and i'm of course referring to one of the most controversial and one of the nastiest elections in american history the presidential election of 1824. so the way we're going to approach this election is we're going to talk a little bit about the background to it what was the country like in 1824 and what we're going to see is that we had a very divided nation and that resulted in a very divided political party that existed at the time we'll then talk about the candidates of this election let's talk about the election itself from the general election to the use of a contingent election in the u.s house of representatives that ultimately had to decide this election and then we'll talk about the fallout from that contingent election and then of course the significance of this presidential election let's just go ahead and jump right into the background of this uh presidential election in 1824. now from the end of the war of 1812 until about 1825 1824 or so the united states had been experiencing this period of intense nationalism that was referred to as the era of good feelings it was this moment in american history where a majority of the american people set aside their sectional differences their states differences and were willing to accept ideas and government policies that benefited the country as a whole that strengthened the whole nation even if those policies and ideas did not actually benefit their section of the country that's what nationalism meant that's what it was all about during the era of good feelings and so we saw this during the administration of james monroe where we saw this nationalism manifesting itself with the american system uh uh we saw it manifesting itself in the judiciary right with the mcculloch vs maryland decision and the affirmation of the supremacy of the federal government over that of the states and then we saw it also in diplomacy with the monroe doctrine and so the air of good feelings was it was great it was rocking it was rolling but in 18 by 18 24 the whole thing had collapsed and that was a result of the missouri controversy which we covered in a previous lecture the missouri controversy was the first time in american history that the north the non-slave holding states of the north and the slave-holding states of the south clashed over the question of slavery's expansion to the territories of the united states and that's the question that's ultimately going to come up again and again over the next 40 years of american history that will help divide the country to the point of a civil war and so during that controversy over missouri we saw then very clearly the north and the south looking at things purely through the prism of how it affected their section of the country and so one of the reasons the missouri controversy was significant is that it put an end to the era of good feelings and bitterly divided the country divided it not only north south but also east west essentially the era of nationalism was dead as a result of the missouri controversy and in its place was sectionalism from the south the current united states secretary of the treasury william h crawford now crawford was what we call an old school democratic republican he had been involved with the party from its founding going all the way back to when jefferson madison ran the show and he had been involved in national politics uh and in the federal government for a long time and leading up to this election he was actually james monroe's secretary of st of the treasury and as you're going to see here in a second a lot of james monroe's secretaries in the executive branch were going to be major candidates for president it's kind of ironic that as soon as he was installed in his second term as president there immediately started a jockeying for position among his cabinet members and william h crawford was certainly one of those now crawford was considered kind of the front runner for this election he had been endorsed by madison and jefferson he was their guy monroe specifically stayed out of this but crawford from uh he was born in south carolina but was from georgia was considered a very strong candidate in this election and was considered the heir apparent uh to this virginia dynasty uh since he was born in virginia so crawford from the south very strong candidate from the north another secretary of james monroe's administration john quincy adams john quincy adams was the eldest son of john adams the president's second or the united states second president of the united states and john quincy adams was uh james monroe's secretary of state and had been the author of the monroe doctrine uh not to mention uh throughout his entire child's entire childhood he had almost been groomed and bred for this moment to be president of the united states now as secretary of state this was a position in the federal government that was oftentimes seen as the springboard to the presidency and the reason it was considered that is that jefferson had been secretary of state and then president madison had been thomas jefferson's secretary of state and then was president james monroe had been james madison secretary of state and then was president and so john quincy adams was considered by a lot of people to kind of be the heir apparent now he's from the north and so that that that attitude that sentiment was mostly held in the north but as you saw a lot of people in the south considered william crawford to be the heir apparent now what was john quincy adams's ideas adams was a nationalist a ardent nationalist a big supporter of the american system big supporter of infrastructure big supporter of the bank national bank that was rechartered big supporter of uh protective tariffs he was a nationalist and he like crawford a very strong very viable candidate for president of the united states from the west was the current speaker of the house of representatives a former war hawk who had pushed madison into war with the british in 1812 henry clay henry clay like adams was a nationalist now he had been nominated by his home state of kentucky for president of the united states and he was considered by some to be kind of a long shot uh but he was a very important figure in the federal government as most speakers of the house are they carry a lot of influence in the house of representatives because they're the ones that set the agenda they're the they're the leader of the house so he's a fairly strong candidate although not a lot of people gave him a much of a chance especially when you consider john quincy adams having kind of the same ideas as henry clay in terms of nationalist ideas clay like adams supported the bank clay supported protective tariffs and internal improvements over infrastructure in fact it was henry clay that had established the american system so when nationalists looked at people like clay and adams adams was considered the stronger candidate just because he hadn't been or he was the secretary of state he had long healing the family history and all that but henry clay from the west so so far we have a westerner we have a southerner we have a northerner we had another southerner that ran for president in this election although he didn't stay in the election long and his name was john c calhoun we've already seen him previously he was like henry clay one of the war hawks that came to congress that pushed madison into war with the british in 1812. he was from the state of south carolina and he was at the time james monroe's secretary of war so here was another secretary position now calhoun was not considered a very strong candidate in this election in fact when he saw how crowded the field had become uh he ended up bowing out and let it be known that he would only accept nominations for the vice presidency but early in this process he was considered a candidate for president and uh so he is another southerner involved here so uh two southerners a northerner and a westerner and then there was the wild card every presidential election has a wild card and this one was andrew jackson andrew jackson by 1824 was now a u.s senator from tennessee but before that he had become a national figure and a household name when he defeated the british at the battle of new orleans thus securing the american southeast and essentially giving americans the idea giving them the sentiment that they had actually prevailed in the war of 1812 when in fact we had simply held on for dear life jackson was beloved he was loved everywhere he had support in the west he had supported the east he had support in the north he had support in the south what separated jackson from the rest of the field is that his power base was national whereas people like henry clay were really only supported in the west people like john quincy adams only had support in the north and people like william h crawford only had support in the south jackson had support nationally he's your wild card now jackson didn't have much of a political position he wasn't a very learned man but he was nominated by his home state of tennessee and he considered it a great honor and he accepted it so these are your candidates we have william crawford from the south john quincy adams from the north henry clay from the west john c calhoun from the south although he drops out very fairly quickly in this election and then you had andrew jackson from the west but a national figure right beloved everywhere now before we talk about the results of this general election i want you to get a sense of the way jackson was perceived by what we would call today the establishment of american politics meaning the political leadership of the country people like henry clay and john quincy adams and and william crawford and even people like thomas jefferson former president of the united states now this is a great quote uh from daniel webster's interview with thomas jefferson from december 1824 just just after the um presidential election and you can see some of the the the idea you know the the opinions that uh jefferson had of jackson and and i think it's interesting that right out of the gate he can you know he calls him general jackson president uh or general jackson which is his way of kind of minimizing jackson to simply being what he calls later on in this uh interview he's just a military chief right that his passions are terrible and that when he was president of the senate and that's that's when jefferson was vice president uh jackson was actually a senator from tennessee and look what he says here says that jackson could never speak on account of his rashness of his feelings and i have seen him attempt it repeatedly and he is often choked up with rage his passions are no doubt cooler now uh but he has been much tried since i know him he is a dangerous man so people like jefferson you know who were the american establishment of the day right people like henry clay as well who were younger than jefferson but still part of this um political class right of of americans the people that had always kind of been in charge of government even before the american revolution uh jefferson's quotation here i think just is a is a perfect summation of a lot of the concerns that um uh that political class had of jackson um being an outsider right being um from the west and and and being a an uneducated and uh and rough and tumble guy i mean he had quite a past uh and that pass followed him along so um so those are the candidates and that's kind of the opinion that people had of andrew jackson uh so let's turn now to the results of the election um i'm gonna show you the electoral map here what you see here is the electoral map of the 1824 election and the first thing that should pop off the screen at you is the support that each candidate had i kind of mentioned this earlier but you see there in the north that's john quincy adams's power base that's where he is most supported uh in the west you see clay's support and in the southern states like georgia and virginia you see crawford support but you look at jackson jackson had support everywhere he had supported the north he had support in the south and he had support in the west so jackson is really your only national candidate for office here and again this speaks to the sectionalization of the country right the decline of nationalism and the rise of sectionalism uh you see then the fracturing of the country along sectional lines the other thing that should pop off this map at you is that in order to win the presidency in 1824 you were going to need 131 electoral votes that would have been a majority and nobody got it the person that got closest was andrew jackson who pulled in 38 of the electoral vote when he earned 99 electoral votes quincy adams came in second with 84 electoral votes and clay and crawford roughly split the remaining electoral votes so what happened here with so many candidates running for president none of them got a majority of the electoral vote now what happens well however the framers of the 12th amendment were keenly aware that when you ensure that two candidates won't have a majority of the electoral vote that it was now possible to have candidates not receive a majority of the electoral vote meaning it was now possible that so many electoral votes be being casted for so many different candidates for president that it would be possible not one of them gets a majority and that's now what's happened in 1824. now jackson got the most votes in the electoral college he had 99 but that was not a majority what's that that's referred to as a plurality this happens a lot in american politics where somebody doesn't win a majority but they get the most votes and that's known as a plurality but pluralities don't win yet presidential elections so what's going to happen well according to the 12th amendment if we get a candidate or if no person has a majority then the top three in the electoral college will be uh have a runoff election or a contingent election in the house of representatives where the states again one vote one state so that's now what's going to happen in this election is we're going to turn it over to the u.s house of representatives and they'll have to decide between adams jackson or the third place candidate crawford the fourth place candidate clay he's out according to the 12th amendment but let's talk about clay for just one second clay as speaker of the house of representatives is in a prime position to influence the outcome of this contingent election his power and his influence in the house was undeniable uh he could be king maker as they say in american politics so let's talk about the way he views these candidates he's not a big fan of william crawford crawford to him to clay represented the old guard of the party and the parties moved on from those ideas of jefferson and madison and limited government but what about jackson um well clay was a lot like jefferson in terms of his fear of jackson clay just couldn't comprehend the idea of having a president of the united states based simply on the fact that the person had won a battle over the british and killed 2 500 englishmen he just didn't think that someone that uncouth and that blunt could handle the various difficult and complicated duties of the presidency so clay was a lot like jefferson and looking at jackson as someone that was dangerous someone that was an outsider someone that wasn't capable of handling power responsibly that jackson was too common and too dangerous but what about atoms well oddly enough clay and atoms despise one another personally they didn't like each other at all but politically they could agree clay was an ardent nationalist he was after all the framer of the american system which stressed protective tariffs internal improvements and support of the bank of the united states well the american system was something john quincy adams had made a hallmark of his political platform so while personally they don't get along politically speaking clay and atoms are cut from the same cloth so in this contingent election clay then used his influence to convince states to throw their support behind jackson jackson ended up losing this contingent election in the house of representatives and one interesting thing about crawford while crawford actually could have been crawford actually could have been a moderate uh and compromise candidate here meaning crawford could have actually emerged from this election victorious but what hampered him in this contingent election is that he had actually suffered a stroke just before the election it was held in february in the house and in spite of his uh supporters and campaign managers trying desperately to convince people that he was okay nobody was willing to risk it you never want to vote for somebody to be president united states if there's a chance they're going to die in office it just creates instability so crawford never really had a chance adams adams will emerge victorious now this was controversial because a lot of these states flipped their vote from adams even though their electors had joseph jackson but hey this is how it goes um jackson and his supporters were upset they were dismayed but they accepted the results of this election but the story's not over now was this true turns out yes although the pennsylvania newspaper only had rumors at the time now adams would was never going to put jackson in his cabinet never jackson to adams was exactly the way clay and jefferson envisioned remember adams comes from the political class he comes from the elite his father had been president right someone like jackson was the common folk they were uncouth they were unkept they were unlearned and they were not to be anywhere near governing so the idea of making jackson the heir apparent to the party and heir apparent to the presidency was something that never crossed john quincy adams's mind instead he is going to want to put into the position of secretary of state someone that he believes would make a good president in the future and as the rumors suggested it was in fact henry clay once adams was inaugurated and he began appointing and pushing through confirmations in the congress uh his secretary positions he did in fact dominate henry clay now there was he didn't he knew he had to right because if he didn't appoint him it would give credence to the rumors that it was true if he did appoint them it didn't matter these rumors were going to follow him anyway but when he appointed henry clay to the position of secretary of state the person that had swung this election in favor of john quincy adams well that set off a firestorm when jackson and jackson's camp heard about all this they immediately charged the president with a corrupt bargain they claimed that what happened in the election was that the people's choice the national candidate of jackson had been denied and that this election had been stolen from not only jackson but the american people and the way it worked is that henry clay and john quincy adams had made a corrupt bargain with one another that henry clay would use his influence in the house to swing the election in favor of adams and against jackson and in exchange for doing that adams would appoint him to the secretary of state position now is all that true probably is it illegal no is this just good old-fashioned american politics yep but it didn't matter what jackson was able to do was use this corrupt bargain to absolutely discredit the results of the election to absolutely discredit henry clay and absolutely discredit the new president of the united states john quincy adams and on a personal level jackson was deeply hurt by all of this and uh that hurt you know came out in jackson as as it always did it came out in rage and what you see there is a really famous quotation uh from andrew jackson talking about henry clay in which he calls him the judas right the judas of the west has closed his contract and will receive the 30 pieces of silver his end will be the same was there ever had was there ever witnessed such a bare-faced corruption in any country before jackson never forgave henry clay and john quincy adams for what he perceived to be a great treachery perpetrated not just on him but on the american people in the presidential election of 1824 okay so uh like i said just a heck of a story the election of 1824 one one of the more scandalous one of the more controversial elections of american history what we want to do now is we want to understand why it's important what's significant about this election and the first thing was that like the 1800 presidential election this is one of only two elections ever decided by the u.s house of representatives it's only happened twice in american history 1800 and this one 1824 another reason the 1824 presidential election is significant concerns the effect it had on the democratic republican party during the era of good feelings the country only had one political party the democratic republicans remember the federalists had gone on decline as a result of the hartford convention but the 1824 election just ripped the democratic republican party in half fractured it into two irreparable factions and these two factions gave rise to what historians call the second party system these two factions that were created in the democratic republican party as a result of this presidential election went on to form two political parties themselves and i want to briefly talk about them real quick before we sum up the last reason this election significant the faction that went with john quincy adams and henry clay and another person we'll talk later about in the course daniel webster they took on the name the official name the national republican party and that really did reflect their ideology and their principles they were an incredibly nationalistic party they supported the american system of internal improvements bank of the united states protective tariffs they supported the idea of strong and active national government supported the idea of a loose construction of the constitution later on they changed their name to the whig party and i'll explain why in a future video but this was where we saw one faction of the democratic republican party become the whig party the other faction of the party went with jackson uh and they were led by jackson uh they were led by another person that we'll talk later on about martin van buren as well as john c calhoun and this faction first called themselves the democrat republican party but they eventually just dropped the word republican and just called themselves the democrat party and yes this was the birth of today's democrat party the original democrat party of jackson supported limited government policies they were kind of a return to the jeffersonian republicanism that we talked about in the 1790s this idea that the constitution should be interpreted strictly that um the federal government should only exercise those powers especially given to it the rest of the power reserved for the states uh the government shouldn't involve itself in the economy this was a party that opposed the banks and opposed protective tariffs so they kind of got back to their old roots now the symbol you see on the screen there which is the symbol of today's democrat party actually comes from andrew jackson jackson uh was referred to by his political enemies as a jackass and so rather than let that upset him he wore it as a badge of honor and eventually adopted the mascot of the donkey or the jackass as the party's official mascot and it has remained so ever since let's talk about the last reason this election is significant this election allowed andrew jackson to build an even bigger national support structure jackson used the next four years to just beat the drum of the corrupt bargain and he was able to absolutely discredit john quincy adams and henry clay and adam's entire administration adams didn't get anything done because the people were so upset about the corrupt bargain something that jackson never let them forget and four years later in 1828 largely as a result of the corrupt bargain and the results of the 1820 election jackson absolutely defeated crushed john quincy adams in that presidential election and so this would open up the jacksonian era so this election is going to result in the first or one of only two elections in american history being decided by the u.s house of representatives it's going to result in splitting the democratic republican party into the whig party and democrat party and it's going to result in andrew jackson's landslide victory in 1828 and american politics would never be the same