When King Mob Reigned Triumphant March 4, 1829: Andrew Jackson's Wild Drunken First Inauguration Day
The clouds break and temperatures rise. Sunlight cascades down upon America’s capital city. It is March 4, 1829--inauguration day for the seventh President of the United States, Andrew Jackson. Jackson, at the head of a brand new political party, won last November’s election in a landslide over incumbent President John Quincy Adams. It was the second time that Jackson had run for the Presidency against this same adversary. Back in 1824, after winning a plurality of the electoral vote in a four candidate race, Jackson had lost a contingent runoff in Congress for the Presidency to John Quincy Adams when one of the other candidates, Henry Clay, agreed to throw his support in Congress behind Adams in return for an appointment to Secretary of State. This deal in Congress for the Presidency between Adams and Clay in 1824 would be labelled by Jackson and his supporters as the “Corrupt Bargain” and, after resigning his seat in C...