayed with Adams. Those supporting Jackson were the western small farmers and the eastern laboring group. They first called themselves "Friends of Andrew Jackson," then "Democratic-Republicans," and finally just "Democrats." It is the same Democratic Party we have today.

The CANDIDATES.

ANDREW JACKSON - age 61 - Democratic-Republican. Jackson was driven by a belief that the presidency was stolen from him in 1824, as well as a sincere, life-long desire to wrest power from the privileged and place it in the hands of the people.Jackson envisioned himself as a president for the common man.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS - age 61 - National-Republican.
It was possible Adams was running for president just for the sheer stubborn pride of it, because the previous four years had been no picnic. John Quincy was the first president to be threatened by an assassin. In those days any citizen could walk into the White House to see the president. We have to give him credit for meeting with the guy and giving him a stern lecture.

The CAMPAIGN.

It was as NASTY and MALICIOUS as it could get. The campaign began in September of 1827, when both candidates were nominated by a series of special state nominating conventions and mass meetings. (There were still no national nominating comventions as of 1828.)

Jackson's supporters attacked bigtime.
They spread rumors about Adam's foreign wife (Louisa was from England.)
Adams was accused of putting gambling furniture in the White House when he bought (with his own money) a billiard table and ivory chessmen.
They called Adams a monarchist and anti-religious because he traveled on Sundays.
He was smeared for his association with Secretary of State Henry Clay (remember the "Corrupt Bargain). One reporter referred to Clay as "a shyster, pettifagging in a bastard suit before a country squire (Adams).

The National Republicans (Adams supporters) went after Jackson in a big way also.
They claimed Jackson was a dictator, blood thirsty, and merciless.
They claimed Jackson couldn't spell (he supposedly spelled Europe as Urope.)
They published a pamphlet about Jackson's younger days, describing all of his fights, duels, brawls, and shoot-outs.
And the pamphlet described Jackson as an adulterer, a gambler, a cockfighter, a slave trader, a drundard, a thief, a liar, and the husband of a really fat wife. (There's not much left, is there?)
In 1791 Jackson married Rachel Robards whom he thought was divorced from Jason, her abusive husband. But the divorce papers were not finalized, so Jackson and Rachel remarried in 1794 just to make everything legal. Because of this history the National Republicans went after her also. They called her a "whore" and a "dirty, black wench" who was given to "open and notorious lewdness." The Cincinnatti Gazette asked, "Ought a convicted adulteress and her paramous husband be placed in the highest office of this free and Christian land?"
Rachel took these attacks personally and with excess weight and other health problems, she died of a heart attack in December of 1828. Jackson grieved profoundly and at her funeral he said, "In the presence of this dear saint I can and do forgive all my enemies. But the vile wretches who have slandered Rachel must look to God for mercy.(They weren't going to get any mercy from Jackson.)

The WINNER was ANDREW JACKSON

In different states from September to November voting took place. Jackson got 642,553 votes to 500,897 for Adams. Electoral votes were Jackson with 178 and Adams with 83. At the inauguration in March, 1829, huge crowds of common people came from hundreds of miles to view this historic day. His supporters surged into the White Housem wiped their feet on delicate rugs, broke antique chairs, and ate and drank everything in sight. Thousands of dollars worth of glass and China were broken, fights broke out, and women feared for their virues. In the end, the exhausted Jackson sneaked out a back door of the White House and went to a local inn to get some sleep.

(As nasty as some of our campaigns have been in the 20th and 21st century I don't think any of them have been as bad as the 1828 one was. At least they haven't been as vicious in a personal way. I guess we have made a little progress in civility in our campaigns.)