Wednesday, February 13, 2008

1824

United States presidential election, 1824
26 October - 1 December 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 Caldwell 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 Caldwell Calhoun, Nathan Sanford, Andrew Jackson Nathan Sanford, John Caldwell 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%
United States presidential election, 1824

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
James Monroe
Democratic-Republican


Successor
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. 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.


Contents

[hide]

[edit] General election

[edit] Campaign

The election was a contest between:

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 more a contest of favorite sons than a conflict over policy, as the candidates were backed by different sections of the country: Adams was strong in the Northeast, Jackson in the South and mid-Atlantic, Clay in parts of the West, and Crawford on the Southeastern seaboard.

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.

Hunters of Kentucky

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

Problems listening to the file? See media help.

[edit] Results

None of the four presidential candidates received a majority of the electoral vote, so the presidential election was decided by the House of Representatives. (See “Contingent election” below.) Meanwhile, John Caldwell 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
Count Percentage
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 Caldwell 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).

[edit] Breakdown by ticket

Presidential Candidate Running Mate Electoral Vote(a)
Andrew Jackson John Caldwell Calhoun 98 .. 99
John Quincy Adams John Caldwell 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 Caldwell 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 Caldwell 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) Wikipedia's 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.

[edit] 1825 Contingent election

The voting by state in the House of Representatives.
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.”[1] 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.[2][3]

Adams' victory shocked Jackson, who, as the winner of a plurality of both the popular and electoral votes, expected to be elected president. When President Adams appointed Clay his Secretary of State, he 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.


Adams Jackson Crawford
1st ballot 13 7 4


1st ballot
Alabama Jackson
Connecticut Adams
Delaware Crawford
Georgia Crawford
Illinois Adams
Indiana Jackson
Kentucky Adams
Louisiana Adams
Maine Adams
Maryland Adams
Massachusetts Adams
Mississippi Jackson
Missouri Adams
New Hampshire Adams
New Jersey Jackson
New York Adams
North Carolina Crawford
Ohio Adams
Pennsylvania Jackson
Rhode Island Adams
South Carolina Jackson
Tennessee Jackson
Vermont Adams
Virginia Crawford

[edit] 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

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Henry Clay to Francis Preston Blair, January 29, 1825.
  2. ^ 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., 501–505. ISBN 0-8369-5021-6. Retrieved on 2006-08-02.
  3. ^ United States Congress (1825). House Journal, 18th Congress, 2nd Session, February 9, 219–222. Retrieved on 2006-08-02.


[edit] References

[edit] External links

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