Hello and welcome back to another edition of Lace ‘Em Up’s Presidential Election series for today we will be going over the Election of 1824. It’s a four man race for the highest office in the land, culminating in one of the most controversial endings to an election in the history of the United States.

The End of Good Feelings

President James Monroe had maintained a level of unity in America which left the Democratic-Republicans as the only political party by the mid-1820s.

Similar to his predecessors, Monroe decides not to run again thus making him the last founding father to become President of the United States.

While the country may be at peace, the Democratic-Republicans meanwhile are divided over a series of issues which leads to a number of candidates within the party to run for president.

The Presidential Candidates

While many candidates ran for the presidency, some like (John Calhoun) will end up dropping out in favor of running for the Vice Presidency; Of those that did stick around, only four actually won electoral votes.

One of them was William Crawford, the Secretary of the Treasury and someone who narrowly got the nomination back in 1816. Crawford was nominated thru a congressial caucus that some in the party had issues with and refuse to accept it.

Next up was John Quincy Adams, the son of former Vice President and President John Adams and his also Monroe’s Secretary of State. Henry Clay, the Speaker of the House and an influencial figure in early American politics had refused to run in 1816, but decided to give it a go this time around.

Last but not least we have Andrew Jackson, the former Governor and Senator from Tennessee and the Military General who led the U.S. to victory in the Battle of New Orleans and took part in the First Seminole War. 

Regional Divide

Aside from a few arguments on domestic and foreign policies, all four candidates agreed with each other on most issues.

The campaigning wasn’t too intense compared to previous elections, but the supporters of each candidate used everything from newspapers to political cartoons to campaign songs to get the people to go out and vote.

Unlike his comtemporaries in this election, Andrew Jackson was popular throughout much of the country thanks to his military efforts; Adams and Clay were only favorable in the eastern and western sections of the U.S. and Crawford was popular in the South although not as much as Jackson.

Crawford is also suffering from a stroke during this election and this is going to hurt his chance more as some are not willing to vote for someone with health problems.

The Election of 1824: The Results

As you can see from the electoral map, John Quincy Adams gets 84 electoral votes in places like Vermont, Connecticut and New York, while also receiving 30.9% of the popular vote.

William Crawford (stroke and all), gets 41 electoral votes from Georgia and Virginia, but he came in fourth place in the popular vote with 11.2%.

Henry Clay came in fourth place in the electoral vote, receiving 37 votes from Missouri, Ohio and his home state of Kentucky, but came in third place with the popular vote getting only 13%.

Andrew Jackson won the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Alabama, North and South Carolina and Mississippi which resulted in Jackson receiving 99 electoral votes and 41.4% of the popular vote.

Now, you’d think this would mean that Jackson is the winner as his got the most votes than anyone else, but that’s not the case. See in 1824 you needed 131 electoral votes to win the election, and now it’s up to the House of Representatives to decide who will be the new president thanks to the 12th Amendment in the Constitution.

House Votes and Contraversial Finish

With Inauguration Day quickly approaching, the House of Representatives need to decide on who will be the next President of the United States and since only the top three candidates in the electoral vote are involved, this knocks Henry Clay out of the running, but he isn’t finished yet.

As Speaker of the House, Clay is now in a unique position to help decide on who will become the new president. While Jackson may have the most votes, Henry Clay despised Andrew Jackson for his military actions in the War of 1812 among other matters.   

This, combined with Clay agreeing with Adams on many ideas led to a decision that will change American politics forever. As the House delivered their verdict in 1825, they announced John Quincy Adams as the winner and the sixth President of the United States. 

An incensed Andrew Jackson believed a deal was made between Adams and Clay to make Adams the new president in exchange for making Clay the new Secretary of State as many of the previous presidents held that position before getting elected.

While Clay and Adams denied these rumours, many found it suspicious that Clay was named the new Secretary of State which only added fuel to the alleged “Corrupt Bargain”.

This election was unique as it was the first and only time that the person with the most electoral votes did not become the president and the first of many times the candidate who won the popular vote did not become president.

If you like this kind of content, be sure to leave your thoughts down below in the comment section and be sure to follow Lace ‘Em Up on Twitter @laceemupoffice you can follow me also on Twitter @hakeemfullerton and I’ll see you in the next article.