Old Hickory Couldn’t Stop the Steal
THE OVERLOOK
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"No one need think that the world can be ruled without blood. The civil sword shall and must be red and bloody."
-Andrew Jackson
A presidential election being stolen, a Congress in turmoil, a violent mob in the nation’s capital? So what else is new -- the past three months would look familiar to Americans in the 1820s.
In the election of 1824, for the first time no candidate ran as a Federalist, while five significant candidates competed as Democratic-Republicans. This would prove to be the end of the Federalist Party, the first political party in the U.S. which had been founded by Alexander Hamilton. The official candidate of the Democratic-Republicans to replace President James Monroe was his Secretary of the Treasury, William Crawford. However, even with the opposition Federalist Party on its last legs, Crawford could not gain traction with voters. It did not help that word spread that he had suffered a severe stroke. In any case, the majority of voters wanted Gen. Andrew Jackson, hero of the Battle of New Orleans (even though some of you may know that battle took place two weeks after the War of 1812 ended).
As it turned out, the winner in the all-important Electoral College in 1824 was indeed Jackson, with 99 votes. He was followed by John Quincy Adams, the son of the second president and Monroe's Secretary of State, with 84 votes, and Crawford faded away with just 41 votes. Although Jackson seemed to have won a clear victory, also receiving 43 percent of the popular vote versus just 30 percent for Adams, he would not be seated as the country's sixth president. Because nobody had received an outright majority of votes in the Electoral College, the House of Representatives had to choose between the top two candidates.
Those lawmakers would, of course, follow the obvious will of the people, right? Well, no. Henry Clay, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, now held a decisive position, despite the fact he had also run for President in November 1824. Clay, from Kentucky, detested Jackson, of Tennessee, so the Speaker forged an Ohio Valley-New England coalition that secured the White House for John Quincy Adams. In return Adams named Clay as his Secretary of State, a position that had been the stepping-stone to the presidency for the previous four chief executives. Adams’s election also extended the streak to six of Presidents being aristocrats from either Virginia or Massachusetts.
“Corrupt Bargain” blared the headlines, especially by the pro-Jackson newspapers. Clearly, the election had been stolen, but there was nothing to be done about it (even though his attorney, Ebenezer Giuliani, tried). The antagonistic presidential race of 1828 began practically before Adams even took office. To Jacksonians, the Adams-Clay cabal symbolized a corrupt system where elite insiders pursued their own interests without heeding the will of the people. During the Adams administration the Jacksonians denounced their political enemies for using government favors to reward their friends and economic elites. By contrast, Jackson presented himself as a champion of the common man, and by doing so, he furthered the democratization of American politics.
In 1828, John Quincy Adams, considered a pretty good President, did not stand a chance. The campaign was marked by large amounts of mudslinging as both parties attacked the personal qualities of the opposing party's candidate -- which included accusing Jackson’s wife, Rachel, of being a bigamist. Jackson dominated in the South and the West. Adams swept New England but won only three other small states. With the ongoing expansion of the right to vote to most white men, the election marked a dramatic increase in the electorate, with 9.5% of Americans casting a vote for president, compared with 3.4% in 1824. Several states transitioned to a popular vote for president, leaving South Carolina and Delaware as the only states in which the legislature chose presidential electors. When the dust settled that November, Jackson had earned, in round numbers, 643,000 votes to 501,000 for Adams and had thrashed the incumbent in the Electoral College, 178 to 83. Even Henry Clay couldn’t fix that.
Inauguration Day in Washington D.C. in 1829 was March 4. Excitement ran high for the swearing in of the populist. (By the way, Jackson would be the last President who had fought in the Revolutionary War, beginning at age 13.) By 10 a.m., the area in front of the Capitol was filled with people and the stairs on the East Portico were blocked by a ship's cable to prevent the attendees from advancing. A raucous crowd of roughly 21,000 came to see the swearing-in, even if most would not be able to hear the inaugural address. Jackson came on foot to the ceremony, but to avoid the multitude, he used a basement door on the west front to enter the Capitol. When he appeared and faced the crowd, he bowed to great cheers.
The swearing-in took place and President Jackson gave his inaugural address. Then, as he had entered, he left on the west front of the Capitol -- because the crowd had broken the ship's cable and surged forward. Seizing the moment as an opportunity for more adulation, Jackson proceeded to mount a white horse and ride up Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House. While this happened, people were climbing in through the windows to get into the White House.
The overwhelmed staff and servants hastily opened the White House to all for a post-inaugural bacchanal. The building was filled by the public even before Jackson arrived on horseback. Soon afterward, a by-now-cautious Jackson left by a window and proceeded to Gadsby's, later called the National Hotel. The crowd continued to descend into a drunken mob, only dispersed when bowls of liquor and punch were placed on the front lawn to lure them out of the White House.
"I never saw such a mixture," reported Joseph Story, then a justice of the Supreme Court. "The reign of King Mob seemed triumphant." The White House was left a mess, including several thousand dollars’ worth of broken china.
That night an official inaugural ball for administration officials and Washington's high society was held in Carusi's Assembly Rooms. Twelve hundred guests were present, but President Jackson, though fatigued and still mourning the loss of his wife (a humiliated and exhausted Rachel had died a month after the election) slipped out to attend another ball being held in the Central Masonic Hall.
Jackson, who at almost 62 was the oldest man to date to become President, served for two terms and remains one of the more popular Presidents in American history. John Quincy Adams is not, but after being replaced in the White House he was elected to the House of Representatives and had a distinguished career there, until 1848, when he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage while addressing his colleagues. Henry Clay died four years later, having unsuccessfully run for President five times, including twice not earning his own party’s nomination.
Tom Clavin is the bestselling author/co-author of 18 books, including, most recently, “Tombstone: The Earp Brothers, Doc Holliday, and the Vendetta Ride From Hell,” the concluding volume in the “Frontier Lawmen” trilogy. For more info, go to tomclavin.com. “Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America’s First Frontier,” the next collaboration with Bob Drury, will be published in April by St. Martin’s Press.
Keep it up, Tom, great column and so relevant to NOW!