People's Ticket

The People's Ticket of Andrew Jackson [2] for president and John C. Calhoun for vice president won the popular vote of North Carolina in the 1824 election despite the overwhelming support of the Democratic-Republican Party caucus for William H. Crawford [3] of Georgia. Following the election of 1820, state Republican [4] leaders began to solicit backing for Crawford, whose views were more compatible with their political philosophy than those of John Quincy Adams [5] of Massachusetts. By 1824 key individuals in the party who made up the state's caucus had pledged their support and the implied vote of their state to Crawford for president. Many North Carolinians, particularly those in the west and along Albemarle Sound, were angry. The depression of 1819 had drained their resources and made money scarce. Most of them had endorsed the failed campaign of Archibald D. Murphey [6] for increased state public education, internal improvements [7], and political reapportionment in the west. When Crawford's nomination was announced, the dissidents joined with Murphey, William Polk, and Charles Fisher to form the People's Ticket, with John C. Calhoun, a prominent advocate of education [8] and internal improvements, as their candidate.

Popular support for Calhoun proved insufficient, but Andrew Jackson quickly caught the public fancy. An alliance of Jackson for president and Calhoun for vice president was accordingly concluded, and the two politicians carried the election in North Carolina, although they lost the national vote. In 1828, this time with the state caucus behind them, Jackson and Calhoun won North Carolina by an even larger margin on their way to the presidency and vice presidency.

Additional Resources:

Drexler, Kenneth. "Presidential Election of 1824: A Resource Guide." Digital Reference Section. Library of Congress. http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/elections/election1824.html [9] (accessed September 5, 2012).

Archibald D. Murphey to Colonel William Polk, letter, February 27, 1824. The Papers of Archibald D. Murphey. Raleigh, N.C.: E.M. Uzzell & Co. 1914. p.291. http://books.google.com/books?id=H_awB8GenOoC&pg=PA291#v=onepage&q&f=false [10]

Sellers, Charles. The Market Revolution:Jacksonian America, 1815-1846. Oxford University Press. 1994. p.190. http://books.google.com/books?id=AjmGCYAlEcEC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA190#v=onepage&q&f=false [11]

Jeffrey, Thomas E. State Parties and National Politics: North Carolina, 1815-1861. Athens: University of Georgia Press. 1989. http://books.google.com/books?id=mt5HNfTdYgwC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP7#v=onepage&q&f=false [12]