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JOHN QUINCY ADAMSr * * * * * * VS. * * * * * '" •
ANDREW JACKSON
"Every liar and calumniator
was at work day and night
to destroy my reputation."
—John Quincy Ada
SLEAZE-O-METER
Like many presidents, James Monroe seemed to grow into the
presidency just as it was time to leave office. His second term
reached an apex in l8^3 when he issued the historic Monroe
Doctrine, in which he declared the Western Hemisphere closed to col-
onization by other powers. But despite this foreign relations coup, the
real excitement during the second Monroe administration concerned
the naming of his successor.
The election of 1824 had much in common with the elections of
today, especially in that candidates began unofficially running almost
the minute Monroe was inaugurated in 1821. One newspaper, the Niles
Register, counted seventeen men who had thrown their hats in the ring;
among them were some pretty influential personalities, including
Secretary of War John C. Galhoun, Secretary of the Treasury William
Crawford, former Speaker of the House Henry Clay, and Andrew
Jackson, hero of New Orleans and supposed "friend of the common
man." And then there was Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, the
brilliant but aloof son of America's second president.
Crawford was considered the front-runner—Monroe himself
favored him—and he was certain that when it came time for the
Congressional caucus, he would receive the nomination over his rivals.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the caucus.
Since iSo^i small groups—or caucuses—of influential congress-
men had picked the Republican Party nominee for president, but pub-
lic sentiment was changing. Many Americans perceived the caucuses as
elitist. Residents of new Western states such as Missouri, Kentucky,
Tennessee, Ohio, and Illinois wanted a more direct say in electing the
president and thus voted in congressmen who more truly represented
their wishes. Certain states began to let citizens choose their electors by
popular vote. Tennessee sent the half-literate coonskin-capped Davy
Crockett to Congress, declaring he was every bit as good as some
bewigged aristocrat from Virginia.
Realizing the times were a-changing, all the candidates except
Crawford simply boycotted the caucus procedure, lined up their own
support, and started campaigning. The caucus did choose Crawford as
the presidential nominee, but it didn't matter. These were wild and
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woolly times; the American electoral system was reinventing itself, and no
one recognized Crawford as the sole candidate. The so-called King
Caucus system was officially dead, and it would never be used to choose a
presidential candidate again.
* * * THE CANDIDATES * * *
ANDREW JACKSON Jackson was born in 1767 in South Carolina to
poor Irish immigrant parents who worked a hardscrabble farm out in the
boondocks, thus making him that most-coveted nineteenth-century
commodity—a true "backwoods" presidential candidate (the first in
American history). He was orphaned by the age of fourteen but became
a successful lawyer, politician, and general; after destroying the British
at New Orleans in 1815, Jackson became a bona fide national celebrity.
He was tall, handsome, and—as many of his opponents on the battle-
field and campaign trail discovered—extremely ruthless.
WILLIAM CRAWFORD Talk about a dream candidate: During
Crawford's distinguished career, he had served as U.S. senator, minis-
ter to France, secretary of war (under Madison), and secretary of
treasury (under Monroe). He was robust, good-looking, affable, and
gregarious. Unfortunately, soon after being nominated, he suffered a
stroke that left him paralyzed and nearly blind. Crawford eventually
returned to work in his cabinet post, but he was no longer the front-
runner for president.
HENRY CLAY A native Kentuckian, Clay had been the leader of the
War Hawks in l8l2 and was now a brilliant Speaker of the House. He was
an ardent patriot who wanted a national bank and a standing army. He was
also a debonair gambler known for holding card games that lasted until
all hours.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS Adams boasted distinguished bloodlines-
his father was the second president of the United States—as well as a
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notable career. He helped negotiate the Treaty of Ghent, ending the
War of l8l2, and had labored tirelessly as James Monroe's secretary of
state. Unlike his handsome opponents, however, Adams was short,
bald, and had a constantly running eye. Even he described himself as "a
man of reserved, cold, austere, and forbidding manners."
* * * THE CAMPAIGN * * *
In a word, nasty. Rumors were spread in particular about Adams—that
his father, the aging former president, had broken with him politically
and that he was selling future patronage appointments in return for
votes. Yet people smiled to his face. "My complaint," he wrote, "is not
that attempts were made to tear my reputation to pieces," but that such
slanders "were accompanied by professions of great respect and esteem."
After twenty years of sleepy presidential elections, the pamphlet-
eers were relieved to be slinging mud again. They satirized Adams's sar-
torial inelegance (he was, admittedly, an eccentric dresser—when he
couldn't find his cravat, he'd sometimes tie a black ribbon around his
neck), called Clay a drunkard, and accused Jackson of murder for hav-
ing executed mutineers in 1813 (charges that would follow Jackson into
the next election). Crawford—still running, even though paralyzed and
sightless—was accused of malfeasance in his role as treasury secretary.
If all these charges were true, one politician said, "our presidents,
secretaries, and senators are all traitors and pirates."
* * * THE WINNER (EVENTUALLY): * * *JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
The voting of the presidential electors was completed in early
December, and it soon became clear that there was still quite a horse
race going on. Andrew Jackson pulled ninety-nine electoral votes (he
also led in the first popular vote ever, although six out of twenty-four
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.states were still appointing electors in their state legislatures). In close
pursuit were Adams with eighty-four electoral votes, William Crawford
with forty-one, and Henry Clay at thirty-seven. Since no single candi-
date had a majority, the outcome of the race would be decided in the
House of Representatives, with each state delegation casting one vote.
(John G. Galhoun did win the majority of votes for vice president, so
his position was a lock regardless of who became president.)
The voting was scheduled for February 9, 1825. and the candidates
set busily to work lining up support in Congress. Since Jackson had
received the most electoral votes, many were saying that he should be
president, even if the Constitution disagreed.
The matter was finally resolved when Henry Clay pulled out of the
race. He would throw the three states that had voted for him—Ohio,
Missouri, and Kentucky—to John Quincy Adams. Clay had probably
decided that between Jackson and Adams, the latter would be more
likely to strengthen the West by providing money for constructing roads
and canals—projects badly needed in the outlying states. Of course,
many speculated that the two men had embarked on a "corrupt bar-
gain"—votes for Adams in return for a cabinet position for Clay—but
Adams always swore this was not true.
In any event, when the vote came down on February 9, Adams
squeaked out a majority with thirteen states, as opposed to Jackson's
seven and Crawford's four. He would be president—and the next four
years would turn out to be an almost unmitigated disaster.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
TO BE, OR NOT TO BE—PRESIDENT? Like a medieval prince or modern
analysand, John Quincy Adams was prone to a deep ambivalence about success. At
no time was this more evident than in the election of 1824. "Oh, the winding of the
human heart," he wrote in his diary."Whether I ought to wish for success is among
the greatest uncertainties of the election." On the one hand,"the object nearest to
my heart [is] to bring the whole people of the Union to harmonize together." On
the other hand, winning and losing "are distressing in prospect, and the most formi-
dable is that of success.The humiliation of failure will be so much more than com-
pensated by the safety in which it will leave me that I ought to regard it as a con-
summation devoutly to be wished."
Somehow, one cannot picture opponent Andrew Jackson (who preferred beat-
ing up other people to beating up on himself) muttering away in like fashion.
CLAY VS. JACKSON Henry Clay did not like Andrew Jackson-^-in fact, he
thought he was a rash and boneheaded military thug—and made no secret of the
fact:"! cannot believe that killing 2,500 Englishmen at New Orleans qualifies for the
various, difficult, and complicated duties of the Chief Magistracy."
JACKSON VS. CLAY When Adams announced shortly after the election that
Henry Clay would be his secretary of state, Jackson told a friend: "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 cor-
ruption in any country before?"
THE DUEL The election of 1824 was so contentious that a duel resulted from it.
In April of 1826, the hot-tempered Virginian Senator John Randolph made a speech
on the Senate floor accusing Henry Clay of throwing the election to John Quincy
Adams—specifically, he called him a blackleg, slang for a cheating gambler.This was
too much for Clay, who challenged Randolph to a duel.
The two met early in the morning at a deserted spot along the Potomac
River. They took their positions, backed up by seconds who included Senator
Thomas Hart Benton, but a comedy of errors ensued. First, Randolph accidentally
discharged his gun and had to be given another.Then both men shot and missed.
They reloaded, and Clay fired. His bullet pierced Randolph's coat without hurting
him. Randolph paused a moment, then turned and deliberately fired his pistol
straight up into the air.
"I do not fire at you, Mr. Clay," he said.The two men shook hands and were
thereafter friendly acquaintances. Senator Benton dryly remarked that it was "about
the last high-toned duel" he ever saw.
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