Controversial Elections - Part 2

Will the election of 2020 have a clear winner?  If the election is close, the parties will argue over the proper counting of absentee and mail-in ballots. Allegations will be made of voter suppression and ballot harvesting - potentially an unstable, even violent scenario. While chaotic, it would not be unprecedented. Several Presidential elections took months to resolve.  Previously we covered the election of 1800, which went to the House of Representatives and took until February 1801 to be resolved. (Click here for that article) 1824 saw the next close, controversial election.

Elections 1816 - 1820

By 1824, the Democratic-Republicans were the only political party in the country.

The Federalist Party, strongest in New England, opposed the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain. In late 1814, the New England states called for a meeting to discuss their concerns, later known as the Hartford Convention. Among the topics discussed was New England signing a separate peace with Great Britain and even succession from the Union! By the time the Convention representatives went to Washington D.C. to present their demands, the United States and Great Britain had signed a peace treaty. Also, Andrew Jackson had won his overwhelming 1815 victory in the Battle of New Orleans, boosting American morale and reinforcing the end to the War of 1812. The country associated the Federalist Party with defeatism, disunion, and succession. The party was discredited.

The Democratic-Republican candidate, James Monroe, won the 1816 election in a landslide. After this election, the Federalist Party dissolved. The next few years became known as the ‘Era of Good Feelings.’ The country was optimistic after the War of 1812, its independence now established. President Monroe won re-election in 1820, unopposed, yes unopposed.

The Election of 1824

1824 Electoral Votes by State

Which brings us to 1824. There is only one political party, but who should run for President? Factions developed within the Democratic-Republican Party. No single individual stood out as a widely accepted candidate. The result, four candidates ran in 1824. Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, William Crawford of Georgia, and Henry Clay of Kentucky.

Prior to this election, instead of a popular vote, the state legislatures in many states selected the electors for the Electoral College. By 1824, 18 of the 24 states used the popular vote to pick their electors. Further, many states expanded the voting franchise to all white male citizens by dropping property ownership requirements. As a result, the popular vote tally in 1824 was more than four times the total just four years before.

As shown on the nearby map, Adams received his support from the Northeast. Henry Clay’s support came from his home state of Kentucky plus nearby Ohio and Missouri. Crawford, from two Southern States. Only Andrew Jackson received widespread support from across the country. Jackson received a plurality of the popular vote and the electoral vote, but not a majority (table 1) Hence there was no winner.

This sent the election to the House of Representatives to choose from the top three finishers. Each state receives one vote, irrespective of size.  Each State can vote however it wants, irrespective of the electoral or popular vote of the State during the election. With 24 states in the Union, 13 were needed to select the President. Andrew Jackson believed he should be selected as President. He had won both the popular and electoral vote. His support was geographically diverse. He won the most electoral votes in 11 states. The second-place finisher, Quincy Adams had won the most electoral votes in seven states. Third-place finisher Crawford narrowly won more electoral votes than Clay, who was eliminated as only the top three candidates can be considered.

With Clay eliminated, which candidate should his states support? Andrew Jackson finished second in each of these states, and only by under 1,000 votes in Ohio. If you take the states that Jackson won, plus add in the three states where he finished second behind the eliminated Henry Clay, that would provide the states Jackson needed for the House to select him as President. (see table 2)

Table 3 - Final Tally in House of Representatives

But it did not work out that way. Keeping in mind that each State delegation in the House can vote as it chooses, independent of the election, Clay decided to use his influence as Speaker of the House, to support Adams since he detested Jackson. In one letter to a friend Clay said, “[Andrew Jackson] is ignorant, passionate, hypocritical, corrupt, and easily swayed by the basest men who surround him.” In another letter he stated, “I cannot believe that killing two thousand five hundred Englishmen at New Orleans, qualifies for the various, difficult, and complicated duties of the chief magistracy.”

In the three states Clay won, Ohio, Kentucky, and Missouri, he lobbied the delegations to vote for Adams, and they did, even though Jackson had outpolled Adams in those states. Recall that the State delegations are free to choose to vote as they please regardless of the election result in their state. In addition, the House delegations from Illinois, Louisiana, and Maryland selected Adams even though those states had awarded their electoral votes to Jackson. Finally, North Carolina voted for Crawford although it voted for Jackson in the Electoral College. The final result is shown in table 3.

As you can imagine, Jackson’s supporters were angered at the result. When Adams subsequently appointed Clay to be Secretary of State, Jackson’s supporters were further enraged, accusing Adams and Clay of a ‘corrupt bargain’ where Clay supported Adams in return for the Cabinet appointment. President Adams essentially declared Clay to be his successor to the Presidency, as the prior three Presidents and Adams had all served as Secretary of State.

Imagine, for example, if this year’s 2020 election ends in a tie between Trump and Biden. And that Michigan is won narrowly by Trump. But the Michigan delegation currently has a narrow Democratic majority and votes for Biden. And further, Michigan’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, is nominated to Biden’s Cabinet. Or, the flip situation. Biden barely wins the Florida vote, but the Florida House Republican majority votes for Trump. And subsequently the Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis is selected for Trump’s Cabinet. Under each of these situations, the other party would be furious. Twitter would explode. Facebook would go crazy.

And that is what happened in 1824. Andrew Jackson and his livid supporters opposed Quincy Adams and his programs. 1828 saw a rematch between Adams and Jackson. In a harsh political campaign, Jackson won easily.

(Part 1 - click here; Part 3 - click here)