United States Gubernatorial election, 1826 (Hamilton)

The United States Gubernatorial election of 1826 a multi-way contest wchich produced no clear victor until after several electoral ballots were cast.

Adams fared poorly in part due to allegation that he favored a monarchy headed by the Adams family, which was extremely unpopular at the time. Jackson was seen as populist and reformer, so did well in much of the nations rual areas. Due to the fact that electoral districts are created based on a states initial population, most of Jacksons states had fewer electors than probably should have been chosen. Crawford and Clay performed best in their home regions, as did Adams.

First Ballot
The first ballot is shown in the election box a right. The tally was:

19 votes for Jackson

15 votes for Adams

8 votes for Crawford, and

3 votes for Clay.

No candidate had a majority of electoral votes, so the electors were reassembled in the capital and voted a second time.

Second Ballot
The second ballot saw some of Adams support diminish, in favor of Clay. Some of Jacksons supporters began to favor Vrawford as well. The second tally was as follows,

Jackson - 17

Adams - 14

Crawford - 10

Clay - 4

Third Ballot
At this time, Henry Clay began to fear the Jackson or Crawford would be elected, so he met with his supporters and asked them to vote instead for Adams, whom he preferred over the other candidates. The third tally was as follows.

Adams - 18

Jackson - 17

Crawford - 10

Fourth Ballot
Many electors who dreaded the idea of another Adams administration began to worry at his taking the lead. Eleven supporting electors of Crawford and Jackson met and agreed to vote for Jakson of the two, to prevent Adams from winning the election. six of these had favored Crawford in the previous ballot, and five, Jackson. the Fourth tally was as follows.

Jackson - 23

Adams - 18

Crawford - 4

At this point Andrew Jackson had secured a majority and was proclaimed elected.