Andrew Jackson was not a man to be trifled with. Slashed on the head with a British officer’s sword as a boy during the American Revolution; destroyer of the advancing redcoats through the fog at New Orleans; and the man who simply “took” Spanish Florida. (My family thanks you, kind Sir, whenever we’re sunning at Destin.) If you were John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay, this was not the type of man you wanted swearing vengeance against you in the aftermath of the contested Presidential Election of 1824.
Was there a “Corrupt Bargain” made for Speaker of the House Henry Clay to throw his supporters behind John Qunicy Adams in the House during the state delegations’ vote to determine the 1824 Presidential Election which hadn’t produced a candidate with the required majority of electoral votes?
Neither Adams or Clay ever admitted to such a deal, but given the number of previous presidents whose resumes included the office of Secretary of State (“Little Marco” Rubio, anyone?); it isn’t going too far out on a limb to surmise Sen. Andrew Jackson and his supporters were correct in their assertions of an Adams-Clay plot.
Jackson’s congressional allies settled upon a plan of sabotaging the JQA Administration. The vehicle chosen for the mission was the Tariff of 1828, which would be remembered in American History as the “Tariff of Abominations.” Why on earth would John Quincy Adams support a piece of legislation filled with so many poison pills in a presidential election year? Fidelity to Henry Clay’s “American System” and Congressional Democrats who demanded an “all-or-nothing” bill.
For me, the three most memorable features inside the facsimile of Henry Clay’s Ashland (Today’s Ashland was completed as a tribute to his father in a splendid Victorian-style by Clay’s son James in 1857.) are the memorabilia connected to Henry Clay, Jr.’s tragic death at the Battle of Buena Vista on 30 March 1847; the spectacular mahogany paneled library with dragon chandelier; and the stained glass window in one of the stairways depicting the key points in Clay’s “American System” (protective tariffs, a national bank, and federal funding for infrastructure).
As the “Era of Good Feelings” Uni-Party period was coming to a close, “Republican” Adams was clearly gravitating even closer towards the soon-to-be Whig Party. (When the old Republican Party fully transformed into the modern Democrat Party; Jackson’s opponents took the “Whig” name from the British Parliament's label for the party in opposition to the king.) As an aside, JQA still holds the distinction of being the only former president to go on to serve in the US House; he did so as a Whig for fourteen years before suffering what would be a fatal stroke at his House floor desk in 1848.
Jackson’s congressional supporters loaded the Tariff of 1828 with trade regulations that made economic activity not only difficult for northern industrialists (JQA’s political base), but also southern agricultural interests (Jackson’s base). Why on earth design a piece of legislation to intentionally inflict pain upon not just your opponent’s, but your own base, too? Power. Jackson’s allies were more than willing to see the entire country harmed if it produced enough rage against Adams to give them the outcome they wished for in the upcoming Presidential Election of 1828. Democrats have always played hardball.
I tip my hat to them.
Next Week: Current Events
Shane Morris is a retired soldier and teacher. Contact at sigm11@yahoo.com (Subject: NtC)
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