House Elects John Quincy Adams in "Corrupt Bargain" After Clay Throws Support, Ending Era of Good Feelings

The U.S. House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams as president despite Andrew Jackson having won both a plurality of the popular vote (41%) and the Electoral College (99 votes to Adams’s 84), in what becomes known as the “Corrupt Bargain.” The 1824 presidential election marks the final collapse of the Republican-Federalist political framework, with all major candidates—Jackson, Adams, William H. Crawford, and Henry Clay—running as Democratic-Republicans representing different regional interests. Because no candidate garners the 131 electoral votes needed for a majority, the election goes to the House of Representatives under the Twelfth Amendment, where each state provides one vote and only the top three candidates can be considered, eliminating fourth-place finisher Clay.

However, Henry Clay wields paramount influence as Speaker of the House. On January 9, 1825, Clay and Adams meet privately on Sunday night. Although Clay personally dislikes Adams, the New Englander supports Clay’s “American System” of federally funded internal improvements, while Clay opposes Jackson’s democratic populism and western agrarian interests. In the weeks after this meeting, Clay carefully orchestrates support for Adams. To the surprise of many observers expecting a Jackson victory given his popular vote plurality, the House elects Adams on the first ballot on February 9, 1824. When Adams subsequently appoints Clay to the premier cabinet position of Secretary of State—traditionally the stepping stone to the presidency—Jackson supporters raise the cry of “corrupt bargain,” a charge that follows Clay for the rest of his political career and thwarts his future presidential ambitions.

Although there is no conclusive evidence of an explicit quid pro quo deal between Adams and Clay, and both men vehemently deny any corrupt arrangement, the appearance of backroom elite manipulation to override popular will proves politically devastating. To Jacksonians, the Adams-Clay alliance symbolizes a corrupt system where elite insiders pursue their own interests without heeding the will of the people. The “corrupt bargain” perception, true or not, shatters the Era of Good Feelings’ illusion of political harmony and launches a four-year campaign of revenge by Jackson’s supporters that culminates in his landslide victory in 1828. The episode demonstrates how constitutional mechanisms like the House contingent election can enable elite override of popular preferences, and how even the appearance of corruption—regardless of actual evidence—can undermine democratic legitimacy. The incident establishes precedents for contested elections and elite bargaining that recur from the Compromise of 1877 through the Bush v. Gore decision, revealing how constitutional processes can serve elite interests over popular sovereignty when no candidate achieves clear democratic mandate.