Though we have to look a bit of a distance back in history to see it, but us historians knew that this was far from the first time this had occurred. 
      
      As we gaze back in history, we come across one of the most controversial elections that makes the Gore and Bush dispute look like a minor hassle. The year was 1824, and unlike the two-nominee melee that we experienced in 2000, this was a five man race. Dwindling down to four towards the end with John C. Calhoun dropping out to accept the vice presidential position, the remaining four were in heated battle. John Quincy Adams, son of the second president; Andrew Jackson, the hero of The Battle of New Orleans; William H. Crawford, the Secretary of the Treasury during James Madison and James Monroe's terms; and Henry Clay, The Speaker of the House of Representatives, all wanted the position of leader of the country. The Democratic-Republican party shared a common name but their Jeffersonian ideals, or lack there of, as described in (American Experiment, 2006) caused five distinct factions to form (p. 382). 

     From even the 4th and 3rd place, we see the same occurrence of the Bush and Gore issue. In 4th place with 37 electoral votes, and 47,531 popular votes was Speaker Henry Clay. The ill William H. Crawford crawled slightly ahead of him with 41 electoral votes but only 40,856 of the popular vote (270towin). The top two contenders left were John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, and if you know your history, you know that Jackson did not become President until 1829. 

    Therefore it must be assumed that John Quincy Adams won the election in popular and electoral votes. However, that is simply not the case, neither of those are true. The election of 1824 ended with a landslide victory for Andrew Jackson with 153,544 votes and 99 electoral votes. With 84 electoral votes and 44,804 votes behind Jackson, John Quincy Adams was clearly not the victor. However, there was a problem, no one had won the majority (270towin).

     Therefore it came upon the house to decide who would take the position of the Presidency of the United States of America. Henry Clay, was confident that Adams would nominate him to position of Secretary of State and thus supported and rallied for support for Adams. Jackson, outraged, protested of the corruption with fellow southerner Calhoun who called the alliance of Clay and Adams “The most dangerous stab, which the liberty of this country has yet received” (The American Experiment, 2006). 

     In the end, President John Adams was inaugurated on March 4th, 1825 after having been thoroughly defeated in the eyes of the public.  Andrew Jackson did however, go on to have a great victory over John Quincy Adams in 1828, where he finally rightfully gained the Presidency after Adams served just one term. 

     The problem was spotted, it had yet to occur on such a scale before, surely it was fixed afterward? 