ABSTRACT
Against this idealistic, promising background of growing democracy, the campaign of 1828 proved sordid, as politics still centered around a candidate's character and reputation. Both parties sidestepped the major issues and instead skewered the candidates. President John Quincy Adams, whose supporters became known as the National Republicans, ran with his treasury secretary, Richard Rush. Adams's supporters did their best to smear Jackson, whom they denounced as uneducated and unfit for the presidency; They pointed to his explosive temper and history of dueling as dangerous character defects. The nastiest charge of the campaign was directed against both Jackson and his beloved wife, Rachel. When the two had married in 1791, neither was aware that Rachel's divorce from her first husband was not yet legally complete. Adams's supporters pounced on the couple's oversight and labeled them as adulterers and bigamists. The charges gouged a deep wound in Jackson.
