Election of 1824

All you want to know about Election of 1824


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United States presidential election, 1824
October 26 - December 1, 1824

Nominee	John Quincy Adams	Andrew Jackson
Party	Democratic-Republican	Democratic-Republican
Home state	Massachusetts	Tennessee
Running mate	John C. Calhoun, Andrew Jackson, Nathan Sanford, Henry Clay	John C. Calhoun, Nathan Sanford
Electoral vote	84	99
States carried	13 (after vote in House)	7 (after vote in House)
Popular vote	113,122	151,271
Percentage	30.9%	41.3%

Nominee	William H. Crawford	Henry Clay
Party	Democratic-Republican	Democratic-Republican
Home state	Georgia	Kentucky
Running mate	Nathaniel Macon, Martin Van Buren, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, Nathan Sanford, Andrew Jackson	Nathan Sanford, John C. Calhoun, Andrew Jackson
Electoral vote	41	37
States carried	4 (after vote in House)	N/A
Popular vote	40,856	47,531
Percentage	11.2%	13.0%
Presidential election results map. Green denotes states won by Jackson, Pink denotes those won by Adams, Blue denotes those won by Crawford, Orange denotes those won by Clay. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.
Incumbent President James Monroe Democratic-Republican President-Elect John Quincy Adams Democratic-Republican

In the United States presidential election of 1824, John Quincy Adams was elected President on February 9, 1825, after the election was decided by the House of Representatives. The previous few years had seen a one-party government in the United States, as the Federalist Party had dissolved, leaving only the Democratic-Republican Party. In this election, the Democratic-Republican Party splintered as four separate candidates sought the presidency. Such splintering had not yet led to formal party organization, but later the faction led by Andrew Jackson would evolve into the Democratic Party, while the factions led by John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay would become the National Republican Party and later the Whig Party.

This election is notable for being the only time since the passage of the Twelfth Amendment in which the presidential election was decided by the House of Representatives, as no candidate received a majority of the electoral vote. This presidential election was also the only one in which the candidate receiving the most electoral votes did not become president (because a majority, not just a plurality, is required to win). It is also often said to be the first election in which the president did not win the popular vote, although the popular vote was not measured nationwide. At that time, several states did not conduct a popular vote, allowing their state legislature to choose their electors.

1 General election
- 1.1 Campaign
- 1.2 Results
  - 1.2.1 Breakdown by ticket
2 1825 Contingent election
3 Electoral College selection
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links

General election

Campaign

The election was a contest among:

General Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, a charismatic hero of the War of 1812, a former United States Representative, and a then-current United States Senator from Tennessee.

John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, son of former President John Adams, former member of the Federalist Party, former United States Minister to Russia, one of the drafters of the Treaty of Ghent, former United States Senator from Massachusetts, and the then-current Secretary of State.

William H. Crawford of Georgia, former United States Minister to France, former United States Senator from Georgia, former Secretary of War, and the then-current Secretary of the Treasury.

Henry Clay of Kentucky, the “Great Compromiser,” and the then-current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.

In 1822, Jackson was nominated for president by the legislature of Tennessee; a convention of Pennsylvanian Democratic-Republicans nominated Jackson in 1824. The traditional Congressional caucus nominated Crawford for president and Albert Gallatin for vice president, but it was sparsely attended and was widely attacked as undemocratic. Gallatin later withdrew from the contest for the vice presidency. In 1823, Crawford suffered a stroke. Even though he recovered in 1824, this crippled his bid for the presidency. Also, John Quincy Adams had more support than Henry Clay because of the huge popularity he had among the old Federalist voters in New England; by now, the Adams family too had united with the Democratic-Republican Party.

The election was partially a contest of favorite sons as it was a conflict over policy (positions on tariffs and internal improvements was where some significant disagreement existed), as the candidates were backed by different sections of the country: Adams was strong in the Northeast, Jackson in the South, West and mid-Atlantic, Clay in parts of the West, and Crawford in parts of the East.

John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, current Secretary of War, was initially a fifth candidate in the early stages of consideration, but he opted instead to seek the vice presidency and backed Jackson after seeing the popularity of Crawford in the South. Both Adams' and Jackson's supporters backed Calhoun, giving him an easy majority of electoral votes to be elected vice president.

Campaigning for this presidential election occurred in many forms. Contrafacta, or well known songs and tunes which have been lyrically altered, was used to promote political agendas and presidential candidates. Below can be found a sound clip featuring "Hunters of Kentucky", a tune written by Samuel Woodsworth in 1815 under the title "The Unfortunate Miss Bailey". Contrafacta such as this one, which promoted Andrew Jackson as a national hero, have been a long standing tradition in presidential elections. Another form of campaigning during this election was through newsprint. Political cartoons and partisan writings were best circulated amongst the voting public through newspapers. Presidential candidate John C. Calhoun may have been one of the most directly involved candidates in this election though his participation in the newspaper The Patriot as a member of the editorial staff. This was a sure way to promote his own political agendas and campaign. Yet it was notably unusual in that most candidates involved in early 19th century elections did not run their own political campaigns. Instead it was left to volunteer citizens and partisans to speak on behalf of and promote the candidates. ^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

This political cartoon depicts the 1824 election as a foot race. The cartoon was released sometime toward the end of the election by David Johnston. The leader is John Quincy Adams, second place is William H. Crawford, third place is Andrew Jackson, and standing alone towards the back is Henry Clay. Henry Clay is in last because he had the least electoral votes. The cartoon is rich in detail, in comparison to most modern political cartoons. An example is the two men in the background saying, “The foremost fellow shows fine bottom’, while the other exclaims ‘Ay, but the hindmost has the best bone.” Source: ""A Foot Race": Explanatory notes by Daniel Peart". Retrieved on November 18, 2008.

	Hunters of Kentucky

	Jackson supporters used this Battle of New Orleans anthem as their campaign song.

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Results

Not surprisingly, the results of the election were divided and inconclusive. The electoral map confirmed the candidates’ sectional support, with Adams winning outright in the New England states, with Jackson having success in states throughout the nation, and with Clay’s votes coming from the west and Crawford’s from the east. Andrew Jackson received more electoral and popular votes than any other candidate, but not the 131 electoral votes to constitute a majority and win the election. This was, and remains still today, a historical result because it is the only time where so many candidates were strong enough in the contest to divide the electoral vote to such an extent that a candidate could receive the most electoral votes but not a majority. And since none of the four presidential candidates received a majority of the electoral vote, the presidential election was decided by the House of Representatives. (See “Contingent election” below.) Meanwhile, John C. Calhoun secured a total of 182 electoral votes in a generally uncompetitive race to win the vice presidency outright.

Presidential Candidate	Party	Home State	Popular Vote^(a)		Electoral Vote
Presidential Candidate	Party	Home State	Count	Percentage	Electoral Vote
Andrew Jackson	Democratic-Republican	Tennessee	151,271	41.3%	99
John Quincy Adams	Democratic-Republican	Massachusetts	113,122	30.9%	84
William Harris Crawford	Democratic-Republican	Georgia	40,856	11.2%	41
Henry Clay	Democratic-Republican	Kentucky	47,531	13.0%	37
(Massachusetts unpledged electors)	(n/a)	(n/a)	6,616	1.8%	0
Other			6,437	1.8%	0
Total			365,833	100.0%	261
Needed to win					131

Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. 1824 Presidential Election Results. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections (July 26, 2005). Source (Electoral Vote): Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996. Official website of the National Archives. (July 30, 2005).

^(a) The popular vote figures exclude Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, New York, South Carolina, and Vermont. In all of these states, the Electors were chosen by the state legislatures rather than by popular vote.

Vice Presidential Candidate	Party	State	Electoral Vote
John C. Calhoun	Democratic-Republican	South Carolina	182
Nathan Sanford	Democratic-Republican	New York	30
Nathaniel Macon	Democratic-Republican	North Carolina	24
Andrew Jackson	Democratic-Republican	Tennessee	13
Martin Van Buren	Democratic-Republican	New York	9
Henry Clay	Democratic-Republican	Kentucky	2
Total			260
Needed to win			131

Source: Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996. Official website of the National Archives. (July 30, 2005).

Breakdown by ticket

Presidential Candidate	Running Mate	Electoral Vote^(a)
Andrew Jackson	John C. Calhoun	98 .. 99
John Quincy Adams	John C. Calhoun	65 .. 74
William Harris Crawford	Nathaniel Macon	24
Henry Clay	Nathan Sanford	23 .. 27
John Quincy Adams	Andrew Jackson	9 .. 10
William Harris Crawford	Martin Van Buren	9
Henry Clay	John C. Calhoun	7 .. 11
Henry Clay	Andrew Jackson	3
William Harris Crawford	Henry Clay	1 .. 2
John Quincy Adams	(none)	1
John Quincy Adams	Nathan Sanford	0 .. 7
William Harris Crawford	John C. Calhoun	0 .. 7
William Harris Crawford	Nathan Sanford	0 .. 5
Andrew Jackson	Nathan Sanford	0 .. 1
John Quincy Adams	Henry Clay	0 .. 1
William Harris Crawford	Andrew Jackson	0 .. 1

^(a) Research has not yet been sufficient to determine the pairings of 21 electoral votes in Delaware, Maryland, and New York; therefore, the possible tickets are listed with the minimum and maximum possible number of electoral votes each.

1825 Contingent election

The voting by state in the House of Representatives

The presidential election was thrown to the U.S. House of Representatives. As per the Twelfth Amendment, only the top three candidates in the electoral vote were candidates in the House: Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and William Harris Crawford. Left out was Henry Clay, who happened to be Speaker of the House. Clay detested Jackson and had said of him, “I cannot believe that killing 2,500 Englishmen at New Orleans qualifies for the various, difficult, and complicated duties of the Chief Magistracy.”^[5] Moreover, Clay's American System was far closer to Adams' position on tariffs and internal improvements than Jackson's or Crawford's, so Clay threw his support to Adams, who had many more votes than Clay. John Quincy Adams was elected President on February 9, 1825, on the first ballot,^[6]^[7] with 13 states, followed by Jackson with 7 and Crawford with 4.

Adams' victory shocked Jackson, who, as the winner of a plurality of both the popular and electoral votes, expected to be elected president. Interestingly enough, not too long before the results of the House election, an anonymous statement appeared in a Philadelphia paper, called the Columbian Observer. The statement, said to be from a member of Congress, essentially accused Clay of selling Adams his support for the office of Secretary of State. No formal investigation was performed, so the matter was neither confirmed nor denied. When Clay was indeed offered the position after Adams was victorious, he opted to accept and continue to support the administration he voted for, knowing that declining the position would not have helped to dispel the rumors brought against him.^[8] By appointing Clay his Secretary of State, President Adams essentially declared him heir to the Presidency, as Adams and his three predecessors had all served as Secretary of State. Jackson and his followers accused Adams and Clay of striking a “corrupt bargain”. The Jacksonians would campaign on this claim for the next four years, ultimately attaining Jackson's victory in the Adams-Jackson rematch in 1828.

Electoral College selection

Method of choosing Electors	State(s)
Each Elector chosen by voters statewide	Alabama Connecticut Indiana Massachusetts Mississippi New Hampshire New Jersey North Carolina Ohio Pennsylvania Rhode Island Virginia
Each Elector appointed by state legislature	Delaware Georgia Louisiana New York South Carolina Vermont
State is divided into electoral districts, with one Elector chosen per district by the voters of that district	Illinois Kentucky Maryland Missouri Tennessee
Two Electors chosen by voters statewide One Elector chosen per Congressional district by the voters of that district	Maine

Notes

^ Hansen, Liane (Host). (2008, October 5). Songs Along The Campaign Trail [Radio series episode]. In Election 2008: On The Campaign Trail. National Public Radio.
^ Hay, Thomas R (1934, October). John C. Calhoun And The Presidential Campaign Of 1824, Some Unpublished Calhoun Letters. The American Historical Review, 40, No. 1, Retrieved October 27, 2008, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1838676
^ McNamara, R (2007, September). The Election Of 1824 Was Decided In The House Of Representatives. Retrieved October 27, 2008, from About. Com Web site: http://history1800s.about.com/od/leaders/a/electionof1824.htm
^ Schimler, Stuart (2002, February 12). Singing To The Oval Office: A Written History Of The Political Campaign Song. Retrieved October 28, 2008, from President Elect Articles Web site: http://www.presidentelect.org/art_schimler_singing.html
^ Henry Clay to Francis Preston Blair, January 29, 1825.
^ Adams, John Quincy; Adams, Charles Francis (1874). Memoirs of John Quincy Adams: Comprising Portions of His Diary from 1795 to 1848, J.B. Lippincott & Co.. pp.501–505. ISBN 0-8369-5021-6, http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0836950216&id=KPQrq0LBvbYC&pg=PA501. Retrieved on 2 August 2006.
^ United States Congress (1825). House Journal. pp.219–222, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DOCID+@lit(hj01849)). Retrieved on 2 August 2006.
^ Schlesinger, Arthur Meier; Israel, Fred L. (1971). History of American presidential elections, 1789-1968, Volume I, 1789-1844. New York: Chelsea House. pp.379-381. ISBN 070797862, http://books.google.com/books?id=aQrJAAAACAAJ&dq=isbn:070797862&lr=&as_brr=0&ei=XoQkSYyFMpeUM5yYgKcF. Retrieved on 19 November 2008.