A History of the American People

than ever before, though with the country prosperous again there was no wrathful rising of the
people-and America was already showing a propensity towards low turnouts, or low registrations
of eligible voters. In Massachusetts, where Adams was the Favorite Son, only 37,000 votes were
cast, against 60,000 for governor the year before. In Ohio, where 76,000 turned out for the
governorship race earlier in the autumn, only 59,000 voted for the presidency. Virginia had a
white population of 625,000: only 15,000 voted and in Pennsylvania only 47,000 voted, though
the population had already passed the million mark.All the same, with 356,038 votes cast, Jackson, with 153,544, emerged the clear leader. Adams, the runner-up, was 40,000 votes behind, with 108,740. Jackson also won more electoral college votes, having ninety-nine, against eighty-four for Adams, forty-one for Crawford, and thirty-seven for Clay. He carried eleven states, against seven for Adams. By any reckoning, Jackson was the winner. However, under the Twelfth Amendment, if no presidential candidate scored a majority of the electoral votes, the issue had to be taken to the 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 smoked a great Powhatan Bowl Pipe with a long stem,' puffing out until the room wasso 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, though both disliked each other. They met twice, on January 9 and 29, 1825, and the
first meeting was probably decisive, though Adams' normally copious diary, while recording it,
pointedly omits to say what took place. Possibly the prudish and high-principled Adams could
not bring himself to record the deal, if there was a deal. At all events, when the House met, Clay
insured that Adams got thirteen states, the winning minimum. The Kentucky vote was
particularly scandalous, Clay himself casting it for Adams, though he did not get a single vote
there. On February 14, Clay got his part of the bargain: Adams officially appointed him
Secretary of State. The office had more significance then than now, since the holder was
automatically the next front-runner for the presidency.
Jackson's wrath exploded. He wrote the same evening: So you see the Judas of the West has closed the contract and will receive the thirty pieces of silver. His end will be the same. Was there ever witnessed such bare-face corruption?' The cry,Corrupt Bargain,' was uttered and
taken up all over the country. It became the theme for Jackson's next presidential campaign,
which began immediately. The way in which Jackson, having got most suffrages, most electoral
votes, and most states, was robbed of the presidency by a furtive deal seemed to most people to
prove up to the hilt what he had been saying about a corrupt Washington, which he had been
elected' to purify. So it was the electorate, as well as Jackson, which had been swindled. Clay did not help matters. Instead of keeping a dignified silence, he produced various, and contradictory, explanations for his giving the presidency to Adams. Jackson exulted:How little
common sense this man displays! Oh, that mine enemy would write a book! ... silence would