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One of the greatest misconceptions of modern presidential politics is that campaigning gets dirtier every year. “Attack ads" loom above substance and the media exposes the private lives of public figures. Many long for the “good ole days” when noble politicians debated issues of substance. Yet dirty campaigns have been with us since our first presidential campaign. Mudslinging reached new heights in our long history of dirty campaigning in 1828. The Campaign of 1828 still stands out as the worst in history and attacks on Andrew Jackson are still unparalleled in American political history. His opponents accused him of murder, gambling, slave trading and treason. They called him a “military chieftain”, and said his mother was a prostitute, his father a mulatto man, and his wife a bigamist. Due to the awkward circumstances surrounding their marriage, unfortunately some elements of the story of Rachel and Andrew Jackson's marriage were true according to the law. Rachel and Andrew were living as husband and wife for two years before they found out that her first husband had actually never completed the divorce. She was still technically married to Lewis Robards. This made Rachel Jackson a bigamist and an adulteress and Andrew Jackson a man of questionable character. Robards did finally move forward and obtain a divorce in 1793. For the record, Andrew and Rachel married in Nashville in 1794. During the campaign Jackson's opponents told and retold the story accusing Jackson of dishonorable intentions and Rachel of unfaithfulness. Jackson supporters were by no means innocent. Adams was accused of installing gambling tables in the White House at the public expense, of padding his expense account, and even of sending women to the Tsar of Russia.
But in the moment of his greatest victory, he also suffered the most crushing blow of his life— the death of his beloved Rachel.
Andrew Jackson's response to Rachel's death was one of shock, devastation, and perpetual mourning. He believed adamantly that his political enemies had precipitated her death. Once he took office, he sought retaliation for his loss. The public response to her death was equally overwhelming. The Nashville community went into deep mourning. Nationally, Mrs. Jackson's death received great attention, reported in newspapers across the country. Yet, even in her death her name was still slandered in some obituaries. But her devoted husband made sure that her memory would be honored in the most grand and poetic way. He built a shrine to her, placed it in her beloved garden at the Hermitage, and planted weeping willow trees around it to do all the weeping. She was buried in her garden on Christmas Eve. Some said she was wearing the gown and white slippers she planned to wear to her husband's Inauguration. Jackson never fully recovered from her loss and mourned for Rachel the rest of his life. It is said that he carried around a miniature of her during his waking hours and at night he placed the portrait on his bedside table. He never remarried and was completely devoted to her memory. |
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In the end, Jackson won by an overwhelming victory. Jackson had broken the hold of the northeastern elite on the Presidency thanks to largest voter turnout up to that time. All six previous presidents had come from Virginia or Massachusetts, Jackson was the first to be born in the new frontier. He was also the first not to be born into the ranks of privilege and wealth. Andrew Jackson's win showed democracy at work. He was the only President since George Washington without a college education. Citizens believed anyone could become President. Jackson's victory showed that an ordinary person could still aspire to the nation's highest office. 
Rachel Jackson died a month after Andrew Jackson was elected President. What should have been a time of celebration became a time of mourning. It has been suggested that Rachel died due to a massive heart attack caused by the stresses from the dirty campaign of 1828 and by her heightened anxiety over the imminent move to Washington. 
