The new system could scarcely have been imagined in 1825 while John Quincy Adams ruled over the White House; Adams was not well equipped either to lead King Mob or to hold it in check. Indeed, it was the battle to succeed Adams that caused the system to develop. The campaign began almost on the day of his selection by the House of Representatives. Jackson felt that he, the man who had received the largest number of votes, had been cheated of the presidency in 1824 by “the corrupt bargain” that he believed Adams had made with Henry Clay, and he sought vindication.
Relying heavily on his military reputation and on Adams’s talent for making enemies, Jackson avoided taking a stand on issues and on questions where his views might displease one or another faction. The political situation thus became chaotic, one side unable to marshal support for its policies, the other unwilling to adopt policies for fear of losing support.
The campaign was disgraced by character assassination and lies of the worst sort. Administration supporters denounced Jackson as a bloodthirsty military tyrant, a drunkard, and a gambler. His wife Rachel, ailing and shy, was dragged into the campaign by an Adams pamphleteer who branded her a “convicted adulteress.”
Furious, the Jacksonians (now calling themselves Democrats) replied in kind. They charged that while American minister to Russia, Adams had supplied a beautiful American virgin for the delectation of the czar. Discovering that Adams had purchased a chess set and a billiard table for the White House, they accused him of squandering public money on gambling devices. They translated his long and distinguished public service into the statistic that he had received over the years a sum equal to $16 for every day of his life in government pay. The great questions of the day were largely ignored.
All this was inexcusable, and both sides must share the blame. But as the politicians noticed when the votes were counted, their efforts had certainly brought out the electorate. Each candidate received far more votes than all four candidates had received in the preceding presidential election.
When inauguration day arrived, Adams refused to attend the ceremonies because Jackson had failed to pay the traditional pre-inaugural courtesy call on him
M
Rachel Jackson, wife of Andrew Jackson. At seventeen she had married Lewis Robards, but the marriage failed and after two years she returned to her family in Natchez, Mississippi. Robards sued for divorce in Virginia. Several months later, Rachel married Jackson in Mississippi, unaware that Robards would not finalize the divorce until a year later. In defending Rachel's honor from a charge of bigamy, Jackson killed a man in a duel. During the 1824 and 1828 presidential campaigns, critics denounced their marriage as immoral. Rachel died in December 1828, several weeks before her husband was inaugurated.
1828
Jacksonian Democratic (Jackson)
National Republican (J. Q. Adams)
Territories
The Rise of the Second American Party System, 1828 Jackson's enormous turnout in 1828 heralded a new era in mass political participation. In the past, Federalists tended to take New England, and Democrats, the South. But in 1832 Jackson shattered his fragmented opposition.
At the White House, but the old puritan may have been equally, if unconsciously, motivated by shame at tactics he had countenanced during the campaign. Jackson felt vindication, not shame, but in any case, deep personal feelings were uppermost in everyone’s mind at the formal changing of the guard. The real issues, however, remained. Andrew Jackson would now have to deal with them.
World History
