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 1832. Andrew Jackson is looking to get re-elected, but he first has to deal with a number of scandals within his administration, a few third parties rising to the surface and an old rival looking for revenge.

Jackson’s Presidency

Since his resounding victory in 1828, President Jackson like many Southern politicians have pushed for the removal of various Indian tribes as the U.S. was looking to acquire the gold and other resources found in Indian territories. Thus ‘The Indian Removal Act’ was passed in 1830, and despite a Supreme Court ruling in ‘Worcester v. Georgia’ claiming this as unconstitutional, Jackson ignored the ruling and allegedly said: “John Marshall Has Made His Decision, Now Let Him Enforce It.”

In the end, 45,000 Indians were forced to move from the states that they once called home in what has infamously been referred to as “The Trail of Tears” which actually occurred under the presidency of his successor.

While this move by Jackson may have endeared him to Southerners, his actions like vetoing legislation that came to his desk made him come off as a tyrant to his enemies, with many political cartoons portraying the president as a monarch who’s stepping all over the U.S. Constitution.

The Bank War & The Petticoat Affair

One of the bigger issues of the day involved the Second National Bank of the United States; You see the charter for the bank needed to be renewed by 1836 and much to the disdain of many in Congress, Jackson vetoed the charter while also withdrawing federal deposits from the bank and placing them in local banks spread throughout the nation.

Opponents of Jackson claimed that his refusal to renew the charter for the Second National Bank would lead to problems with the economy later down the road. Jackson on the other hand, responded that by not renewing the bank he was keeping the wealth out of the hands of elites who most certainly would’ve kept it all for themselves…and it’s this idea that Jackson uses for his re-election bid going into 1832.

Problems continue within the Jackson administration thanks to the Eaton Affair also known as ‘The Petticoat Affair’; This event saw John Eaton, Jackson’s Secretary of War getting into a relationship with a woman named Peggy O’Neal who was a widow after her previous husband died and Eaton decides to marry O’Neal with Jackson supporting the new couple.

Floride Calhoun, the wife of Vice President John Calhoun was not too happy with this arrangement and she tells all of the cabinet wives to not socialize with the new Mrs. Eaton due to Peggy’s reputation of showing up at bars and interacting with various social groups.

This leads to John Eaton and Martin Van Buren (an Eaton supporter) stepping down from their positions within the administration before Andrew Jackson fires everyone and replaces them with a new group of people while also bringing back Eaton and Van Buren with the latter becoming Jackson’s new running mate after Calhoun resigned from his position thanks to a certain crisis involving tariffs and South Carolina.

The Nullification Crisis

Before the Petticoat Affair completely soured the relationship between John Calhoun and Andrew Jackson, there was the ‘Nullification Crisis’, an issue that stemmed from the Tariff of 1828, which increased the rates on imported goods by 60% and many Southern states were against what they called “The Tariff of Abomination”.

South Carolina (John Calhoun’s home state) threatened to nullify the Tariff of 1828 but reluctantly allowed it….until a new tariff came about in 1832 which led to the South Carolina legislature nullifying that tariff.

This led to Andrew Jackson enacting ‘The Force Bill’, which allowed the president to use the military against any state in order to collect money for taxes that needed to be paid. Calhoun, as you can imagine wasn’t too pleased and once again resigned thus making him the first of two VP’s to do so and the only one to resign from two different administrations.

Calhoun soon went on to create a minor political party called ‘The Nullifier Party’ which only ran in the state of South Carolina and the idea was to use this as a protest vote against Jackson’s bid for re-election. The party nominated Virginia Governor John Floyd as their candidate due to Floyd’s history of having disagreements with Jackson .

The National Republicans

While the president deals with internal problems in his administration, his opponents from the National Republican Party decide to use this and the major issue that is the National Bank as justification to make Andrew Jackson a one-term president.

Jackson’s biggest rival at this time was Henry Clay, the former Speaker of the House and Secretary of State; Clay was blamed for denying Jackson the presidency back in 1824 as well as indirectly causing the death of Jackson’s wife Rachel four years later. 

Clay was nominated by the National Republicans to be their candidate and since Pennsylvania is where the Second National Bank was located, the party chose with John Sergeant, a former U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania as Clay’s running mate do to his connections with the Bank.

The Anti-Masonic Party

Meanwhile, a brand new political party rises and becomes the first third party to run for president in American History; The Anti-Masonic Party came to prominence following the disappearance of William Morgan after he threatened to expose the secret society known as ‘Freemasons’ by writing a book which resulted in him disappearing and presumably meeting his demise.

In response, a group calling themselves ‘The Anti-Masons’ joined together to stop the continuing influence of those they view as elites and the corrupt, leading to them being the first party to having a nominating convention in Baltimore Maryland back in September of 1831.

Names like Richard Rush and John Quincy Adams were seen as possible names to run for the party’s nomination, but it just never worked out. The Anti-Masons nominated the legendary U.S. Attorney General and lawyer William Wirt to represent the party, even though Wirt was a Mason and was actually hoping to get an endorsement by Henry Clay and the National Republicans, but that doesn’t happen.

Reluctantly, Wirt ran for president along with fellow attorney general and politician from Pennsylvania, Amos Ellmaker as his running mate.

The Election of 1832: The Results

Despite the scandals within his cabinet and the problems he faced with the Second Bank of the United States, Andrew Jackson won re-election with 219 electoral votes and 54.2% of the popular vote.

Henry Clay in another devastating defeat to ‘Old Hickory’ received 49 electoral votes and 37.4% of the popular vote.

William Wirt and the Anti-Masonic Party only received 7 electoral votes, which was just the state of Vermont and 7.8% of the popular vote; A disappointing finish for sure.

John Floyd won all of South Carolina’s 11 electoral votes, but the state didn’t have a popular vote going into this election; By the way, the Nullification Crisis that created the whole Nullifier Party would be settled with the passing of the Compromise Tariff of 1833, which made South Carolina happy and thus ending the lifespan of the Nullifier Party.

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