Quincy, Adams County and the Corrupt Bargain of 1825

      After John Wood and Willard Keyes settled on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River in the 1820’s, they formalized their community (called “Bluffs”) as a county, and in 1825, petitioned the Illinois legislature to create “Adams County,” with Bluffs renamed “Quincy” as the county seat. 

      The names honored President John Quincy Adams; a recognition that might seem merely ceremonial. In fact, that choice came after a fiercely disputed election which ended what historians have called “the era of good feelings” in American politics. 

      In 1824, President James Monroe was retiring after two terms, and his apparent successor was Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, the son of former President John Adams. Monroe had easily become President in 1816 after serving as Secretary of State, as had his predecessor, James Madison, who succeeded Thomas Jefferson in 1809. 

      American politics, however, were changing in the 1820’s. President George Washington, in his Farewell Address of 1796, had warned against “political factions” in public life, but supporters of Washington’s Vice President, John Adams, soon became “Federalists”, while supporters of Washington’s Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, became “Democratic—Republicans.” After Jefferson defeated incumbent President John Adams in 1800, the Federalist Party faded, and most politicians claimed the Republican designation. 

      Without divisive presidential campaigns for two decades, the “era of good feelings” myth disguised emerging conflicts. Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase of 1803 brought vast territory into the union, opening debate about slavery in those future states. Moreover, one segment of Republicans, later the Whig Party, wanted a strong central government to oversee internal improvements throughout the nation, while another segment, later the Democratic Party, opposed encroachment by federal authority on states’ rights. 

      James Monroe and James Madison had moved quickly into the presidency from their Cabinet positions, but John Quincy Adams did not, as powerful opponents appeared. Andrew Jackson of Tennessee had become the nation’s military hero by defeating British troops at New Orleans in 1814 and ending the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain. Henry Clay of Kentucky, located geographically and politically in “the West,” was Speaker of the House of Representatives and wanted to be President.   

      As we were reminded recently, Americans voters do not elect their president by a direct majority vote. Instead, Article 2, section 1 of the Constitution created the Electoral College to cast the official vote, with each state given a number of electors equal to its total representation in Congress. If no candidate wins a majority in the Electoral College, the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution directs the House to elect the president from among the top three candidates, with each state allowed one vote in that process. 

      The new state of Illinois, having two senators and one House member, held three electoral votes. Jackson carried Illinois in 1824, but western Illinois voted for Adams. The vote total was 4,671 votes cast in the state with Adams actually winning by 5.23%. Adams won the western and northern part of the state with Jackson winning the south and east. Because of the district-based system for choosing electors, Adams only received one and Jackson two electoral votes. Throughout American history, electors have cast their votes for the candidate winning their state, although the Constitution does not categorically command that result. 

      The Electoral College of 1824 had 261 members, with 131 votes needed to win the presidency. Jackson led with a plurality of 99 electoral votes, winning 41% of the popular vote. Adams had 74 electoral votes, winning 30 % of the popular vote. Other candidates followed, with Clay receiving only 7 electoral votes. Because no candidate had a majority, the election went into the House in 1825, where, with 24 states in the Union, a winner needed 13 votes. 

      Andrew Jackson, winning pluralities in the Electoral College and the popular vote, expected election by the House. Yet Speaker Henry Clay received little electoral or popular support but exerted great influence among House members. Clay yearned to be President eventually and sought to be Secretary of State, the office from which he could follow Madison, Monroe and John Quincy Adams into the office.  

      The House gave Adams 13 votes, including that of Illinois (which Jackson had carried in the popular vote). Upon his inauguration, Adams appointed Clay Secretary of State, and Andrew Jackson protested what he called “the corrupt bargain of 1825” between Adams and Clay. 

      Historians have found no explicit promise by Adams to appoint Clay in return for votes, but Jackson campaigned against the “corrupt bargain,” and defeated Adams in 1828. Jackson’s two presidential terms established the modern Democratic Party and the era of two-party politics. Henry Clay, never elected President, became a Whig known as “the great compromiser” in disputes over extension of slavery. 

       Adams resumed public life in 1831 when his Massachusetts neighbors elected him to the House of Representatives. As a lawyer before the Supreme Court in 1841, he represented Africans kidnapped from Sierra Leone by slave traders transporting them to Cuba in “The Amistad.” After seizing control of the ship, the Africans had been charged with mutiny when it reached waters off New England. Adams and his fellow advocates secured a court decision releasing them from custody and holding that, having been kidnapped, they remained free individuals entitled to resist their illegal imprisonment. 

      American abolitionists helped the thirty-five survivors return to Sierra Leone. The 1997 movie Amistad dramatized their case, with Anthony Hopkins portraying Adams. 

      In the House of Representatives Adams vigorously opposed slavery. He died on February 23, 1848 after collapsing as he rose to speak on the House floor in a debate on slavery. Among those present was the newly–elected representative from the Illinois district which included Quincy and Adams County, Abraham Lincoln, then a Whig, later the President who issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

 Sources

Adams, John Quincy (ed.: Allan Nevins), The Diary of John Quincy Adams, 1794—1845, 

(New York 1951).

Dangerfield, George, The Era of Good Feelings (New York 1952).

Remini, Robert V., Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Freedom, 1822—1832 

(New York 1981).

Schlesinger, Arthur M. Jr., Adams; Age of Jackson (Boston 1945).   

United States v. The Amistad, 40 U.S. 518 (1841); text of opinion is available from FindLaw