After the acquisition of Florida by purchase 1819, Jackson was appointed its territorial governor (1821). According to the testimony of Parton, his biographer, he governed badly and his conduct while governor was "arrogant and disgraceful? On 20 July 1822, the legis lature of Tennessee nominated him for Presi dent. In 1823 he was chosen senator from Tennessee for the second time. In the election of 1824-25 Jackson received 99 of the electoral votes to 84 for John Quincy Adams, 41 for Henry Clay and 37 for William H. Crawford. No candidate receiving a majority, the election was thrown into the House of Representatives, with the result, due to Clay's support of Adams, that Jackson was defeated. When Clay waS immediately. appointed Secretary of State, the cry of bargain') was raised, there is no evidence that. Adams promised this office in return for Clay's support. Neverthe less Jackson believed the story, and his polit ical managers made as much capital as possible out of it in the next campaign for the presi dency, which in fact started at once. It was also maintained. that Jackson had been out of the presidency because he had the largest number of electoral votes, and hence should have been chosen President by the House of Representatives rather than Adams. This, how ever, was another party war cry to gain votes for Jackson.
The election of was a great victory for Jackson, as he reca ry 178 electoral votes to 83 for Adams. The result was a great surprise to many, especially to the conservative North Atlantic States. While many voted for Jackson for persona! reasons, because he was a military hero or because of a belief that he was un justly deprived of the presidency in 1824-25, and others as a protest against alleged mis government by Adams, or personal antagonism to him, yet the real causes of Jackson's extraor dinary success lie deeper. His election was the result of a protest against what many con sidered too much centralizjtion of power in the national government, and a tendency to interpret' too This' was shown in decisions of the Supreme Court in several well-known and important cases, as well as in acts of Congress providing for in ternal improvements at national expense, char tering the Second States Bank, uphold ing the principle of high protective tariff and refusing to lands i a nsanner satisfactory to the West. These meas ures were looked upon as on the whole favor ing the interests and power of the manufactur ing, commercial and financial classes of the Northeast rather than the great agricultural classes of the South and West who composed r the mass of the people. This combination of the South and West to gain their special in 1 terests, a low tariff for the South and cheap I lands for the West, was the greatest force in the election of Jackson.
The election also turned on the question of what type of man should administer the govern ment and make the laws. The Federalist, Jeffersonian-Republican and National-Republi can parties had never represented the great mass of the people, and this largely because of the belief that the government should be run by carefully selected educated leaders. Jackson
represented the great new West and its democ racy. The notion, °He is one of us" appealed very strongly to common men, and the election of Jackson was the answer to the ques tion whether a class could be safely entrusted with the power to act wisely for the whole people. Jackson's real views on some of the important public questions were unknown, such as his attitude on the tariff, internal improve ments, public lands and National vs. State rights. On the other hand, he was known to favor slavery, the removal of the from Indians fm anal by the White man, the interests of the common people, and hence to be op posed to all forms of special privilege, monop olies and the centring of power in the hands of a favored class. It was thought probable also that he would favor a lower tariff and laws pleasing to the West on the question of the distribution of the public lands, since he was a western man. It was known also that Jackson was a master of men, almost despotic by nature, in spite of his humble origin and his interest in the common man; that his military career had taught him the necessity. of obedi ence to law, at least by those subject to his orders, and that he was not likely to allow his authority to be questioned as President, or in the enforcement of the law as he understood it.
These views help to explain the principal events and policies of Jackson's two administra tions. His democracy, expressed by a phrase, — "Let the people rule," accounts in part for his of the spoils system, whereby some 2,000 were remove-1 from office in the first year of his administration to make room for his If riends, °the people.' His frontier life and ex perience developed the peculiar personal char acter of his administration, as shown by his — 'kitchen cabinet.' Jackson's military and politi cal successes were due largely to his ability to inspire the fealty of those associated with him. Like the leaders of primitive societies, he de pended on the unswerving loyalty of personal intimate friends. It was natural, then, that he should treat his regular cabinet officers as clerks, heads of departments, as was apparently in tended by the Constitution, and that his real ad visors should be those more intimate friends whom he knew well and could depend upon. His secretaries were chosen with this end in view, and they were in fact not much above the capacity of clerks. The principal members of his 'kitchen cabinet* were William B. Lewis, his party manager; Duff Green, the editor of The Telegraph at Washington, a partisan news paper; and Amos Kendall, a politician with brains, the chief advisor of Jackson on all im portant state questions. This personal character of his administration was also prominent in the relations of the executive to the legislative and judicial departments. Jackson greatly enlarged the importance and influence of the President in his contests with Congress and the Supreme Court.