Why did the election of 1824 have to be decided by the House of Representatives?
The election of 1824 had to be decided by the House of Representatives because none of the candidates received an absolute majority of electoral votes.
In the election of 1824, there were four main candidates: John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford, and Henry Clay. However, none of them were able to secure the necessary majority of electoral votes (131 out of 261) to win the presidency outright.
John Quincy Adams won the second-highest number of electoral votes, with 84, while Andrew Jackson received the highest number, 99. However, since neither candidate reached the absolute majority, the election was sent to the House of Representatives as outlined in the Twelfth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
According to the amendment, if no candidate receives an absolute majority, the House of Representatives must select the President from the top three candidates. In this case, Henry Clay, who received 37 electoral votes, was eliminated from contention. Clay, who was the Speaker of the House at the time, played a significant role in the election as a powerbroker.
During the contingent election in the House of Representatives, each state delegation received one vote. The candidate who received the majority of votes in at least 13 of the 24 state delegations would become the President. John Quincy Adams ended up winning the contingent election, securing the support of 13 states, while Jackson received support from only 7 states.
The election of 1824 was controversial and marked by intense political maneuvering. Many Jackson supporters viewed Adams' victory as a "corrupt bargain" since Adams later appointed Henry Clay as his Secretary of State. This controversy contributed to the formation of the Democratic Party, led by Jackson, which went on to win the presidency in the 1828 election.