The party founded by Thomas Jefferson had first come to power claiming itself as the 'party of the people' during the political campaign. The presidents who had been elected by this party, however, owed perhaps less to the people than to a select group of men: the congressional Republican caucus (nominating committee).
Presidents Jefferson, Monroe and Madison represented a distinct type--Virginians and well-educated, wealthy men who had played a role in America since its founding. With Madison, Monroe and even President John Quincy Adams, a standard had been set. A politician would spend a certain amount of time serving in a presiden'ts cabinet, then essentially be selected by that president as his successor in the next political campaign.
With the election of Andrew Jackson after a political campaign in 1828, the party--and the presidency--entered a new phase. For one thing, voters played a greater role than ever before in ensuring the election of Jackson. Gradually, since 1810, the voting policies in states had been changing. In the oldest states, voting had been restricted to those who owned property of some sort or paid taxes.
As new states joined the Union, this began to change, and gradually one state after another began to shift its voting policies so that the right to vote was given to all white males over the age of 21.
This was an incredibly important shift. Once, presidents had been chosen based on connections and political campaign influence, but suddenly a candidate could appeal directly to the voters and voters could use their infulence to select the candidate that most appealed top them.
Political campaigning for election of 1824 began two years earlier, as various candidates began to position themselves to receive their party's nominations. At one point, there were as many as 16 potential candidates for the Republican Party's nomination. Gradually, they were whittled down to 6 and then to 4: Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, the former Federalist from Massachusetts; William Crawford, the secretary of the treasury; Henry Clay, the Speaker of the House of Representatives; and Andrew Jackson, the military hero who had bee elected as a senator from Tennessee.
The party that had been so disciplined in bringing Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe to office had lost its focus. Chaos reigned as competing interests lobbied for their chosen candidates in the upcoming presidential political campaign.
Without party organization supporting a particular candidate, the election campaign proved to be a mess. Voter turnout was very low, little more than 25 percent. Andrew Jackson led in both the electoral and popular votes, but by such a number that he failed to achieve the necessary majority of electoral votes. This meant that the election had to be decided in the House of Representatives.
According to the Constitution, only the leading three candidates were to be considered. Clay had received the fewest electoral votes, so he was eliminated. Crawford was suffering from a serious illness, misdiagnosed as a stroke, so he, too, was not considered in the House. The contest came down to John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson.
Clay was soon the focus of a different kind of political campaign: intense lobbying efforts by the backers of Adams and Jackson, who wanted his support for their candidates. Clay did not like Jackson, however, and did not think that he had the qualifications to serve as president. Clay met several times with Adams and ultimately gave his support (and his electoral votes) to Adams, who was then declared to be president.
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