1824 United States presidential election in Indiana

← 1820 November 8, 1824 1828 →
Turnout	37.1%[1]
Nominee Andrew Jackson Henry Clay John Quincy Adams Party Democratic-Republican Democratic-Republican Democratic-Republican Home state Tennessee Kentucky Massachusetts Running mate John C. Calhoun Nathan Sanford John C. Calhoun Electoral vote 5 0 0 Popular vote 7,444 5,321 3,093 Percentage 46.9% 33.5% 19.5%
County Results Jackson   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80% Clay   30–40%   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   80–90%   90–100% Adams   40–50%   50–60% Unknown/No vote
President before election James Monroe Democratic-Republican Elected President John Quincy Adams Democratic-Republican

Apresidential election was held inIndiana on November 8, 1824, as part of the1824 United States presidential election. The juniorU.S. senator fromTennesseeAndrew Jackson defeated thespeaker of the U.S. House of RepresentativesHenry Clay and theU.S. secretary of stateJohn Quincy Adams. All three candidates represented theDemocratic-Republican Party. No candidate won a majority of theelectoral vote in the national election; Adams eventually became the6thpresident of the United States after winning acontingent election conducted by theUnited States House of Representatives.^[2]

This was the first election in which Indiana's electors were elected by voters statewide, rather than by appointment of thestate legislature. Jackson was nominated by delegates to aconvention held atSalem, Indiana, and drew support based on his military record, residence in a Western state, support forinternal improvements, and fidelity torepublican principles.^[3] Clay hoped to carry the state based on his advocacy for Western interests, but was harmed by closeness to politicalelites blamed for the lingering economicrecession. Adams was popular withQuakers and others opponents ofslavery, but perceived indifference to the need for regional economic development limited his appeal.^[4] Jackson carried the state with aplurality based on his strength inSouthern Indiana, while Clay won most of the sparsely-populated counties inCentral Indiana. Adams ran a distant third in much of the state, but carriedRandolph andWayne counties, home to the Quaker stronghold ofRichmond, Indiana.^[5]

TheIndiana General Assembly passed legislation in January 1824 to appoint the state's electors by a popular vote.^[6] Whether to elect all five electors on a statewidegeneral ticket, or individually fromsingle-member districts, was the subject of broad disagreement.^[7] HoosierdiaristCalvin Fletcher reported lively debate inIndianapolis on the merits of both methods versus appointment by the legislature.^[8] 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 officialcorruption, by increasing the influence of those who promised to deliver the state's electoral votes in exchange for plumpatronage jobs. Despite these objections, the General Assembly decided in favor of a general ticket.^[7]

Jackson was first nominated by theTennessee General Assembly and was not expected to attract significant support. His rapid rise in popularity took the politicalestablishment by surprise. Jackson's military exploits in theWar of 1812, theCreek War, and theSeminole 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 principleddemocrat untainted by corrupt associations with Eastern politicians and foreign monarchs.^[9]

Jackson's opponents impeached his moral character, military record, and fitness for office. Anti-Jackson editors compared the general to historicalmilitary dictators and warned that his election would underminecivil control of the military. Jackson's explosive temper, predilection for violence anddueling, and disregard for therule of law were said to disqualify him from the presidency.^[10]

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.^[11]

Clay was nominated by theMissouri,Kentucky, andOhio state legislatures and hoped to emerged as the consensus choice of the Western states for president.^[12] A veteran legislator and influential U.S. House speaker, Clay was the favorite candidate of many prominent Indiana politicians, including thegovernor of IndianaWilliam Hendricks.^[7] The support of the political establishment was transformed from an asset to a liability following thePanic of 1819, however. Popular anger was directed at theSecond Bank of the United States, with which Clay was personally associated, and economic legislation seen to unfairly benefitspecial 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.^[13]

Supporters praised Clay's advocacy for Western interests, republican simplicity, and experience in domestic and international affairs.^[14] Clay believed that his sponsorship of nationalist economic policies would outweigh other concerns with voters in theOld Northwest.^[15]

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 friendlyIndianapolis Gazette. Supposedly the product of agrassroots movement for Clay in the state, the list was likely composed by a small group of Clay's legislative allies inIndianapolis.^[16]

Adams was nominated by the Democratic-Republicans in theMassachusetts General Court and received a majority of newspaper endorsements in Indiana.^[17] A list of electors pledged to him was announced by his allies in April and distributed through the press.^[18] 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 theBible andChristian teachings. Quakers and other opponents of slavery supported Adams as the onlyNortherner and non-slaveholder still in the race onElection Day.^[19] His opponents attacked Adams's past ties to theFederalist Party, his allegedelitism, and his votes against territorial acquisition and federal aid for regional economic development while a member of the Senate.^[14]

Calvin Fletcher recorded that in addition to Adams, Clay, and Jackson,William H. Crawford,John C. Calhoun, andDeWitt Clinton were discussed as potential presidential candidates during the fall of 1823.^[20] Crawford's candidacy was irreparably damaged when he received the endorsement of the Democratic-Republicancongressional 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.^[21] Clinton's failure to win legislative approval for a bill to electNew 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 thevice presidency on both the Adams and Jackson tickets.^[22] These developments left Adams, Clay, and Jackson as the only remaining candidates in Indiana.^[21]

Economic nationalism and the need for internal improvements were important issues in the campaign. Clay was strongly associated with theAmerican System, aprotectionist economic program that called fortariffs on foreign manufactures to boost domestic industry and raise revenue for the construction of roads andcanals in the West.^[14] 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 withNew Englandmerchants who opposed federal spending to benefit the Western states.^[23] Jackson's surrogates also sought to strengthen their candidate's regional appeal by associating him with popular calls for protection and internal improvements.^[24] 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.^[25]

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 theUnited States Congress was undemocratic and potentiallyunconstitutional. 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.^[16]

Indiana's settler population came mostly from theSouthern United States and theMid-Atlantic region, while comparatively fewYankees settled in the state.^[26] The importance of theMississippi River to the frontier economy led residents of theOhio River Valley to develop a Western regional identity in the first half of the nineteenth century.^[27] 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.^[10]

Politically, the Ohio marked the boundary between theslave states and free states;^[28] recent confrontations over the future ofslavery 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.^[15]

Opposition to slavery played an important role in the early politics of Indiana. TheNorthwest Ordinance outlawed slavery in theterritory north of theOhio River from 1787, but extralegal slavery and legally-sanctionedinvoluntary servitude persisted into the 1820s.^[29] In the aftermath of theMissouri Compromise, many Indiana voters, particularly Quakers, demanded the election of an antislavery president after decades of government byVirginian enslavers. Antislavery feeling primarily benefited Adams as the only Northern candidate following Clinton's withdrawal.^[30] Clay's status as a slaveholder and his role in securing the admission ofMissouri as a slave state damaged his candidacy with voters for whomabolitionism was an issue of primary importance.^[14]

Indiana chose five electors on a statewidegeneral ticket. Nineteenth-century election laws required voters to elect each member of the Electoral College individually, rather than as a group. This sometimes resulted in small differences in the number of votes cast for electors pledged to the same presidential candidate, if some voters did not vote for all the electors nominated by a party.^[36] This table compares the votes for the most popular elector pledged to each ticket, to give an approximate sense of the statewide result.

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.

The following table calculates the result in each of the state's threecongressional districts based on the county returns as tabulated above.^[37] District boundaries are from theLaws of Indiana for 1824.^[41]

• 
  Result for the most popular Jackson elector by county
• 
  Result for the most popular Clay elector by county
• 
  Result for the most popular Adams elector by county

• United States presidential elections in Indiana

• Indiana (1824).The Revised Laws of Indiana [...]. Corydon.

• Bennett, Zachary Morgan (2013).One River, One Nation: The Ohio River in an American Borderland, 1800–1850 (Master of Arts thesis). Oxford, OH: Miami University.
• Carmony, Donald F. (1998).Indiana, 1816–1850: The Pioneer Era. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Bureau.
• Finkelman, Paul (March 2015)."Almost a Free State: The Indiana Constitution of 1816 and the Problem of Slavery".Indiana Magazine of History.111 (1):64–95.
• Howard, Thomas W. (September 1967)."Indiana Newspapers and the Presidential Election of 1824".Indiana Magazine of History.63 (3):177–206.JSTOR 27789429.
• Lampi, Philip J. (n.d.)."Electoral College".A New Nation Votes. American Antiquarian Society. RetrievedOctober 5, 2025.
• Lampi, Philip J. (January 11, 2012)."Indiana 1824 Electoral College".A New Nation Votes. American Antiquarian Society. RetrievedOctober 5, 2025.
• Madison, James H. (1986).The Indiana Way: A State History. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• Ratcliffe, Donald J. (2015).The One-Party Presidential Contest: Adams, Jackson, and 1824's Five-Horse Race. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.
• Ratcliffe, Donald J. (Spring 2014)."Popular Preferences in the Presidential Election of 1824".Journal of the Early Republic.34 (1):45–77.JSTOR 24486931.
• Riker, Dorothy; Thornbrough, Gayle, eds. (1960).Indiana Election Returns, 1816–1851. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Bureau.
• Thornbrough, Gayle, ed. (1972).The Diary of Calvin Fletcher. Vol. 1. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society.

• 1824 United States presidential election by state
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• 1824 Indiana elections

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