John Quincy Adams, son of the second president of the United States (John Adams), was affiliated with Andrew Jackson until the end of the election of 828. Born in Braintree, Massachusetts, John Quincy Adams represented parts of the northern regions of the United States as a Democratic-Republican. Adams was often described as socially awkward with a lack of charm, but he made up for his stiff personality by his incredible work ethic and ambition. He was also labeled as an abolitionist, where Jackson was an agrarian slave trader. Adams believed that slavery had problematic moral structure and knew that his personal philosophy of humility stated that every human born in America deserved equal rights, unlike Andrew Jackson who trusted that slavery was essential to the upholding of the American government. Jacksons personal views of black enslaved Americans differed from Adams because Jackson was a bigot, often viewed slaves as nothing more than a piece of property for profit, while they were humans to Adams. After Jacksons launch of the invasion in Florida, a Spanish-owned residence, in 86 and 88, President James Monroes cabinet called for Jacksons resignation because of his inappropriate behavior in dealing with the citizens in Florida. Secretary of State at the time, John Q. Adams defended Jacksons behavior in the First Seminole War and deemed it to be beneficial to the American people. The sense of mutualism between these two characters ultimately vanishes during the campaigning of the election of 824, though. Henry Clay, John Q. Adams, Andrew Jackson, and William Crawford competed against one another as Democratic-Republicans in the election of 824. Andrew Jackson had won the popular vote amongst the people, but there was no majority winner in the electoral college, leaving the House of Representatives to vote on the future president due to the Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution. Out of the three possible candidates (Crawford was booted out, and had a stroke), Henry Clay and Adams had a similar fantasy about the perfect American government. Clay voted for Adams to become president, despite what the Kentucky legislature had appointed him to do, if he could be the Secretary of State in Adams cabinet. This agreement was later referred to as the corrupt bargain. Jackson was content with his loss of the presidency in 824 and it wasnt until Clay was appointed Secretary of State that Jackson had become bitterly enraged. Jackson felt cheated out of the election of 824, which fueled the flames of Andrew Jacksons rage against John Quincy Adams. After AdamsÂ’ presidency reached its end in 828, one of the most gruesomely muddy presidential elections in American history had begun. Supporters of Adams slandered Rachel Jackson, Andrews wife, because her divorce to her previous husband had not been complete when she had married Jackson. His wife, depicted as Americas # whore, led to Jacksons original mudslinging into something more murderous. This suspiciously dirty election ended Adams presidency and started the Jacksonian era.
Almost hand in hand with John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay was another dear enemy of Andrew Jacksons. Henry Clay, known as the Great Compromis
er, was the Speaker of the House, Secretary of State for John Quincy Adams, a lawyer, and the leader of the Whig Party. The two men already had a conflicting past before the aforementioned election of 824 due to Jacksons unauthorized attacks in Florida. Henry Clay was the Speaker of the House of Representatives and was frustrated with the tyranny of Jacksons actions. Jacksons response to Clays lack of approval by stating that, I hope& you will see him [Clay] skinned here [in Washington]. Noticeably so, we can notice how Jackson becomes quickly vicious at any sight of conflict, which tends to be his political Achilles heel. After Clays participation in the corrupt bargain that led to Adams winning the majority vote in the House of Representatives, tensions between Jackson and Clay worsened. The corrupt bargain created much angst and hatred for Jackson against Henry Clay, so much so that Jackson ran again for president in 828 to beat John Quincy Adams, who also took part in the bargain. After Jackson became president in 828, many changes came that differed from the political philosophies that Clay and Adams favored. For example, Jackson did not authorize the Second Bank of the United States, which helped support the financing of American infrastructure. Clay had a Hamiltonian perspective of the national bank; he imagined the bank to be the primary pillar of the American system. Clay gave Jackson two options: ) he could put his support behind the Second Bank of the United States and give supporters of the bank a bad reputation, or 2) veto the rechartering of the national bank and depict himself as an autocratic leader. Jackson chose to not renew the charter and by doing so led many American citizens to believe that he was no better than King George the third because of his abuse of power. Congress then overran the veto, but Jackson withdrew the money from the national bank and put it into pet banks, which started issuing their own paper money. This meant one thing: inflation. The Bank War described led to the Panic of 837, which lasted for seven years. Another example of Jacksonian reign differentiating from Clays views was his perspective on protective tariffs. Considering that Jackson was from the South and understood the hardships that southern farmers faced, he was not in favor of John Q. Adams Tariff of 828, and had to deal with the repercussions of it. This led to the South Carolina Nullification Crisis, which was basically a pamphlet reading: South Carolina will secede from the United States because these tariffs are unconstitutional. Jackson was livid about this situation and threatened to bring in the military, but Clay, being the Great Compromiser, created the Compromise Tariff of 833, which stated that the Tariff of 828 would slowly become less expensive over the course of ten years. Jacksonian Democracy was looking more autocratic than ever with the Bank War, which motivated the Whig Party to be established in 834. The Whigs, led by Clay, had enough of King Andrew and his climb to ultimate power and created their own political party to oppose him. These two men had a very intense hatred toward one another that didnt end till both of them died.