The first presidential campaign items used in a competitive race.

The United States has held presidential elections since 1789. George Washington was elected president unanimously in 1789 and 1792. The first competitive race was in 1796 when John Adams nosed out Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson came in second which made him the vice president under the rules of the day.

Jefferson defeated Adams for re-election in 1800, but the race ended in a tie because Jefferson and Aaron Burr had the same number of electoral votes. That threw the election into the House of Representatives, which was so contentious that it almost ended the Republic.

Starting in 1804, the Democratic-Republican Party totally dominated the Federalists and won every race up to 1820. That year James Monroe ran unopposed and got all but one vote in the Electoral College. Some people thought that George Washington's dream of a consensus government had become a reality. It was not to be.

In 1824 there there were four major presidential candidates, all from one party, at least on paper. William Crawford had gotten the endorsement from the Congressional Caucus, a meeting of the Senators and Representatives, which had picked the president in the past. This time, three other presidential aspirants were tired of "King Caucus." They declared their candidacy, got their state legislatures to support them and ran for president. Crawford's chances of winning were severely hurt when he suffered a stroke.

The other four candidates were John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson. Among the four candidates, Jackson was ahead of the curve.

In the past, the state legislatures had picked the members of the Electoral College. That was gradually changing. By 1824, 75% of the Electoral College members were picked by popular vote. Jackson and his supporters noted that, and set out to energize his base of support.

The Jackson Campaign held rallies, barbeques and torchlight parades. They also issued brass tokens. Jackson had become a national military hero from his victory at the Battle of New Orleans, and his subsequent battles with the Indians. Therefore, all of his pieces showed him wearing is military uniform. Here are the three major designs.

"The Hero of New Orleans"



"The Nation's Good"



"The Nation's Pride"



These tokens are fairly common although there is one minor variety that is rare.

Jackson won the most popular votes and the most votes in the Electoral College. He didn't get a majority in the Electoral College which forced the election into the House of Representatives. There Henry Clay probably conspired with John Quincy Adams which resulted in Adams' election to the presidency. After Adams appointed Clay to be his Secretary of State, Jackson't people called that "The Corrupt Bargain" which became the battle cry for the 1828 presidential campaign.. In those days, the office of Secretary of State had been a stepping stone to the presidency. Jackson easily defeated Adams in the 1828 presidential election.