A History of the American People

House of Representatives, which picked the winner from the top three, voting by states. That, in
practice, made Clay, Speaker of the House, the broker. As fourth-runner, he was now excluded
from the race. But he determined he would decide who won it, and profit accordingly.
The House was due to meet February 9, 1825. Jackson reached Washington on December 7,
1824, after a twenty-eight-day journey from Tennessee. In a letter to his old army crony John
Coffee, he claimed the place was thick with rumors of a deal but he was taking no part in any
political talks: Mrs Jackson and myself go to no parties [but remain] at home smoking our pipes.' (This was a formidable operation: his wife had clay pipes but Jackson smokeda great
Powhatan Bowl Pipe with a long stem,' puffing out until the room was so obfuscated that one could hardly breathe.') Clay's people put out feelers, asking what office was likely to go to their principal if Jackson was elected. Later, Jackson was asked to confirm this rumor:Is that a fact?'
Jackson: Yes, Sir, such a proposition was made. I said to the bearer, "Go tell Mr Clay, tell Mr. Adams, that if I go to that chair, I go with clean hands." ' However, Adams and Clay were less squeamish, naivety, shrewdness, insight, and prejudice. His tone of voice, in speech and writings, was sub-Biblical.I weep for my country,' he asserted, often. Banks, Washington in general, the
War Department in particular, and his massed enemies were The Great Whore of Babylon.' Hostile newspapers poured on him what he calledtheir viols of wrath.' He himself would
cleans the orgean stables.' By contrast, his aide, Major John Eaton (1790-1854), who became a US senator in 1818, and acted as Jackson's political chief-of-staff and amanuensis, was a skilled writer. He turned theclean up Washington' theme into a national campaign, the first modern
election campaign, in fact. In early summer 1823, Eaton wrote a series of eleven political articles
signed Wyoming,' for the Columbian Observer of Philadelphia. They were reprinted as a pamphlet, Letters o f Wyoming, and reproduced in newspapers all over the country. The theme, worked out in specific detail and couched in impressive rhetoric, was that the country had fallen into theHands of Mammon' and that the voters must now insure that it returned to the pure
principles of the Revolution.
Jackson was attacked in turn in this newspaper and pamphlet warfare, the most damaging
assault coming from the highly respected former Treasury Secretary, Albert Gallatin, who
asserted that whenever Jackson had been entrusted with power he had abused it. With the
appalling example of Latin America in mind, Gallatin reminded voters: General Jackson has expressed a greater and bolder disregard for the first principles of liberty than I have ever known to be entertained by any American.' This line, too, was widely reproduced. Yet Jackson, despite the warnings, proved an outstanding candidate, then and later. Tall, slender, handsome, fierce, but also frail and often ill-looking, he made people, especially women, feel protective. With his reputation for wildness and severity, his actual courtesy, when people finally met him, was overwhelming. Daniel Webster testified:General Jackson's manners are more presidential than
those of any of the candidates ... my wife is for him decidedly.’ It was the first case, in fact, of
presidential charisma in American history.
The presidential election of 1824 was an important landmark for more than one reason.
Originally there were five candidates; Crawford, Calhoun, Clay, Adams, and Jackson. But
Calhoun withdrew to become vice-presidential candidate on both tickets, and a stroke rendered
Crawford a weak runner: he came in a poor third. In the event it was a race between Adams and
Jackson. The electoral college system was still important. In Georgia, New York, Vermont,
Louisiana, Delaware, and South Carolina, the electors of the president were chosen by state
legislatures. Elsewhere there were already statewide tickets, though voting by districts still took
place in Maine, Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Maryland. The number of electors was larger