Presidential Election of 1828 The presidential election of 1828 was between the senator of Tennessee, Andrew Jackson and the John Q. Adams, the current President in office. This election was known as a rematch from the election of 1824. Unlike the election of 1824, rather than 4 major candidates there were only 2, allowing Jackson to easily win an electoral victory over Adams. This campaign was marked by an impressive amount of scandals. Andrew Jackson was born either in North Carolina on March 15, 1767. Jackson joined the Continental Army at 13.
In May 1814 he was made Major General of the army fighting the War of 1812. On January 8, 1815, he defeated the British in New Orleans and was lauded as a hero. Andrew Jackson was a lawyer in North Carolina and then Tennessee. In 1796, he served at the convention that created the Tennessee Constitution. He was elected in 1796 as Tennessee’s first US Representative and then as US Senator in 1797 from which he resigned after eight months. From 1798-1804, he was a Justice on the Tennessee Supreme Court. After serving in the military and being the military governor of Florida in 1821, Jackson became a US Senator.
John Quincy Adams was born on July 11, 1767 in Braintree, Massachusetts. He was the first president who was the son of a President. For the most part, in his career and viewpoints, he followed in his father’s footsteps. He gained his early education in Europe at the University of Leiden. Then he graduated from Harvard University in 1787 and became an attorney. Adams was elected to the Massachusetts State Senate in 1802, but ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives in that same year. Not too long after, he ran as a Federalist and was elected to the U. S Senate serving from March 4, 1803, until June 8, 1808.
After their race for the presidency in 1824, with 2 other candidates as well, Adams walked away with the victory. In 1825, a few months after Adams inauguration, the Tennessee legislature renominated Jackson for president. This set the stage for a rematch between these two very different politicians three years hence. No nominating caucus was held. Jackson accepted the current vice president, John C. Calhoun as his running mate. At this point Jackson’s supporters called themselves Democrats, thus marking the evolution of Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party into the modern Democratic Party.
The campaign had a great amount of mudslinging. When Jackson married his wife Rachel, her previous divorce was not yet finalized, so he had to remarry her once the legal papers were complete. 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. In the end, Adams won almost exactly the same states as his father won in the election of 1800, but Jackson came out on top as the victor. Jackson accused the Adams campaign, and Henry Clay, for his wife’s death, saying, “I can and do forgive my enemies.
But those vile wretches who have slandered her must look to GOD for mercy. ” References Schmidt, Shelley, Bardes, Maxwell, & Crain. (2007-2008). American Government and Politics Today Texas Edition (13th Edition). Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning. Wikipedia. United States Presidential Election, 1828 http://en. wikipedia. org/…/united_states_presidential_election_1828 History Central. Election of 1828 www. historycentral. com/election/1828. htlm American History Series: Election of 1828, A Bitter Campaign www. 1. voanews. com
