The 1828 election was the eleventh presidential election in the United States. For the second election in a row, John Quincy Adams went up against his Democratic opponent, Andrew Jackson.
In their first match, Adams had narrowly defeated Jackson in the tie-breaking vote in the House of Representatives, even though Jackson had received a higher number of electoral votes. In the rematch of 1828, Jackson defeated Adams by a wide margin and became the seventh President of the United States.
This election saw the division of the Democratic-Republican Party into two divergent parties: the Democratic Party and the National Republican Party. The Democratic Party supported Andrew Jackson, choosing him as their party nominee not long after his 1924 loss to Adams. John C. Calhoun, though he had been serving as vice president under Adams at the time, switched sides and ran as Jackson’s running mate in the 1828 election. The National Republican Party formed in opposition to Jackson, choosing to support Adams instead. Richard Rush of Pennsylvania took on the position of vice presidential candidate and the running mate of Adams.
Andrew Jackson won the election with 178 electoral votes to the 83 given to John Quincy Adams. Seven of the Democratic electors voted for William Smith to be vice president instead of John C. Calhoun.
The campaign was characterized by personal attacks and smear tactics from both sides, most of which were found to be untrue or exaggerated. Both candidates were accused of various immoralities, ranging from murder to illegal gambling with government money. Among the attacks, a scandal surrounded Jackson’s marriage. Newspapers and propaganda called his wife, Rachel, an adulteress because she was in the midst of a divorce when she married Andrew Jackson. During the election, Rachel suffered from health issues, which had been worsened by the personal attacks. She died before Andrew Jackson was sworn into office, and he blamed the malicious campaign tactics for her death.
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