AP American History October 21, 1997 The year of 1828 was a tumultuous year in American politics. It so happened that it was a presidential election year. The election of 1828 was different from any other presidential election up to that point. The election not only set a precedent, but was also one of the bitterest in American history. Out of all the elections up to that point, it had all the makings of a present-day campaign. The two modern aspects evident in the campaign were horrific mudslinging and the choice of presidential electors by a popular vote. The two men running for the office of president that year were the incumbent, John Adams, and the once-defeated Andrew Jackson. John Adams ran as a National Republican, later to be known as the Whigs. Adams had the support of the respectable Secretary of State, Henry Clay, but he did not have the support of his own Vice-President, John C.
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Political cartoon predicting Polk's defeat by ClayCalhoun. Calhoun was very powerful in the politics of that time period. He threw his support in favor Jackson because he could tell that Adams and the Republicans wanted Henry Clay to succeed Adams in the election of 1832. William H. Crawford, presidential hopeful in 1824, also gave his support to Jackson. However, the most important man to lend his backing to Jackson was Martin Van Buren, because he could tell that Jackson was going places. Jackson was running as a Democratic Republican. Because the Democrats are widely known to be the party of the common man, Jackson could use the theory of us against them. The Democrats also gained the support of the newly formed Workingman's Party. When Adams had beaten Jackson for president four years before, the Jacksonians protested that there was a corrupt bargain between Clay and Adams.