Everything about Corrupt Bargain totally explained
Three deals cut in connection with the presidency of the United States - two in contested
United States presidential elections and a presidential appointment of a vice president - have been described as
Corrupt Bargains.
1824
In the
election of 1824, none of the candidates were able to secure a majority of the
electoral vote, thereby putting the outcome in the hands of the
House of Representatives, which (to the surprise of many) elected
John Quincy Adams over rival
Andrew Jackson.
Henry Clay was the
Speaker of the House at the time, and he convinced Congress to elect Adams. Adams then made Clay his
Secretary of State. Some people believe that an agreement was made ahead of time between the two, what was referred to by the defeated Jackson as a "corrupt bargain." Some people also believe that Henry Clay offered Jackson the corrupt bargain. When he was turned down, he took it to John Quincy Adams. Jackson referred to Clay as "The
Judas of the West," and remarked that his end would be the same.
More recently, analysis by means of
game theory mathematics has proposed that, contrary to the assertions of Jackson, his supporters, and countless historians since, the results of the election were consistent with "sincere voting" -- that is, those who were unable to vote for their most-favored candidate apparently voted for their second- (or third-) most-favored candidate.
This suggests that the result wasn't a consequence of any "corrupt bargain" between Adams and Clay, but was instead a natural consequence of an electoral field that was fundamentally divided between those who supported Jackson and those who would support anyone other than Jackson. The latter prevailed. The persistence of the "corrupt bargain" charge appears, therefore, to be the subject of serious dispute.
1876
The
election of 1876 is sometimes considered to be a second "corrupt bargain." Three
Southern states had contested vote counts, and for either candidate to win the election, he'd need more electoral votes. In Congress, an agreement was made:
Rutherford B. Hayes, the Republican candidate, would be elected under the following conditions:
With the Union troops gone, there was no security that the South would uphold the
13th,
14th and
15th amendments, so
African-Americans were not guaranteed to be free. Hence, it was called a Corrupt Bargain. Many historians call this "The
Compromise of 1877".
Ford's 1974 Nixon pardon
In addition,
Gerald Ford's 1974
pardon of
Richard Nixon was widely described as a "corrupt bargain" by critics of the disgraced former president. These critics claim that Ford's pardon was
quid pro quo for Nixon's resignation, which elevated Ford to the presidency. Other references are made to these in renowned books like
Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis.
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