Clinton was nominated by local mass-meetings in New York and Ohio. Calhoun was presented by the Legislature of South Carolina, and Crawford by the Legislature of Virginia. It is worthy of note that while Adams was the Premier of the administration, Crawford was obviously the favorite candidate of President Monroe, as the Legislature of Virginia recommended Crawford, and Virginia voted for him at the election.
All of these candidates were opposed to the Congressional caucus excepting Crawford, who had been the competitor of Monroe in the caucus in 1816. His friends made earnest effort to get the prestige of a caucus nomination, and 6 Senators and 5 Representatives from different States called a caucus to meet on the 14th of February, 1824, “to recommend candidates to the people of the United States for the office of President and Vice-President.” That call was met by a card signed by 24 Republican Senators and members declaring that of the 261 Senators and Representatives there were 81 who were opposed to the caucus. The caucus was held, however, but only 66 members appeared, a majority of whom were from 4 States, and 8 States were not represented at all. A motion to adjourn to meet some weeks later was opposed by Mr. Van Buren and rejected. A ballot was then had for President, when Crawford received 64, Adams 2, Jackson 1, and Macon 1. Albert Gallatin, of Pennsylvania, was also nominated for Vice-President.
The caucus nomination was certainly a hindrance rather than a help to Crawford, as it concentrated his opponents to a very large extent. The caucus system had become very odious, and with 5 of the 6 candidates openly hostile to the caucus, it placed Crawford at a decided disadvantage. Gallatin, who was of foreign birth, was bitterly assailed, and a month before the election he withdrew his name as a candidate, but no attempt was made to give formal nomination to a successor for him on the ticket.
Strange as it may appear, Pennsylvania, the home of Gallatin, did not cordially respond to his nomination, and there was a decided preference in that State in favor of Calhoun for Vice-President. Calhoun and Clinton, being without any large measure of support, gradually dropped out of the Presidential contest, leaving Adams, Jackson, Crawford, and Clay to make the scrub race. There were 24 States to participate in the election, and New York, Vermont, Delaware, South Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana chose their electors by their Legislatures, while Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Illinois, and Kentucky chose electors by districts, and in the other States popular elections were held and electors chosen by general ticket.
An incident that occurred in the selection of electors by the Legislature of New York resulted in making Clay the fourth candidate in the Electoral College instead of the third. There were 3 of the electors chosen by the Legislature who were elected as Clay men by a combination between the Clay and Adams men, who in the Electoral College divided their votes between Adams, Crawford, and Jackson, and had they voted for Clay, as it was expected they would, Clay would have had 40 votes in the electoral colleges and Crawford only 38. As only the three highest candidates in the Electoral College could be returned to the House from which a choice had to be made, Crawford was thus returned instead of Clay, and if Clay had been returned, it is probable that Adams would not have been chosen President. The New York Legislature had a protracted contest in choosing electors. The combined strength of the candidates in the two Houses as shown by the 1st ballot was 60 for Crawford, 57 for Adams, and 39 for Clay. Finally a combination was made between the friends of Adams and Clay, and divided electors were chosen, by which Adams received 26 votes, Crawford 5, Clay 4, and Jackson 1. In Delaware the electors were divided by a like dispute in the Legislature.
The contest was not one of great bitterness, and in some States there was practically no contest at all. Massachusetts and Virginia, for instance, did not poll half their votes, as they were really not contested, one being conceded to Adams and the other to Crawford. The following is the popular vote of the States except where the electors were chosen by the Legislature, as nearly as it can be ascertained after the most exhaustive investigation of the records:
| STATES. | Jackson. | Adams. | Crawford. | Clay. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maine[6] | ——— | 10,289 | 2,336 | ——— |
| New Hampshire | 643 | 4,107 | ——— | ——— |
| Vermont[7] | ——— | ——— | ——— | ——— |
| Massachusetts[6] | ——— | 30,687 | 6,616 | ——— |
| Rhode Island | ——— | 2,145 | 200 | ——— |
| Connecticut | ——— | 7,587 | 1,978 | ——— |
| New York[7] | ——— | ——— | ——— | ——— |
| New Jersey | 10,985 | 9,110 | 1,196 | ——— |
| Pennsylvania | 36,100 | 5,440 | 4,206 | 1,609 |
| Delaware[7] | ——— | ——— | ——— | ——— |
| Maryland[6] | 14,523 | 14,632 | 3,646 | 695 |
| Virginia | 2,861 | 3,189 | 8,489 | 416 |
| North Carolina | 20,415 | ——— | 15,621 | ——— |
| South Carolina[7] | ——— | ——— | ——— | ——— |
| Georgia[7] | ——— | ——— | ——— | ——— |
| Alabama | 9,443 | 2,416 | 1,680 | 67 |
| Mississippi | 3,234 | 1,694 | 119 | ——— |
| Louisiana[7] | ——— | ——— | ——— | ——— |
| Kentucky[6] | 6,455 | ——— | ——— | 17,321 |
| Tennessee | 20,197 | 216 | 312 | ——— |
| Missouri | 987 | 311 | ——— | 1,401 |
| Ohio | 18,457 | 12,280 | ——— | 19,255 |
| Indiana | 7,343 | 3,095 | ——— | 5,315 |
| Illinois[6] | 1,901 | 1,542 | 219 | 1,047 |
| Totals | 153,544 | 108,740 | 46,618 | 47,136 |
The popular vote as given in the foregoing table does not fully represent the relative strength of the opposition candidates to Jackson. There were what were called “Opposition” tickets, “People’s” tickets, and “Convention” tickets voted in different States. It will be seen that Jackson received no votes in New England excepting a few in New Hampshire, and in most of those States electoral tickets were known as “Opposition” designed to concentrate all the opposition to Adams, and in North Carolina the Jackson ticket was voted as the “People’s” ticket, but no more intelligent and satisfactory presentation of the popular vote can be gathered from the records than that presented.
The following is the vote of the Electoral College:
| STATES. | President. | Vice-President. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Jackson, Tenn. | J. Q. Adams, Mass. | W. H. Crawford, Ga. | H. Clay, Ky. | John C. Calhoun, S. C. | Nathan Sanford, N. Y. | Nathaniel Macon, N. C. | Andrew Jackson, Tenn. | M. Van Buren, N. Y. | H. Clay, Ky. | |
| Maine | — | 9 | — | — | 9 | — | — | — | — | — |
| New Hampshire | — | 8 | — | — | 7 | — | — | 1 | — | — |
| Vermont | — | 7 | — | — | 7 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Massachusetts | — | 15 | — | — | 15 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Rhode Island | — | 4 | — | — | 3 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Connecticut | — | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | 8 | — | — |
| New York | 1 | 26 | 5 | 4 | 29 | 7 | — | — | — | — |
| New Jersey | 8 | — | — | — | 8 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Pennsylvania | 28 | — | — | — | 28 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Delaware | — | 1 | 2 | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | 2 |
| Maryland | 7 | 3 | 1 | — | 10 | — | — | 1 | — | — |
| Virginia | — | — | 24 | — | — | — | 24 | — | — | — |
| North Carolina | 15 | — | — | — | 15 | — | — | — | — | — |
| South Carolina | 11 | — | — | — | 11 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Georgia | — | — | 9 | — | — | — | — | — | 9 | — |
| Alabama | 5 | — | — | — | 5 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Mississippi | 3 | — | — | — | 3 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Louisiana | 3 | 2 | — | — | 5 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Kentucky | — | — | — | 14 | 7 | 7 | — | — | — | — |
| Tennessee | 11 | — | — | — | 11 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Missouri | — | — | — | 3 | — | — | — | 3 | — | — |
| Ohio | — | — | — | 16 | — | 16 | — | — | — | — |
| Indiana | 5 | — | — | — | 5 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Illinois | 2 | 1 | — | — | 3 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Total | 99 | 84 | 41 | 37 | 182 | 30 | 24 | 13 | 9 | 2 |