United States Role In The Electoral College

The Electoral College had an interesting part in the election of 1824. By this time, the Federalist Party was no longer, which meant the United States was being dominated by the Democratic-Republicans, who led the one party system. There were four candidates running for President in the election of 1824. These candidates were Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, William Crawford and John Quincy Adams. Andrew Jackson was the winner according to the Electoral College, with ninety-nine votes. John Quincy Adams was behind him coming in at eighty-four votes and William Crawford was in third with forty-one votes. By these numbers, Jackson should have been the victor, but because he didn’t receive the majority of the electoral votes, he would not hold the office for the next U.S. President. In fact, not one of the candidates had received the majority of electoral votes. This means that the decision goes to the House of Representatives. They will then choose between the two candidates they think are best suited for the Presidency. The Twelfth Amendment of the United States Constitution states that if one candidate

President, he also was the speaker of the House of Representatives. He was not considered one of the top candidates for President so he was not a candidate that the House would vote upon. Since the decision was now up to the House to decide who takes office, Clay had an important role to play. He had originally led some strong attacks against Jackson and would do everything in his power to assure that Jackson didn’t take the position as President. For this reason, Clay was fully prepared to back John Quincy Adams. Not to mention, that if Adams is get elected into office, Clay was going to be named his Secretary of State. This was a promising position to hold because the last fourth Secretary of States all became President. It was known to be the “stepping stone” position within the White