Christopher Cameron
In studying the election of 1828, I learned that the debated centered more around the moral character of the candidates more so than their policy platform. For example the National Republicans revealed Jackson’s questionable marriage to Rachel Robards (Howe 277). Jackson started living with Rachel while she was a married women, and Jackson did not marry her until after your years of living together. The Democratic Republicans tried to respond by accusing John Quincy of prostituting an American woman to the Russian tsar, while he was ambassador to Russia (Howe 278). They also claimed that the bought a billiard table for the White House on public funds (Howe 278). Therefore instead of focusing on the political issues, such as internal improvements, I decided to try and catch the spirit of the age and focus on how the Democratic Republicans attacked John Quincy Adams, and I found the most popular way to attack him was by accusing him of the corrupt bargain, of being a Federalist, and being an aristocrat.
I start the video by flashing John Quincy Adams’ name in red because it is an attack add and red symbolizes anger and passion, which are emotions that I want the audience to experience while watching. I then go to a portrait of Adams just so the audience can put a name to the face. Then I finish the introduction to my video by laying out my main points. I do so by flashing “the bargain”, “Federalist”, and “Aristocrat” in rapid succession to the beat of the music.
I put the corrupt bargain first in the video because the corrupt bargain was the single most used political tool against John Quincy Adams. I first show the same “the bargain” slide I did at the beginning of the video. I then go to a side that says, “Did Mr. Clay agree to make Mr. Adams president if Mr. Adams would make Mr. Clay Secretary of State?” This slide explicitly lays out what the corrupt bargain was, so that people who did not know before this ad can still follow. The next slide is a portrait of Henry Clay with the quote “The Judas of the West” by Andrew Jackson. This portrays Clay as a traitor to the West because it could be argued that the West would have supported Jackson over Adams, since Jackson was a man from the frontier and was what many people saw as the embodiment of the Western man. This slide is trying to portray Clay as a traitor to his constituents, for his own personal gain. This damages Adams as well because after this election Clay and Adams are invariably linked. The slide after this is driving home the fact that Jackson won the most popular votes and the most electoral votes out of any of the candidates in the race; therefore he was obviously the people’s choice for president, and was thereby the rightful president. Any of the members of the House of Representatives who voted against him voted against the will of the people. The next point reiterates this slide essentially claiming that John Quincy Adams was an illegitimate president. The last slide of the corrupt bargain series was just to state the fact one more time that the only reason Adams was president was because of the corrupt bargain.
I open up the nest section with a flash of the word Federalist to make the topic clear. I wanted to be sure to strongly link him to the Federalist party because it was a liability to Adams. The Federalist party had lost almost all of its support by this time and there were a lot of negative connotations associated with the Federalist party, such as elitists, and monarchists. Therefore if I could successfully convince people that Adams had Federalist ties and tendencies it would definitely hurt his candidacy. To start I used a quote accusing Adams of having been a Federalist, written, spoken, and voted as a Federalist. Many of the accusations have truth to them, since he actually was a Federalist for a period of time, and is a good way to start linking him to the Federalists. Then a quote saying the Federalist can look to him for protection and favor. Although the Federalists are mostly gone, the few of those that are still around count Adams and their candidate and look to him to carry out their policies. The last slide is again alluding to his previous affiliation with the Federalist party.
My last attack on John Quincy Adams is about him being an Aristocrat. John Quincy Adams had spent a lot of time abroad in the courts of Europe as a diplomat for the United States. Therefore he had this aura of European aristocracy to himself. He was also very proper and well read, but was not very sociable, therefore the average American could not identify with him in the same way they did Jackson. His father’s reputation was also largely negative at this time. People remember his presidency as being ineffective and a failure. They also remembered John Adams as an elitist and monarchist because of his argument for titles in the first Congress. Therefore I bring out this link between John Quincy and his father, by having a quote that says John Adams raised Quincy as an aristocrat, and a monarchist. I then zoom in on the book and map that John Quincy Adams has in his portrait to portray him as this well-read, academic, elitist, who does not understand the average American and their needs. I then fade to a portrait of John Adams to link John Quincy to his father’s negative reputation and failed presidency, making the implicit claim that if you elect John Quincy Adams his presidency will have the same fate as his father’s.
Work Cited
I will put the work cited in the order that the slides occur:
Headline: From the N. H. Statesman. John Quincy Adams, an Aristocrat; Article Type: News/Opinion
Paper: Essex Register, published as The Essex Register; Date: 06-24-1824; Volume: XXIV; Issue: 51; Page: [1]; Location: Salem, Massachusetts
http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/HistArchive/?p_product=EANX&p_theme=ahnp&p_nbid=T5DY58GNMTM0OTgzNDQzNS4zMjA5MDE6MToxNDoxMzcuMTY1LjE3NS4zMg&p_action=doc&s_lastnonissuequeryname=9&d_viewref=search&p_queryname=9&p_docnum=1&p_docref=v2:10BBDF0A22E25BE0@EANX-10BCEC33D554DC78@2387437-10BCEC33EB871100@0-10BCEC35DF058740@From+the+N.+H.+Statesman.+John+Quincy+Adams%2C+an+Aristocrat This is for both the “John Quincy Adams” as a phrase and “Aristocrat” as a single word.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/ppmsca/15700/15717v.jpg John Quincy Adams portrait
http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/HistArchive/?p_product=EANX&p_theme=ahnp&p_nbid=H4FS50VFMTM0OTgzNDQzNS4zMjA5MDE6MToxNDoxMzcuMTY1LjE3NS4zMg&p_action=doc&s_lastnonissuequeryname=3&d_viewref=search&p_queryname=3&p_docnum=2&p_docref=v2:10C1C906F583E7C8@EANX-10C587C4F6A9F908@2388666-10C587C55A5ED2F0@1-10C587C6F3D62058@The+Patriot.+Concord%2C+November+5%2C+1827 “the bargain” as a single word; It is also the quote in the first slide on the bargain series, it is also the last quote in the series
Headline: Trenton Federalist. May 17; Article Type: News/Opinion
Paper: Trenton Federalist; Date: 05-17-1824; Volume: XXV; Issue: 1316; Page: [3]; Location: Trenton, New Jersey
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/pga/02900/02999v.jpg (screenshot 10) Henry Clay Portrait
“The Judas of the West has closed the contract and will receive the thirty pieces of silver. His end will be the same.” Jackson (Howe 211).
Headline: The Argus. Portland, Wednesday, Aug. 8, 1827; Article Type: News/Opinion
Paper: Eastern Argus, published as Eastern Argus.; Date: 08-10-1827; Volume: III; Issue: 277; Page: [1]; Location: Portland, Maine
http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/HistArchive/?p_product=EANX&p_theme=ahnp&p_nbid=R60B5BHQMTM1MDM0NzU3MS44MzI4MDg6MToxMzoxMzcuMTY1LjI3LjE0&p_action=doc&s_lastnonissuequeryname=8&d_viewref=search&p_queryname=8&p_docnum=10&p_docref=v2:11343147EE7DD718@EANX-1082023BAD360D08@2388579-1082023BC40530A8@0-1082023CC38A6AF8@The+Argus.+Portland%2C+Wednesday%2C+Aug.+8%2C+1827 majority of the people support Jackson, this is for the next two slides
Headline: Miscellany. From the Washington City Gazette; Article Type: News/Opinion Paper: Salem Gazette; Date: 07-02-1824; Volume: II; Issue: 53; Page: [1]; Location: Salem, Massachusetts
http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/HistArchive/?p_product=EANX&p_theme=ahnp&p_nbid=R60B5BHQMTM1MDM0NzU3MS44MzI4MDg6MToxMzoxMzcuMTY1LjI3LjE0&p_action=doc&s_lastnonissuequeryname=NaN&d_viewref=search&p_queryname=NaN&p_docnum=3&p_docref=v2:1080E7A4DF561C28@EANX-10C5DA3B31FD7858@2387445-10C5DA3B478C82A8@0-10C5DA3C93642450@Miscellany.+From+the+Washington+City+Gazette
“been federalist wrote federalist and voted federalist”
Headline: From the Troy Budget; Article Type: News/Opinion
Paper: New-Hampshire Patriot, published as New-Hampshire Patriot & State Gazette; Date: 10-20-1828; Volume: XX; Issue: 1020; Page: [2]; Location: Concord, New Hampshire
http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/HistArchive/?p_product=EANX&p_theme=ahnp&p_nbid=R60B5BHQMTM1MDM0NzU3MS44MzI4MDg6MToxMzoxMzcuMTY1LjI3LjE0&p_action=doc&s_lastnonissuequeryname=5&d_viewref=search&p_queryname=5&p_docnum=7&p_docref=v2:10C1C906F583E7C8@EANX-10C5875F5875EAC8@2389016-10C5875FD745AFF8@3-10C58761A03ACF08@From+the+Troy+Budget “old federalist party will look to for favor”, and “once decidedly federalist school of Washington and Adams”
Headline: Political for the Eastern Argus Hickory-No 2 “Strike-but Hear Me.”; Article Type: News/Opinion
Paper: Eastern Argus, published as Eastern Argus.; Date: 10-26-1827; Volume: IV; Issue: 321; Page: [2]; Location: Portland, Maine
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3c10000/3c19000/3c19000/3c19056v.jpg John Adams Potrait
The song was: Bernstein’s “Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5”