1824 United States presidential election — 10th quadrennial U.S. presidential election
The 1824 election was the only U.S. presidential election in which the Electoral College frontrunner lost, decided by the House under the Twelfth Amendment.
Key Facts
- Election dates
- October 26 – December 2, 1824
- House decision date
- February 9, 1825
- Adams popular vote share
- 32.7% (lowest for any elected president)
- Electoral vote winner
- Andrew Jackson (plurality, not majority)
- Vice President elected
- John C. Calhoun (comfortable majority)
- House outcome
- John Quincy Adams elected president
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
By 1824 the Democratic-Republican Party was the sole national party, but the approach of the election exposed deep factional divisions. Multiple viable candidates — Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and William Crawford — each secured regional nominations, reflecting the splintering of the party and the end of the Era of Good Feelings.
Voting took place from October 26 to December 2, 1824. No candidate secured a majority of electoral votes: Jackson led with a plurality of both popular and electoral votes, followed by Adams, Crawford, and Clay. Because no majority was reached, the Twelfth Amendment required the House of Representatives to choose among the top three candidates, excluding Clay.
On February 9, 1825, the House elected John Quincy Adams as president, despite Jackson having received more electoral and popular votes. Adams became the first son of a former president to win the office. The outcome accelerated the collapse of the First Party System and directly fueled the formation of new partisan alignments that would soon produce the Jacksonian Democratic Party.
Political Outcome
John Quincy Adams elected president by the House of Representatives on February 9, 1825, after no candidate achieved an electoral majority.
Democratic-Republican one-party Era of Good Feelings under James Monroe
Factional split leading to the collapse of the First Party System and rise of Jacksonian democracy