{"id":69606,"date":"2025-02-05T12:41:46","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T12:41:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/american-history\/how-corrupt-was-my-bargain\/"},"modified":"2025-02-05T12:41:46","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T12:41:46","slug":"how-corrupt-was-my-bargain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=69606","title":{"rendered":"How Corrupt Was My Bargain?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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What is a \u201ccorrupt bargain\u201d anyway?<\/strong><\/em>\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

In the Election of 1824, Henry Clay\u2019s legacy was marred by what some considered a \u201ccorrupt bargain\u201d with John Quincy Adams. Andrew Jackson had won the popular vote and received the most electoral votes, with John Quincy Adams coming in second. Since no candidate had won a majority of electoral votes, it was up to the House of Representatives to decide among the top three candidates.<\/p>\n

Kentuckian Henry Clay, who happened to come in fourth place and was thus ineligible to win the House\u2019s vote, was also conveniently the Speaker of the House. He threw his support behind Adams and Adams won. When Adams named Clay as his Secretary of State, Jackson and his followers called it a \u201ccorrupt bargain\u201d \u2014 essentially an unfair, rigged election.<\/p>\n

It was the first time\u2014and certainly not the last\u2014that cries of a \u201crigged election\u201d would be used to rouse the rabble.<\/p>\n

A while back I spoke to historian Mark Cheathem, who teaches a course on conspiracy theories in American history at Cumberland University, about The Corrupt Bargain in our episode \u201cConspiracy Theories & The Corrupt Bargain with Mark Cheathem\u201d which you can listen to here:<\/p>\n