Page:Life of Henry Clay (Schurz; v. 1).djvu/300

288 With frantic energy the speakers and newspapers of the Jackson party rang the changes upon the “bargain and corruption” charge, and Clay, although not himself a candidate, was glibly reviled as a professional gambler, a swindling bankrupt, an abandoned profligate, and an accomplice of Aaron Burr. On the other hand, not only the vulnerable points of Jackson's public career were denounced, but also his private character, and even the good name of his wife, were ruthlessly dragged in the dust. Such was the vile war of detraction which raged till the closing of the polls.

Some of Mr. Adams's friends, among them Webster, were hopeful to the last. But Adams himself, and with him the cooler heads on his side, did not delude themselves with flattering expectations. When the votes were counted, it turned out that Adams had carried all New England, with the exception of one electoral vote in Maine; also New Jersey, Delaware, four ninths of the vote of New York, and six of the eleven Maryland votes. South of the Potomac, and west of the Alleghanies, Jackson had swept everything before him. In Pennsylvania he had a popular majority of fifty thousand. The electoral vote for Jackson was one hundred and seventy-eight, that for Adams eighty-three. All the Clay states of 1824 had gone to Jackson. Calhoun was elected Vice-President.

The overwhelming defeat of John Quincy Adams has by some been attributed to the stubborn consistency with which he refused to build up a party