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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