The Corrupt Bargain

Well liked by the public for his reputation of a war hero and withholding common man status, Andrew Jackson had the raw materials for gaining both the electoral and popular vote that would make him the sixth president of the United States. Of the four candidates running, Andrew Jackson won thirty-eight percent of the electoral vote and forty-three percent of the popular vote, his most threatening opponent, John Quincy Adams won thirty-two percent of the electoral vote and thirty-one percent of the popular vote. Behind Jackson and Adams was William H. Crawford, who won sixteen percent of the electoral vote and thirteen percent of the popular vote, and Henry Clay, who won fourteen percent of the electoral vote and thirteen percent of the popular vote.1 Because none of the candidates won the majority of the votes it was thrown into the House of Representatives. Clay was out of the race, for the Constitution stipulated that the House, voting by states, should choose between the three candidates receiving the highest electoral totals, which was Jackson, Adams, and Crawford. Unfortunately for Jackson the speaker of the house was his former opponent, Henry Clay, who did not share Jackson's political views. Clay was in favor of Adams and suggested the House vote for John Quincy Adams. Clay's influence proved effective because Adams won the majority on the first ballot, Adams receiving thirteen votes and Jackson receiving seven. This angered Jackson and his supporters, however, when John Quincy Adams made Henry Clay his secretary of state, the traditional stepping stone to the presidency, Jackson believed a corrupt bargain had been struck, though it was simply politics seeing as even thought Jackson had majority in the original vote, the probability that the members of the House were able to vote for their original choice for president were slim and because Adams supported the American System as did Clay who had a major impact on the way the votes were cast because he was the speaker of the House and could suggest Adams.

Perhaps Henry Clay knew long before the original votes were cast that his political standing and knack for improvising compromises would not be enough to win the electoral votes needed for him to be presented as one of the three candidates the House of Representatives had to choose from for president. As the electoral vote was drawing near he had a private conversation with Adams in which the two met at Adams estate to discuss public affairs. Some time in the duration of Clay's short stay he had told Adams that if General Jackson, Mr. Crawford and Adams were to come before the House, his preference would be Adams.2 Clay dismissed Jackson as a military figure with no political experience and as a rival in the West.

When the vote was thrown to the House, it was simple. John Quincy Adam's supported Henry Clay's American System whereas Jackson was utterly opposed. With the speaker of the House being Henry Clay himself, he was bound to advise the other members in the House to cast their vote in Adams' favor. This was not unjust by any means considering that he had the authority to do so and the members of the House have a choice. Regardless of whether or not Clay was later appointed as Adams secretary of state, he would not have voted for Jackson anyway considering his opposition to the American System.

Accusations and rumors about a deal between Clay and Adams were rampant. Indeed, in January there appeared in the Philadelphia Columbian Observer an anonymous letter charging that Clay had sold out to Adams for an appointment as Secretary of State. Clay immediately denied the charge and published a "card" challenging his accuser to a duel. The duel was never fought, nor was any proof of the bargain ever provided. One of Adams' first acts as President was to appoint Henry Clay as his Secretary of State; thus, according to the Jacksonians, was the "corrupt bargain" consummated.3 Jackson and his supporters believed that he had been cheated out of the Presidency because he had refused to bargain with Clay. They viewed Jackson as the obvious popular choice, and thought he should have been named President.

Contrary to the belief of Jackson, his supporters, and a numerous amount of historians since then, there had been no bargaining whatsoever. This election had been purely political, nothing more. There had been five original candidates, Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, William H. Crawford, Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, Calhoun withdrawing before the election to run for vice president. Considering there were five candidates to originally choose from, mathematically speaking, the probability that the candidate they wanted or