1824 United States Presidential Election
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50 free 1824 United States Presidential Election trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The 1824 presidential election is the only one in which the candidate with the most electoral votes did not end up as president. Four men from the same party ran, none won a majority, and the decision passed to Congress, where it started one of the angriest feuds in American politics. These questions cover the candidates themselves, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay and William H. Crawford: their careers, their home bases, their nicknames and their grudges. They also cover the rules that decided the contest, the rumors of deal-making that followed, and what the result did to the parties. The quiz is pitched for history students, quiz teams and anyone who has wondered how a candidate can lead the count and still lose. Most questions are approachable; a handful are for readers who know the early republic well.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What did Andrew Jackson's supporters call the alleged deal that made John Quincy Adams president in 1825?
The Corrupt Bargain
The Corrupt Bargain was the charge that Henry Clay had traded his support in the House for a Cabinet seat. Jacksonians campaigned on it for the next four years.
Q 02Andrew Jackson branded Henry Clay which biblical figure "of the West" after losing the 1825 House vote?
Judas
Judas was Jackson's name for Clay, whom he accused of selling out the voters' choice for a place in the Cabinet. Clay spent years denying that any deal was made.
Q 03On which object did John Quincy Adams place his hand to take the presidential oath in 1825, instead of a Bible?
A book of law
A book of law, not a Bible, lay under Adams's hand as he recited the oath, by his own later account. He also swapped the knee breeches of earlier presidents for long trousers.
Q 04What struck William H. Crawford in 1823, leaving a leading contender for president gravely ill throughout the campaign?
A stroke
A stroke felled Crawford in 1823, yet he stayed in the race and still finished third in the electoral vote. A physician's prescription of the herb lobelia was blamed for it.
Q 05Louisa Adams threw a grand 1824 ball for Andrew Jackson on the anniversary of which battle that made him famous?
New Orleans
New Orleans, Jackson's 1815 rout of the British, was toasted at the Adams home nine years on. John Quincy Adams hoped the general would settle for being his running mate.
Q 06John Quincy Adams was the first son of a president to become president; which later president was the second?
George W. Bush
George W. Bush made the Bushes the second father-and-son pair of presidents, 176 years after the Adamses became the first. Benjamin Harrison was a president's grandson.
Q 07Which nickname had Andrew Jackson's soldiers given him for his toughness, long before his 1824 run for president?
Old Hickory
Old Hickory stuck after Jackson refused an order to disband his troops and led them on the hard march home himself. They first called him plain Hickory; the Old came later.
Q 08Which powerful post in Congress did Henry Clay hold when lawmakers chose the president in February 1825?
Speaker of the House
Speaker of the House Henry Clay had finished fourth, one place too low to be considered, but his sway over the chamber helped decide which rival won.
Q 09Which French hero of the American Revolution was touring the United States as an honored guest during the 1824 campaign?
Lafayette
Lafayette toured all 24 states between August 1824 and September 1825, drawing huge crowds while the candidates fought it out. He was the last surviving major general of the Revolution.
Q 10How were votes cast when the House of Representatives chose the president in February 1825?
One vote per state
One vote per state meant that Illinois and Missouri, each with a single congressman, counted as much as Pennsylvania with 26. A candidate needed 13 of the 24 states.
Q 11Which president ran virtually unopposed in 1820, leaving a wide-open four-way race to succeed him in 1824?
James Monroe
James Monroe followed the precedent of earlier two-term presidents and declined to seek a third. With no obvious heir, the race to replace him was under way by 1822.
Q 12Which name is given to the period of one-party rule after the War of 1812 that the 1824 election ended?
The Era of Good Feelings
The Era of Good Feelings got its name from a Boston newspaper in 1817. The mood soured once four candidates from the same party turned on one another.
Q 13Which constitutional amendment limited the 1825 House vote to the top three finishers, shutting out Henry Clay?
The Twelfth
Q 21Which state's lawmakers nominated Andrew Jackson for president in 1822, hoping at first only to block William Crawford?
Tennessee
Tennessee put its war hero forward as a stalking horse to keep the state's electoral votes from Crawford. Then Jackson's popularity spread far beyond its borders.
Q 22Which state's legislature told its congressmen to back Andrew Jackson in 1825, only for Henry Clay's allies to refuse?
Kentucky
Kentucky had voted for Clay, its favorite son, in the general election. The delegation ignored the non-binding instruction and voted 8 to 4 for Adams.
Q 23Which Southern state was home to William H. Crawford, the Cabinet member who finished third in the 1824 electoral vote?
Georgia
The Twelfth Amendment, ratified in 1804, had cut the House's field from five candidates to three. Clay finished fourth, so he could only decide which rival to help.
Q 14Which Cabinet post did President John Quincy Adams give Henry Clay soon after Clay's allies swung the House vote?
Secretary of State
Secretary of State was then the stepping stone to the White House: Adams and the three presidents before him had all held it. That made the offer look like a payoff.
Q 15The 1824 race was the second presidential election decided by the House; whom had the House chosen in 1801?
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson needed 36 ballots to break an electoral tie with his own running mate, Aaron Burr. In 1825 the House needed only one.
Q 16Which modern political party grew out of the coalition Andrew Jackson's supporters built after his 1825 defeat?
The Democrats
The Democrats began as the movement to avenge Jackson's loss and win him the White House in 1828. Theirs is now the world's oldest active political party.
Q 17Which party's collapse after the War of 1812 left all four 1824 candidates belonging to the same party?
The Federalists
The Federalists never recovered from opposing the war and ran their last presidential candidate in 1816. With one national party left, the fight moved inside it.
Q 18What mocking nickname did critics give the congressional meeting that made William Crawford the 1824 party nominee?
King Caucus
King Caucus drew only 66 members of Congress, fewer than a third of those entitled to attend, so its blessing hurt Crawford more than it helped. By 1828 the system was dead.
Q 19Which region, home to John Quincy Adams, was the only one he dominated in the 1824 popular vote?
New England
New England backed its native son solidly, but Adams had to share the mid-Atlantic states with Jackson while his rivals divided the South and West.
Q 20Which South Carolinian was elected vice president in 1824 with backing from both the Adams and Jackson camps?
John C. Calhoun
John C. Calhoun dropped his own presidential bid and won the second spot by a landslide. He went on to serve under both rivals, first Adams and then Jackson.
Georgia was where Crawford grew up to become one of the state's most popular politicians. He went home after his defeat and served as a state judge.
Q 24Which federal department did William H. Crawford run while he campaigned for president in 1824?
The Treasury
The Treasury had been Crawford's since 1816, and rivals accused him of using a law on reappointing its officers to plant loyal supporters across the country.
Q 25To which European country had William H. Crawford been the American minister during the War of 1812?
France
France was Crawford's post from 1813, in the waning years of Napoleon's empire. He came home to join the Cabinet and nearly won his party's presidential nomination in 1816.
Q 26John Quincy Adams, a career diplomat before 1824, was the first American minister to which empire?
Russia
Russia received Adams in 1809, and he became friendly with Tsar Alexander I. The tsar later offered to mediate the War of 1812.
Q 27The treaty ending the War of 1812, negotiated by John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay together, is named for which city?
Ghent
The Treaty of Ghent was signed on Christmas Eve 1814 by a five-man American team that included both Adams and Clay. The talks were held in what is now Belgium.
Q 28Which Spanish territory did Andrew Jackson invade in 1818, a move John Quincy Adams defended inside the Cabinet?
Florida
Florida was soon ceded by Spain, as Adams had hoped when he defended the general. Clay and Crawford opposed the invasion, which turned Jackson against them both.
Q 29To which plantation home did Andrew Jackson wish to retire rather than run for president in 1824?
The Hermitage
The Hermitage grew into a 1,000-acre cotton plantation, one of the largest in the state, worked by enslaved laborers. Jackson was drafted into the race by his home legislature.
Q 30What name did Henry Clay give his program of protective tariffs, a national bank and federally funded roads and canals?
The American System
The American System was closer to Adams's views on tariffs and public works than to Jackson's, which gave Clay a policy reason to back Adams in the House.