Below, find an overview of Jacksonian politics during the Age of the Common Man. Following that, read the Questions to Consider and Discuss and the test of Lincoln's "Handbill on Infidelity (July 31, 1846)".
The Election of 1824 forever changed American politics. There had been vicious mudslinging and accusations during the First Party System in the 1790s, so badly that eventually the Federalists passed the Alien and Sedition Acts to stop Democratic-Republican criticism of Adams and the Federalist administration. However, after Jackson lost the election of 1824 and deemed it the "Corrupt Bargain", the election of 1828 brought mudslinging to new heights and would establish dirty politics as mainstays of American political life. In 1828, the Jackson campaign falsely accused John Quincy Adams of securing prostitutes for the Russian czar while he was the Ambassador to Russia. The Adams' campaign fired back with the fact that Rachel Jackson, Andrew Jackson's wife, had been married to another man when she married Andrew Jackson - a true accusation. Such character assassinations became common place in American politics.
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