WEBVTT - Founding Son: Episode 1 - The Corrupt Bargain 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:32.600 I'm Bob Crawford. This is founding son John Quincy's America. 0:00:34.839 --> 0:00:39.679 There's a town in Massachusetts, just outside of Boston called Quincy. 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:43.999 In that town you'll find a home called Peacefield. And 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:48.479 in that house you'll find a clock. It's a clock 0:00:48.559 --> 0:00:51.639 that belonged to John Adams, our second president, one of 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:56.679 our founders. It still works today, marking the seconds and hours, 0:00:57.000 --> 0:01:00.800 two hundred years after his death. I like to imagine 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:03.640 John and his wife Abigail, sitting in their parlor hearing 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:06.480 it tick as they talked about the nation they helped create. 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:10.040 What would they have said about it? I like to 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:14.600 imagine their son, John Quincy Adams, greeted by its steady 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:18.320 beat when he returned home from Washington for his father's funeral. 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:24.080 John Quincy was President of the United States when his 0:01:24.160 --> 0:01:27.920 father died. Like his father before him, he reached the 0:01:27.960 --> 0:01:32.240 pinnacle of political success. Yet he never escaped the long 0:01:32.320 --> 0:01:37.960 shadow cast by the founding father, John Adams. John Quincy 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:41.920 Adams would not be remembered as a national hero no 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:45.400 matter what he did, how hard he tried, or how 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:51.840 much time he had. By many accounts, John Quincy Adams 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:55.960 accomplished just as much even more than his father, beginning 0:01:55.960 --> 0:01:59.000 with his education in staycraft at just ten years old, 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:02.640 following his dad on diplomatic missions to France during the 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:07.280 height of the American Revolution. In life, facing down Southern 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:14.160 politicians who held Congress in a chokehold, John Quincy Adams 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:17.600 was the only president elected to the House of Representatives 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:22.400 after leaving office. You could argue that he did more 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:25.760 for this nation in his nearly two decades as a 0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:30.120 congressman than he did as President, thrusting the issue of 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:34.520 slavery to the center of political debate when Southern politicians 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:39.760 wanted to silence the very discussion of it. The slave ocracy, 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:43.160 as John Quincy called it, had to be stopped. The 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:46.880 slavery the snake coiled under the table when the Constitution 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:50.880 was drafted, was unfurled and slithering into our culture and 0:02:50.920 --> 0:02:53.720 our laws. The head of the snake needed to be 0:02:53.800 --> 0:03:00.000 lopped clean off. John Quincy never gave up the fight, 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:03.680 ultimately collapsing at his desk in the US Capitol and 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:07.200 dying on the job, paving the way for Abraham Lincoln 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:11.200 and the next generation of lawmakers and activists to finally 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:15.480 end human bondage in America. He was the right man 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:18.640 for his time, a bridge that linked the founding of 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:21.960 our nation to the war that freed its enslaved citizens 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:26.239 and preserve the union. His war was not against tyranny 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:29.200 like his father's, but a war for the direction of 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:32.880 the fledgling nation, a nation being pulled apart as a 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:39.760 new generation took the reins. This is what led me 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:42.560 to tell the story of John Quincy Adams, a man 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:45.720 whose story is just as relevant today as it was 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:48.840 two hundred years ago. Some of you know me as 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:52.200 a musician. I'm the basis for the Avett Brothers, and 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:54.360 as a musician, I spent a lot of time on 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:58.640 the road. I fill that time by reading mostly biographies 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:01.640 in American history. Some of you who know me well 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:06.000 know I also host a historical podcast called The to Now. 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:09.280 Of all the figures in American history who have gotten 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:12.600 lost in the annals of time, John Quincy Adams tops 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:16.719 my list. Can you name one of his accomplishments. He 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:20.360 fought to protect American democracy and build the nation while 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:23.360 others sought to infiltrate the government and tear it down 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:27.600 from the inside. He fought for the Constitution and American 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:32.320 ideals putting the nation above any political party, even his own. 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:37.360 A true maverick, a poet, a public servant, a president. 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:43.320 I'm Bob Crawford, and this is founding son John Quincy's America, 0:04:48.120 --> 0:05:02.240 Chapter one, The Corrupt Bargain. In the late fall of 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:05.760 eighteen twenty four, votes were still being counted in America's 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:10.440 tenth presidential election. James Monroe was about to leave office. 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:14.440 His secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, won in the gig. 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:17.920 He was itching for it, so John Quincy threw his 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:21.440 hat in the ring. Do you think that in some 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:25.440 way inside, John Quincy Adams felt like the presidency was 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:27.239 his birthright. Yes. 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:30.839 I don't think it was really because he had some 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:32.960 notion of hereditary succession. 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:36.279 That's John Quincy Adams biographer James Traub. 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:40.480 I think it's more because he was brought up by 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:46.880 his parents to see serving this infant republic, which became 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:49.719 a republic, it became a free nation while he was 0:05:50.000 --> 0:05:52.719 a boy as the highest good. 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:57.280 By eighteen twenty four, one of the two original political parties, 0:05:57.320 --> 0:06:02.120 the Federalist disintegrated, leaving really only one party, the Democratic 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:06.240 Republican Party. Since every candidate was technically a member of 0:06:06.280 --> 0:06:09.560 the same party. This period became known as the Era 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:13.640 of Good Feelings. Despite the name, there was plenty of 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:18.160 factionalism and discord. The four way race to replace Monroe 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:23.880 devolved into an all out brawl. Adams was facing off 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:26.039 against the crowded field. And I don't want this to 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:28.240 get too confusing for you, so let me break it down. 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:32.920 These are the candidates. William Crawford no relation, a Georgia 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:37.360 statesman and Monroe's Secretary of the Treasury. Henry Clay, a 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:41.200 season lawmaker from Kentucky who is ambitious as it gets 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:45.880 you'll see later. But his most potent challenger was Andrew Jackson, 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:49.000 a US senator and former general from Tennessee. 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:59.200 Andrew Jackson was an adventurer. He was not just a 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:03.280 military figure. He was a military figure who almost could 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:09.640 not be restrained. He famously fought a war against first 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:13.440 the Spanish and then the Indians, which was really brutal, 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:17.640 and famously executed two British citizens who he said were 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:19.960 agents on a drumhead. That is to say, he had 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:23.680 his own impromptu court and hanged them. He was an 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:25.360 ungovernable figure. 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:28.520 Is there a single word or a sentence you would 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:29.960 use to describe. 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:32.560 Andrew Jackson probably not a very nice one. 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:37.000 Presidential historian Lindsay Schervinsky picks it up from there. 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:39.800 By the time that he died, he owned one hundred 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:43.760 and fifty enslaved people, which was a huge estate, and 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:47.960 so he presented himself as this man of the people, 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:50.080 but actually was incredibly wealthy. 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:54.200 Jackson did not back down from a fight. For many 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:57.200 Southerners at the time, dueling was a common way of life, 0:07:57.360 --> 0:07:59.960 and Jackson had a number of them under his belt. 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:03.440 The concept of honor and honor culture some feels a 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:06.600 little bit foreign to us, but it was essential at 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:09.480 that point because your reputation and your honor was what 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:13.080 made possible business arrangements, business deals, whether or not you 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:16.920 could get credit, what families you were able to socialize 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:19.760 with or marry into, and so it was really important 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:22.680 to people, and there was this sense that you had 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:26.240 to defend it, even up through violence, and so dueling 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:30.200 was a very complex system, and most duels actually were 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:33.560 not violent, and so Andrew Jackson himself had been in 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:36.480 several duels where they agreed to either walk away or 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:40.079 they agreed to fire into the sky. So while fans 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:43.200 of Hamilton may know that that duel was fatal, most 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:48.400 were not. Now, some that Andrew Jackson were in were violent. 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:53.600 In eighteen oh six, Jackson killed a man in a duel, 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:56.920 and in another one Jackson took a bullet to the shoulder. 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:00.960 In the election of eighteen twenty four, all bets were 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:04.600 on Jackson to win. He was a war hero, a firebrand, 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:08.040 riding a populist wave. More states were joining the Union 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:11.960 all the time, bringing new voters to each election, and Jackson, 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:15.400 being a tough talking Southerner, was popular with these voters. 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:19.040 He promised to wrestle federal government control from New England 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:21.600 and East Coast elites and put it in the hands 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:24.400 of the people. Whether it was true or not, he 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:27.959 was seen as one of them, a common man empowering 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:29.000 the common man. 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:33.400 A lot of states started to amend their suffrage laws, 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:36.360 meaning more people had the right to vote. Now, of course, 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:39.600 at this time it still really only applied to white men, 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:43.600 but a lot of states dropped the property requirements, so 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:47.040 even if you were not a landholder, you could still vote, 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:50.680 which meant that what we might think of as more 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:54.240 sort of radical voters started to have a voice in 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:55.120 this process. 0:09:57.240 --> 0:10:01.480 Establishment politicians like Clan Adams feared Jackson, and they had 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:03.280 no idea what he would do as president. 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:06.240 They didn't know if he would work to undermine these 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:09.959 institutions that they felt were really essential to long term success. 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:12.840 And there was a lingering sense, and this had been 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:18.600 an inheritance from the founding generation, that populism or mob 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:23.480 control would lead to anarchy, and so they weren't sure 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:26.120 if you gave the people too much power what they 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:27.800 would do with it, if they would tear down the 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:31.319 entire system. 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:35.000 If you were a voter in eighteen twenty four, Jackson 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:38.600 was the wild card and Adams was the safe bet. 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:41.640 He promised to unite the nation, and he was by 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:43.840 far the most qualified to be president. 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:49.000 In John Quincy Adams's day, the presidency was almost a 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:53.280 thing that you succeeded to by right, that is to say, 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:57.280 you earned your way to it by conspicuous public service. 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:01.000 Adams had been a diplomat from the age of twenty six. 0:11:01.120 --> 0:11:03.760 Really he became America's senior diplomat while he was still 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:04.920 in his thirties. 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:08.160 He had been the Secretary of State for eight years 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:12.480 and had an incredible tenure, got some really major treaties 0:11:12.560 --> 0:11:15.520 passed that were essential to the United States future, as 0:11:15.560 --> 0:11:19.120 well as the articulation of the Monroe Doctrine, and was 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:21.559 I think one of the best secretaries of State we've 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:22.079 ever had. 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:26.000 Up until eighteen twenty four. Being secretary of State was 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:29.400 like being president in waiting. In the short life of 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:33.400 the Republic, three former secretaries of State were elected President, 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:39.640 Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe. Now Adams was up. 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:46.240 So he's coming into this position thinking, surely, hit some 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:50.320 my turn. Surely the American people will select me and 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:52.320 recognize these credentials. 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:54.960 As he waited for the election. In the fall of 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:59.280 eighteen twenty four, Adams returned to Quincy to visit his 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:03.600 aging father, the ex president. Pondering his fate, he walked 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:07.480 through the family graveyard, visiting his sister Nabby, who had 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:11.800 died from breast cancer. As he paced, perhaps the words 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:15.160 of his father rang in his ear. If you do 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:17.920 not rise to the head not only of your profession, 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:20.400 but of your country, it will be owing to your 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:26.640 own laziness, slovenliness, and obstinacy. Adams also stopped at the 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:30.800 grave of his great great grandfather, Henry Adams, who came 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:33.760 over from England nearly two centuries. 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:38.480 Before last another century, we shall all be moldering in 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:44.560 the same dust, or resolved in the same elements. You, then, 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:48.480 of our posterity, shall visit this yard. What shall he 0:12:48.560 --> 0:12:53.360 read engraved upon the stones? This is known only to 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:58.319 the creator of all The record may be longer, may 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:01.640 be of as blameless lives. 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:06.360 When the election got under weigh in October, John Quincy's 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:10.520 anxiety only got worse. What if all this experience, his 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:14.000 diplomatic skills, his knowledge, What if it wasn't enough to 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:17.320 rise above the anger and resentment the war hero General 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:21.240 Jackson stoked in the minds of voters, what do you 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:24.719 think was going through John Quincy Adam's head while the 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:25.880 votes were being counted? 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:30.520 He so desperately doesn't want to care, and yet cares 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:34.120 so much, And he sort of detested himself for wanting 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:34.840 it so badly. 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:38.840 When the votes were finally tallied, US Secretary of War 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:42.840 John C. Calhoun won a clear majority to become vice president. 0:13:43.560 --> 0:13:46.800 In the presidential race, Jackson was the clear front runner, 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:49.800 but the four way race split the vote so much 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:53.800 that no single candidate won a majority of votes or electors. 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:58.320 Under the rules of the current system, the top three candidates. 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:00.360 If there was no majority, which there was not, the 0:14:00.360 --> 0:14:03.480 top three candidates would go to the House, and the 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:06.319 House of Representatives would be in charge of then basically 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:07.720 selecting the next president. 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:13.679 For the second time in America's short history, the House 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:17.480 of Representatives would decide who would become the next president. 0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:20.640 If that sounds like a complicated and contentious way to 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:24.080 decide an election, it is not to mention the House 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:28.880 of Representatives circa eighteen twenty four wasn't exactly like we 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:30.520 see these days on c SPAN. 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:37.240 The House was really quite calamitous. So there's a great 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:40.360 book by Joanne Freeman that talks about the violence in 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:42.960 the House of Representatives leading up to the Civil War 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:45.480 called The Field of Blood, and it talks about how 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:50.200 the House chambers the floor was covered with straw because 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:54.720 a lot of congressmen wouldn't bother to spit their tobacco 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:58.800 juices into tins, and so the entire floor was just disgusting. 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:01.520 A lot of people would kind of be coming in 0:15:01.560 --> 0:15:03.760 and out of the chambers. They would be taking naps 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:08.400 at their desk. There was often regular threats of violence, 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:11.720 so this was not a particularly esteemed branch of government 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:12.440 at the moment. 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:18.560 The House scheduled the vote to decide the election for 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:23.040 early February. Henry Clay was automatically eliminated because he got 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:26.480 the fewest votes. But Clay wasn't the type of guy 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:29.920 to sit on the sidelines. He threw his support in 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:32.760 all his political capital behind Adams. 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:38.720 Clay admired Adams. They were radically different people. Clay was 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:41.640 a Westerner and a card player, and a drinker and 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:44.560 a carouser, and I'm sure he was the world's most 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:47.160 charming person. We would have loved him if we met him. 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:50.880 Adams was not. Adams was a prickly, bearish New England, 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:53.880 high principled, high toned federalist. 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:59.080 Clay and Adams both wanted a strong centralized government. They 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:02.280 wanted a central bank. They wanted the federal government to 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:06.280 fund national infrastructure projects to find the east to the 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:10.720 growing West. And they wanted tariffs to protect northern manufacturers 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:11.960 from farm products. 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:16.160 And they didn't know what Jackson would do with all 0:16:16.240 --> 0:16:18.200 of those things. They didn't know if he would be 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:21.560 pro union or would be just pro Tennessee or pro West. 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:26.520 Even though they agreed on so much, Clay wasn't always 0:16:26.520 --> 0:16:29.680 a fan of Adams. The two had been political rivals 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:33.960 when both vied to be Monroe's Secretary of State. Now 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:35.640 they had a common enemy. 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:39.960 Clay hated Jackson, maybe because they were both Westerners, and 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:42.760 he also regarded them as a dangerous figure because he 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:45.920 was a general, and since Washington, America hadn't elected a 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:48.040 general as president, so he regarded him as what we 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:51.040 would now call a man on horseback, like Napoleon. 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:52.960 Here's how Henry Clay put. 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:56.520 It, I cannot believe that killing twenty five hundred Englishmen 0:16:56.560 --> 0:17:00.640 at New Orleans qualifies for the various, difficult and complicated 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:05.920 duties of the Chief Magistry. So there was no way 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:08.680 he was going to support Jackson period. He just could 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:12.480 not stand him. 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:16.639 Adams knew that Clay, a congressman from Kentucky, could be 0:17:16.719 --> 0:17:19.559 an ally in the House vote, but he had to 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:23.879 tread lightly. The two couldn't be seen doing anything that's 0:17:23.919 --> 0:17:25.040 smacked of scheming. 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:31.799 A complicated dance then ensued. Adams began to meet with 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:36.679 people who clearly were proxies for Clay, who made it 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:41.759 clear that if Adams could, and there was always a 0:17:41.800 --> 0:17:46.759 euphemism like treat mister Clay with the respect that he deserves, 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:51.320 nobody was more specific than that that he would feel 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:54.679 that it was right to support mister Adams. 0:17:55.560 --> 0:17:59.039 In early January, just weeks before the House would decide 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:02.679 the election, Clay visited Adams in person for the first time. 0:18:03.399 --> 0:18:07.399 Here's how Adams remembered it in his die. 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:09.879 Clay came to talk to me and we spoke frankly. 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:14.759 He says of men and events, and he uses the 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:19.520 expression of prospective events future events. Well, does that mean 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:22.840 the future event of perhaps John Adams appointing Henry Clay 0:18:22.879 --> 0:18:24.839 as Secretary of State. We don't know. 0:18:25.639 --> 0:18:28.919 The meeting would be one both men would regret for 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:35.239 the rest of their lives. Within days, the partisan press 0:18:35.959 --> 0:18:40.040 and yes it was pretty rancorous, reported that Adams and 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:45.240 Clay were engaged in a corrupt bargain. They were scheming 0:18:45.719 --> 0:18:50.959 to steal the election from Jackson. In his diary, John 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:54.719 Quincy feared the tension surrounding the election was growing, spreading 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:55.679 beyond Washington. 0:18:56.520 --> 0:19:01.599 Letter from Philadelphia threatening organized opposition in civil war if 0:19:01.679 --> 0:19:06.999 Jackson is not chosen. This blustering as an air of desperation, 0:19:07.399 --> 0:19:09.560 but we must meet it. 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:14.159 Jackson's supporters became convinced that they had been robbed of 0:19:14.199 --> 0:19:18.239 a rightful victory, that there had been election fraud, that 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:21.480 there was this deep stake ball trying to keep Jackson 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:22.600 from the White House. 0:19:23.679 --> 0:19:27.119 The fragile unity holding the nation together was on the 0:19:27.159 --> 0:19:45.959 brink of collapse. We'll have more after the break. Dawn 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:49.760 broke cold and snowy on the February morning the House 0:19:49.919 --> 0:19:53.839 was set to decide the presidency. A long line of people, 0:19:54.159 --> 0:19:58.080 dressed in their finest clothes, brave the weather, camping outside 0:19:58.119 --> 0:20:01.359 the Capitol for hours. Many traveled days to get a 0:20:01.399 --> 0:20:04.359 front row seat for the political spectacle about to unfold. 0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:07.720 And even though this was one of the most intense 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:11.280 moments of John Quincy Adams's life, he avoided the commotions 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:12.280 surrounding the vote. 0:20:12.520 --> 0:20:15.160 The way that he dealt with that was to kind 0:20:15.199 --> 0:20:17.239 of ignore it and to try and go about his 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:22.200 daily business. He was very strict with his physical health regimen, 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:25.639 so he usually involved either along walk or swimming almost 0:20:25.679 --> 0:20:28.319 every day. He tried to approach it like any other 0:20:28.399 --> 0:20:30.560 day and be in the office and just treat it 0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:33.800 as a matter of state. Of course, that didn't really work, 0:20:33.840 --> 0:20:35.719 and we can all kind of guess where his brain 0:20:35.760 --> 0:20:38.279 probably was. But he tried, He really tried. 0:20:39.040 --> 0:20:43.359 This wasn't the first time the House decided a presidential election. Still, 0:20:43.639 --> 0:20:46.280 nobody could predict how the vote would go down. 0:20:47.760 --> 0:20:52.679 So the original constitution specified that in presidential elections, each 0:20:52.719 --> 0:20:55.639 elector would cast two votes. One in theory was a 0:20:55.719 --> 0:20:58.040 vote for the president, and one was a vote for 0:20:58.159 --> 0:21:02.080 the vice president. Under that system, however, it remained that 0:21:02.159 --> 0:21:05.040 if there was a tie, or if no one can 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:08.719 it received a majority of the Electoral College votes, the 0:21:08.800 --> 0:21:11.399 election would go to the House of Representatives, and that 0:21:11.520 --> 0:21:14.600 is what happened in eighteen hundred. The election went to 0:21:14.679 --> 0:21:17.599 the House. It took thirty six ballots for them to 0:21:17.639 --> 0:21:22.879 figure out that Thomas Jefferson would be the third president, thirty. 0:21:22.679 --> 0:21:25.920 Six rounds of voting in the House to finally declare 0:21:25.959 --> 0:21:31.519 Thomas Jefferson president. While the build up to the eighteen 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:35.119 twenty four election was long and arduous, the vote itself 0:21:35.199 --> 0:21:38.239 was simple. There were twenty four states at the time. 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:42.919 The delegation from each state would cast a single vote 0:21:42.919 --> 0:21:46.760 for either Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams or William Crawford, 0:21:47.719 --> 0:21:49.919 but no one really saw Crawford as a threat. 0:21:51.000 --> 0:21:54.320 Crawford was incredibly ill. There was uncertainty whether or not 0:21:54.399 --> 0:21:56.479 he would actually be able to serve out a full term, 0:21:56.560 --> 0:21:59.719 so that's not exactly putting the country on its strongest foot. 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:02.679 It all came down to a two way race between 0:22:02.840 --> 0:22:08.039 Jackson and Adams to capture an absolute majority of thirteen 0:22:08.199 --> 0:22:12.759 votes to win. Behind the scenes, Henry Clay was whipping 0:22:12.840 --> 0:22:16.839 delegations into the Adams camp, encouraging state delegates who had 0:22:16.840 --> 0:22:19.800 supported him to now vote for Adams. 0:22:20.280 --> 0:22:24.599 Kentucky wanted Andrew Jackson to be president, but it was 0:22:24.719 --> 0:22:29.760 the congressional delegation that made that decision, and they chose 0:22:29.879 --> 0:22:34.840 to completely violate the will of the voters and cast 0:22:34.879 --> 0:22:39.000 their vote for Adams. They had become what we would 0:22:39.040 --> 0:22:41.639 nowadays call faithless electors. 0:22:42.159 --> 0:22:43.799 So this is where we get the idea of a 0:22:43.800 --> 0:22:47.999 corrupt bargain. James Trupp says that Clay promised Adams the 0:22:48.000 --> 0:22:52.560 support of Kentucky's congressional delegates, even though the state obviously 0:22:52.600 --> 0:22:53.520 supported Jackson. 0:22:54.239 --> 0:23:01.119 Once Kentucky had shifted, that began a series of other shifts. 0:23:01.359 --> 0:23:05.759 And so a series of these smaller states, Maryland as well, 0:23:06.199 --> 0:23:10.439 began to swing away from Jackson and towards Adams. 0:23:11.840 --> 0:23:15.119 Thanks to Henry Clay, Adams won thirteen states in the 0:23:15.159 --> 0:23:19.000 first round of voting, a slim majority, but enough to win. 0:23:20.840 --> 0:23:24.600 An old friend and former colleague, Alexander Everett, ran to 0:23:24.679 --> 0:23:28.119 adams home on f Street with the news he won. 0:23:28.879 --> 0:23:31.080 He would become the first son of a president to 0:23:31.080 --> 0:23:35.600 become commander in chief. Later that night, President Monroe held 0:23:35.600 --> 0:23:39.439 a celebration in honor of President elect Adams. All of 0:23:39.639 --> 0:23:40.520 Washington was there. 0:23:41.239 --> 0:23:44.199 So Jackson walks to the door with a lady on 0:23:44.320 --> 0:23:48.040 his arm, and there is Adams. 0:23:48.520 --> 0:23:52.080 As the story goes, the crowd parted as Jackson approached Adams. 0:23:52.639 --> 0:23:55.999 Nobody knew what he might say or do. This was 0:23:56.000 --> 0:23:58.240 a man with a history of gunning down his rivals. 0:23:58.439 --> 0:24:01.560 A bullet still lies in his shoulder. When Jackson got 0:24:01.560 --> 0:24:02.760 to Adams, he said. 0:24:03.040 --> 0:24:05.919 I give you my left hand for the right, as 0:24:05.959 --> 0:24:09.559 you see, is devoted to the fair. I hope you 0:24:09.600 --> 0:24:11.119 are very well, sir. 0:24:14.359 --> 0:24:17.559 The gentility did not last. Just days after winning the 0:24:17.560 --> 0:24:22.679 House vote and becoming president, Adams nominated Clay, not Jackson, 0:24:23.000 --> 0:24:24.359 to be a Secretary of State. 0:24:24.959 --> 0:24:29.200 Well, there was an immediate blowback right away. Jackson's supporters 0:24:29.359 --> 0:24:31.560 started chanting corruption. 0:24:33.919 --> 0:24:38.119 Jackson was outraged Clay's ascension to Secretary of State was 0:24:38.280 --> 0:24:41.799 proof that he and Adams had in fact hatched a 0:24:41.879 --> 0:24:42.639 corrupt bargain. 0:24:43.239 --> 0:24:46.439 The Judas of the West has closed the contract and 0:24:46.639 --> 0:24:50.840 will receive the thirty pieces of silver. Was there ever 0:24:50.959 --> 0:24:54.359 witnessed such a bear faced corruption in any country before? 0:24:55.199 --> 0:25:00.719 It created this sense that John Quincy Adams had stolen 0:25:00.760 --> 0:25:06.279 the presidency and Clay was the cynical inst whereby he 0:25:06.320 --> 0:25:10.439 had stolen that presidency, and Clay insisted he'd done nothing wrong. 0:25:10.600 --> 0:25:12.879 Is that we had nothing on his conscience? He says, 0:25:12.919 --> 0:25:17.879 something like these knaves can't even credit true innocence where 0:25:17.919 --> 0:25:20.119 it exists. 0:25:21.600 --> 0:25:24.840 Adams did offer Jackson the War Department, but Jackson had 0:25:24.919 --> 0:25:28.879 no intention of taking the position. He was the rightful president. 0:25:29.439 --> 0:25:33.960 How could he work with the usurper Adams. Stoked by 0:25:34.000 --> 0:25:37.199 fire and fury, jackson supporters geared up for his next 0:25:37.239 --> 0:25:39.080 presidential run in eighteen twenty eight. 0:25:39.919 --> 0:25:43.960 Immediately they started planning their revenge tour and the reelection 0:25:44.080 --> 0:25:47.479 campaign for Jackson. So what was already a very well 0:25:47.639 --> 0:25:52.719 organized organization became even more so, so they bulked up 0:25:52.800 --> 0:25:58.280 their newspapers. They started to build out their state infrastructure. 0:25:59.320 --> 0:26:04.959