The election of 1828 is widely considered a watershed in the history of the American state, primarily because it brought Andrew Jackson to power, inaugurating a westward shift in the nation’s center of political gravity and a dramatic increase in the power of the presidency. It is also significant for the emergence of the first true political party machine, created by Martin Van Buren to deliver the White House to Jackson.
Both Van Buren’s machine and Jackson’s election were direct consequences of the disastrous electoral deadlock of 1824. That year, the Democratic-Republican Party (or Democratic Party) of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, which had been without rival since the disintegration of the Federalist Party during the War of 1812, had fractured. Unable to agree on a successor to the almost universally beloved James Monroe, party leaders had broken into regional factions, with southern agrarian interests generally favoring Secretary of the Treasury William H. Crawford, northern traders and manufacturers halfheartedly backing Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, and Speaker of the House Henry Clay seeking to represent the settlers of the newer western territories. Unfortunately for Clay, the West chose a different champion: Andrew Jackson. Elected a U. S. senator of Tennessee, Jackson had skillfully positioned himself as the champion of the poor and the scourge of wealth and privilege, to the horror of his initial patrons.
Jackson won a plurality of both the popular and the electoral vote, but fell well short of the absolute electoral majority necessary. For the second time in the life of the young republic, the election was thrown into the House of Representatives. Jackson’s partisans argued that his twin pluralities were a mandate to the House for his election; Henry Clay, having been eliminated by virtue of his fourth-place finish, disagreed and lobbied his colleagues assiduously for the election of Adams, who eventually emerged victorious in the House by a single vote. When Adams then appointed Clay secretary of state, a position he had long sought, furious Jacksonians denounced it as evidence of a “corrupt bargain” which had blocked the ascension of the “legitimate” victor, Jackson.
Whether an explicit deal had in fact been made and whether leading Jacksonians believed it had remain subjects of historical debate. What is clear is that the “bargain” led to an irreparable breach within the Democratic-Republican Party, with the supporters of the victorious Adams styling themselves as the National Republican Party (1825-1833) and the adherents of Jackson retaining the older name.
The Jacksonian movement is often seen as the product of a western clique. In truth, however, no man did more than New Yorker Martin Van Buren to ensure Jackson’s ascent. It was Van Buren who led the four-year siege that
U. S. Presidential Elections: Electoral Vote, 1828
Andrew Jackson (Jacksonian Democrat) John Quincy Adams (National Republican) U. S. territories
World History
