Election and Campaign

The Election of 1824

• Jackson won the most votes (unexpected)
• but, no one had an electoral majority
• decision led to the House of Representatives
  • John Quincy Adams (son of 2nd president) used experience and influence to win the House vote
• Jackson: “a corrupt bargain”
• led to a nasty rematch in 1828

1828 Presidential Campaign

• nasty rematch, both sides went negative
• Adams campaigned on internal improvement (infrastructure)
• Jackson ran mainly on his cult of personality
  • champion of the common man
  • attacked Adams as elitist and Washington DC insider
  • allies made brutal personal attacks

The Campaign of 1828: Adams

• Adams and allies attacked Jackson’s character
  • impulsive
  • irresponsible and immoral
  • violent
• most famously in “The Coffins Handbills”
• attacked Jackson’s marriage to Rachel Donelson
  • lived together before her divorce
• scandal + loss of son in 1828 + poor health
  • Rachel died of heart attack, 1828
  • Jackson blamed Adams and other rivals

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