Election of 1824 & John Quincy Adams

Election of 1824

• Four leading Democratic Republicans: – John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State under

Monroe– Henry Clay: Speaker of the House of Representatives,

man behind American System – Andrew Jackson: War hero from Tennessee– William Crawford: Georgia

• Preferred candidate during the caucus in Congress

• Caucus: a closed meeting of party members for the purpose of choosing a candidate

Candidates

John Quincy Adams

• Son of John Adams (2nd President)

• Politician• Professor• Diplomat • Secretary of State

under James Monroe

Henry Clay

• Represented Kentucky in both– House of

Representatives: Speaker of the House

– Senate • Man behind the

American System

Andrew Jackson

• Politician • Successful Army

General– War hero in War

of 1812

William Crawford• American Politician– United States

Secretary of War (1815-1816)

– United States Secretary of the Treasury (1816-1825)

Election Results

• Crowded race produced no clear winner– Jackson won more popular votes– No one won majority of the electoral votes needed for

election• House of Representatives had to determine the outcome

of the election• Henry Clay, Speaker of the House, threw his support

behind Adams.• Adams wins the election and Clay is appointed Secretary

of State– Known as the “corrupt bargain”

Jackson’s Reaction

• Jackson is infuriated by this and immediately begins campaigning for the next election– Corrupt Bargain cast a shadow on Adams’

presidency

Adams’ Presidency

• Adams was very supportive of Henry Clay’s American System– Internal improvements: roads, ports, canals– High tariff to pay for improvements– National bank

Technology & Industrial Revolution

Transportation Pre-Revolution• Water was the most effective way to travel

and transport goods since all major cities and settlements were located on the water.

• Overland transportation at the start of the 19th century: – Carts, wagons, sleights, stagecoaches pulled by

horses and oxen on dirt roads• Very expensive

Road Improvements

• Hoping to improve overland transportation– Turnpikes• Roads that you had to pay a toll to use

– National Road• Lone, decent route made of crushed rock• Funded by the federal government• Extended west Maryland to the Ohio River in 1818

Water Transportation

• Steamboat: – Boats that ran by burning wood or coal to boil

water to create steam– Steam turned large paddle that would let the boat

move through the water– Designed by Robert Fulton• Clermont

• Cut travel time from 4 months to just 6 days

Water Transportation

• Canals: built to link farms to the expanding cities– Primarily built in the Northeast– Erie Canal: ran from New York to Lake Erie

(approximately 363 miles)– Canals lowered the cost of shipping

Railroads

• A new method of transportation was introduced beginning in the 1800s: Railroads!

• Railroads were largely developed in Great Britain, began to appear in US in 1820s.– First trains were pulled by horses– Switched to steam powered engines, could pull

more weight• 13 miles of tracks in 1830 to 31,000 miles by

1860

Industrial Revolution

• Developments in technology transformed manufacturing.

• Industrial Revolution changed nation’s economy, culture, social life, and politics– Began in Great Britain in 1700s

Textile Mills

• Samuel Slater brought technology used in textile mills in Great Britain to the United States in 1793– Built first water-powered textile mill

• Pawtucket spun cotton thread• Family system: entire families were employed by the mills

• Francis Cabot Lowell– Built mill in Massachusetts in a town they established,

Lowell– “Lowell Girls” were employed to work in the mills and

lived in closely supervised boardinghouses

Inventions

• Interchangeable Parts: individual parts that can be replaced when they break, rather than having to replace the entire item.– Introduced by Eli Whitney

• Samuel F.B. Morse: electric telegraph– Electric pulses that could travel long distances

along metal wires and came out as coded signals• Named Morse Code after the inventor

Inventions

• Agriculture– Steel Plow: invented by John Deere– Mechanical Reaper: Cyrus McCormick– Cotton Gin: Eli Whitney