In the 1824 U.S.presidential election, no candidate had received a majority of the Presidential Electoral votes. So the outcome of the election was put into the House of the Representatives. There were five candidates on the ballot: John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford, and John Calhoun. Of the 261 electoral votes, Andrew Jackson received 99, J. Q. Adams 84, W. H. Crawford 41, and Henry Clay 37. Yet, to the surprise of many, the House elected John Quincy Adams over rival Andrew Jackson. Many believed at the time, that Henry Clay had made a corrupt bargain with Adams to become Secretary of State if he would help Adams win. In 1828, when Jackson became president he sought to change this process.
In 1830, President Jackson appealed to the people that a change to the constitution is needed. Why is it that the Chief Magistrate is not elected? Why is a position of such great importance left to whims of the President and the Congress? And at that, often a single man in congress. Jackson had a long history of recommending a change to or even the elimination the Electoral College, but perhaps his greater concern was more about Congress subverting the will of the people to elect himself. Jackson had won the popular vote, but the electoral tie meant that one man, perhaps Henry Clay was able to choose the electorate.
In 1824, six states still permitted their legislatures to choose electors rather than the people, but by 1828, all electors were chosen directly by the people in all except two states (Delaware and South Carolina). In 1828, Jackson had a decisive win in both the popular vote and the electoral vote. In Jackson's mind it was not only pay back for himself, but also for the will of the people. Prior to his election in 1828, Jackson supporters put forth several measures calling for a direct election of the President by both district lines and by direct popular vote irregardless of state lines. In his first state of the Union, Jackson proposed an amendment to remove all intermediate agencies in the election of President and Vice president, while maintaining each states "relative weight in the election". And in 1830, Jackson returned to this subject, suggesting that our current approach included "a provision which does not secure to the people a direct choice of their Chief Magistrate, but has a tendency to defeat their will,”. Jackson called this “an inconsistency with the general spirit of our institutions.”, and he wanted it changed.
Here are the words of President Jackson to congress in 1830.
"A provision which does not secure to the people a direct choice of their Chief Magistrate, but has a tendency to defeat their will, presented to my mind such an inconsistence with the general spirit of our institutions that I was indeed to suggest for your consideration the substitute which appeared to me at the same time the most likely to correct the evil and to meet the views of our constituents. The most mature reflection since has added strength to the belief that the best interests of our country require the speedy adoption of some plan calculated to effect this end. A contingency which some times places it in the power of a single member of the House of Representatives to decide an election of so high and solemn a character is unjust to the people, and becomes when it occurs a source of embarrassment to the individuals thus brought into power and a cause of distrust of the representative body."
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29472
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29471
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrupt_Bargain#Election_of_1824
http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/white-house-dc-1830-granger.jpg
https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/presidents/andrewjackson
http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1940071000
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