| U.s. Presidential Election, 1828 |
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The U.S. presidential election of 1828 featured a rematch between incumbent President John Quincy Adams and chief rival Andrew Jackson , who was now a candidate under the banner of the new Democratic Party . Unlike the 1824 Election , no other major candidates appeared in the race, allowing Jackson to consolidate a power base and easily win an electoral victory over Adams . BACKGROUND Jackson had won a plurality of both the popular(a) and electoral votes in the Election Of 1824 , but had still been beaten by John Quincy Adams when the election was thrown into the House of Representatives. Henry Clay , the then- Speaker Of The House , had played kingmaker by throwing his support to Adams; when Adams made Clay his Secretary of State, Jackson and his followers accused Clay and Adams of a "corrupt bargain", and had been bashing Adams' presidency as ill mated ever since. (a) ''It should be noted that a full quarter of the states did not hold a popular vote.'' GENERAL ELECTION Campaign This campaign was marked by an impressive amount of mud-slinging. Jackson's marriage came in for attack: when he had married his wife Rachel, the couple had believed that she was divorced; however, the divorce was not yet finalized, so he had had to remarry her once the legal papers were complete. In the Adams campaign's hands, this became a scandal. One pamphlet asked: "Ought a convicted adulteress and her paramour husband to be placed in the highest offices of this free and Christian land?" The notorious Coffin Handbills attacked Jackson for his courts martial and execution of deserters, for his massacres of Indian villages, and for his habit of dueling. Adams did not escape attack. It was charged that Adams, while serving as Minister to Russia, had surrendered an American servant girl to the appetites of the Czar. Adams was accused of using public funds to buy gambling devices for the presidential residence; it turned out that these were a chess set and a pool table. Results The selection of electors began on October 31 with elections in Ohio and Pennsylvania and ended on November 13 with elections in North Carolina. The Electoral College met on December 3 . Adams won exactly the same states that his father had won in the Election Of 1800 : the New England states, New Jersey, and Delaware. Jackson won everything else. Source (Popular Vote): Source (Electoral Vote): (a) ''The popular vote figures exclude Delaware and South Carolina . In both of these states, the Electors were chosen by the state legislatures rather than by popular vote.'' AFTERMATH Rachel Jackson had been having chest pains throughout the campaign, aggravated by the personal attacks on her marriage. She became ill and died, humiliated, on December 22 , 1828 . Jackson accused the Adams campaign of causing her death, saying, "May God Almighty forgive her murderers as I know she forgave them. I never can." ELECTORAL COLLEGE SELECTION
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