1824 Election | Voting Public | Dirty Campaigning | Victory

One of the greatest misconceptions of modern presidential politics is that campaigning gets dirtier every year.

The "attack ads" take offensive precedence above substance and the press exposes bare the private lives of our public figures. Many refer to the good ole days of the last century when noble politicians debated issues of substance. Yet dirty campaigns have been with us since our first presidential campaign—George Washington ran unopposed.

Mudslinging Reached New Heights
But even among a long history of dirty campaigning, the Campaign of 1828 stood out as the worst. Attacks on Jackson were unparalleled in American political history. His opponents accused him of murder, gambling, slave trading and treason. They called him a 'military chieftain,' and said his mother was a prostitute, his father a mulatto man, and his wife a bigamist. "Mrs. Jackson once found her husband in tears pointing to a paragraph reflecting on his mother and said, 'Myself I can defend; you I can defend; but now they have assailed even the memory of my mother." [1]

Due to the awkward circumstances surrounding their marriage, unfortunately some elements of the story of Rachel and Andrew's marriage were true according to the law. Rachel and Andrew were living as husband and wife for two years before they found out that her first husband had actually never completed the divorce. She was still technically married to Lewis Robards. This made Rachel Jackson a bigamist and an adulteress and Andrew Jackson a man of questionable character. Robards did finally move forward and obtain a divorce in 1793. For the record, Andrew and Rachel married in Nashville in 1794. During the campaign Jackson's opponents retold the story accusing Jackson of dishonorable intentions and Rachel of unfaithfulness.

Meanwhile, Jackson supporters were by no means innocent. Adams was accused of installing gambling tables in the White House at the public expense, of padding his expense account, and even of pimping women for the Tsar of Russia. >>>

Footnotes:

1. James Parton, The Life of Andrew Jackson, Volume III (New York: Mason Brothers, 1861) p. 143.

Sources:

Robert V. Remini, Andrew Jackson, Volume One, The Course of American Empire, 1767-1821 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998) Chapter 5, "Marriage."

Robert V. Remini, Andrew Jackson, Volume Two, The Course of American Freedom, 1822-1832 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998) Chapter 8, "Triumph and Tragedy."

James Parton, The Life of Andrew Jackson, Volume III (New York: Mason Brothers, 1861)