A presidential election was held in Indiana on November 8, 1824, as part of the 1824 United States presidential election. The junior U.S. senator from Tennessee Andrew Jackson defeated the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Henry Clay and the U.S. secretary of state John Quincy Adams. All three candidates represented the Democratic-Republican Party. No candidate won a majority of the electoral vote in the national election; Adams eventually became the 6th president of the United States after winning a contingent election conducted by the United States House of Representatives.
This was the first election in which Indiana's electors were elected by voters statewide, rather than by appointment of the state legislature. Jackson was nominated by delegates to a convention held at Salem, Indiana, and drew support based on his military record, residence in a Western state, support for internal improvements, and fidelity to republican principles. Clay hoped to carry the state based on his advocacy for Western interests, but was harmed by closeness to political elites blamed for the lingering economic recession. Adams was popular with Quakers and others opponents of slavery, but perceived indifference to the need for regional economic development limited his appeal. Jackson carried the state with a plurality based on his strength in Southern Indiana, while Clay won most of the sparsely-populated counties in Central Indiana. Adams ran a distant third in much of the state, but carried Randolph and Wayne counties, home to the Quaker stronghold of Richmond, Indiana.
Background
The Indiana General Assembly passed legislation in January 1824 to appoint the state's electors by a popular vote. Whether to elect all five electors on a statewide general ticket, or individually from single-member districts, was the subject of broad disagreement. Hoosier diarist Calvin Fletcher reported lively debate in Indianapolis on the merits of both methods versus appointment by the legislature. Clay's supporters in the General Assembly favored election by districts in the belief that their candidate could not win a statewide vote. The general ticket system was thought by some observers to encourage official corruption, by increasing the influence of those who promised to deliver the state's electoral votes in exchange for plum patronage jobs. Despite these objections, the General Assembly decided in favor of a general ticket.
Candidates
Jackson
Jackson was first nominated by the Tennessee General Assembly and was not expected to attract significant support. His rapid rise in popularity took the political establishment by surprise. Jackson's military exploits in the War of 1812, the Creek War, and the Seminole Wars made him a household name and a possible presidential candidate as early as 1818. The candidate's humble origins, regional identity, commitment to republicanism, and support for nationalist economic policies appealed broadly to settlers seeking a Western alternative to Clay; his supporters presented the general as a principled democrat untainted by corrupt associations with Eastern politicians and foreign monarchs.
Jackson's opponents impeached his moral character, military record, and fitness for office. Anti-Jackson editors compared the general to historical military dictators and warned that his election would undermine civil control of the military. Jackson's explosive temper, predilection for violence and dueling, and disregard for the rule of law were said to disqualify him from the presidency.
Lists of electors pledged to Jackson appeared as early as June. Confusion resulting from the lack of a central organization caused multiple competing Jackson tickets to circulate during the summer. To resolve this dilemma, Jackson's supporters held a state convention at Salem, Indiana, on September 16. With delegates from 13 of the state's 51 counties in attendance, the convention nominated a list of five electors and appointed a three-person state central committee. Local committees of correspondence were established in every county and township to conduct the campaign. The system developed by the Jacksonians for the 1824 campaign proved influential and became the model for future political campaigns in Indiana.
Clay
Clay was nominated by the Missouri, Kentucky, and Ohio state legislatures and hoped to emerged as the consensus choice of the Western states for president. A veteran legislator and influential U.S. House speaker, Clay was the favorite candidate of many prominent Indiana politicians, including the governor of Indiana William Hendricks. The support of the political establishment was transformed from an asset to a liability following the Panic of 1819, however. Popular anger was directed at the Second Bank of the United States, with which Clay was personally associated, and economic legislation seen to unfairly benefit special interest groups. Clay's public image as the preferred candidate of local and national elites harmed his standing with voters eager to punish elected leaders they blamed for the economic downturn.
Supporters praised Clay's advocacy for Western interests, republican simplicity, and experience in domestic and international affairs. Clay believed that his sponsorship of nationalist economic policies would outweigh other concerns with voters in the Old Northwest.
Clay first hoped for a nomination by the Indiana General Assembly, but anti-caucus feeling in the state led his supporters to forgo this course. A list of electors pledged to Clay was printed by several newspapers and endorsed by the friendly Indianapolis Gazette. Supposedly the product of a grassroots movement for Clay in the state, the list was likely composed by a small group of Clay's legislative allies in Indianapolis.
Adams
Adams was nominated by the Democratic-Republicans in the Massachusetts General Court and received a majority of newspaper endorsements in Indiana. A list of electors pledged to him was announced by his allies in April and distributed through the press. The candidate's personal integrity, high moral character, sobriety, and abstention from dueling were all in his favor, and for a time he was seen as the leading rival to Clay for Indiana's electoral votes. Adams's religious convictions were an issue, with supporters affirming his reverence for the Bible and Christian teachings. Quakers and other opponents of slavery supported Adams as the only Northerner and non-slaveholder still in the race on Election Day. His opponents attacked Adams's past ties to the Federalist Party, his alleged elitism, and his votes against territorial acquisition and federal aid for regional economic development while a member of the Senate.
Others
Calvin Fletcher recorded that in addition to Adams, Clay, and Jackson, William H. Crawford, John C. Calhoun, and DeWitt Clinton were discussed as potential presidential candidates during the fall of 1823. Crawford's candidacy was irreparably damaged when he received the endorsement of the Democratic-Republican congressional nominating caucus in February 1824. The caucus nomination tarred Crawford as the candidate of the unpopular Eastern political establishment; before summer he had effectively dropped out of the race in Indiana, having failed to attract significant support. Clinton's failure to win legislative approval for a bill to elect New York's electors by popular vote effectively ended his candidacy in February. Around this time, Calhoun also withdrew from the race in order to seek the vice presidency on both the Adams and Jackson tickets. These developments left Adams, Clay, and Jackson as the only remaining candidates in Indiana.
Campaign issues
American System
Economic nationalism and the need for internal improvements were important issues in the campaign. Clay was strongly associated with the American System, a protectionist economic program that called for tariffs on foreign manufactures to boost domestic industry and raise revenue for the construction of roads and canals in the West. Adams's perceived weakness on the tariff and his reluctance to voice support for internal improvements damaged his standing with voters in the Old Northwest who prioritized the need for economic development. The candidate was viewed as personally sympathetic to nationalist policies, but unwilling to break with New England merchants who opposed federal spending to benefit the Western states. Jackson's surrogates also sought to strengthen their candidate's regional appeal by associating him with popular calls for protection and internal improvements. While Clay believed his position on the tariff would deliver the state, the unpopularity of his support for the Second Bank of the United States following the Panic of 1819 created an opening for Jackson to position himself as a nationalist alternative to the Kentuckian.
Caucus system
The congressional nominating caucus was increasingly the object of disapproval by 1824, as critics argued the practice of selecting candidates in a closed meeting of members of the United States Congress was undemocratic and potentially unconstitutional. Crawford's nomination by the Democratic-Republican congressional caucus in February disqualified him in the eyes of many Indiana voters, and he soon dropped out of the race in the state altogether. Sensitivity to the stigma attached to the caucus led Clay's supporters to forgo his nomination by the Indiana General Assembly. Tickets pledged to Adams and Clay were instead nominated informally through the press, while the Jackson electors were nominated by a state convention. Clay's backers attempted to make an issue of the fact that the Adams ticket originated with a meeting of friendly legislators; the Clay ticket, however, was similarly the product of a conference of Clay's allies in the legislature.
Sectionalism
Indiana's settler population came mostly from the Southern United States and the Mid-Atlantic region, while comparatively few Yankees settled in the state. The importance of the Mississippi River to the frontier economy led residents of the Ohio River Valley to develop a Western regional identity in the first half of the nineteenth century. Both Clay and Jackson appealed for votes on the basis of their residence in a Western state and promises to promote regional economic development through internal improvements.
Politically, the Ohio marked the boundary between the slave states and free states; recent confrontations over the future of slavery in the United States led some Hoosiers to prioritize cultural ties to the North ahead of regional economic self-interest. Clinton had some support as a Northern candidate prior to his withdrawal from the race; the principal beneficiary of anti-Southern sentiment, however, was Adams. The contest between Adams and Clay in Indiana forced Hoosiers to choose between their Western and Northern identities.
Slavery
Opposition to slavery played an important role in the early politics of Indiana. The Northwest Ordinance outlawed slavery in the territory north of the Ohio River from 1787, but extralegal slavery and legally-sanctioned involuntary servitude persisted into the 1820s. In the aftermath of the Missouri Compromise, many Indiana voters, particularly Quakers, demanded the election of an antislavery president after decades of government by Virginian enslavers. Antislavery feeling primarily benefited Adams as the only Northern candidate following Clinton's withdrawal. Clay's status as a slaveholder and his role in securing the admission of Missouri as a slave state damaged his candidacy with voters for whom abolitionism was an issue of primary importance.
General election
Summary
Indiana chose five electors in a statewide general election. Nineteenth-century presidential elections used a form of block voting that allowed voters to modify the electoral list nominated by a political party before submitting their ballots. Because voters elected each member of the Electoral College individually, electors nominated by the same party often received differing numbers of votes as a consequence of voter rolloff, split-ticket voting, or electoral fusion. This table compares the votes for the most popular elector pledged to each ticket, to give an approximate sense of the statewide result.
Results by county
This table compares the result for the most popular Jackson, Clay, and Adams electors in each county. The totals presented thus differ slightly from the statewide results summary, which compares the results for the most popular elector pledged to each ticket statewide. The margin is the difference between the first and second highest-voted tickets.
Results by congressional district
The following table calculates the result in each of the state's three congressional districts based on the county returns as tabulated above. District boundaries are from the Laws of Indiana for 1824.