What is a “corrupt bargain” anyway?
In the Election of 1824, Henry Clay’s legacy was marred by what some considered a “corrupt bargain” with John Quincy Adams. Andrew Jackson had won the popular vote and received the most electoral votes, with John Quincy Adams coming in second. Since no candidate had won a majority of electoral votes, it was up to the House of Representatives to decide among the top three candidates.
Kentuckian Henry Clay, who happened to come in fourth place and was thus ineligible to win the House’s vote, was also conveniently the Speaker of the House. He threw his support behind Adams and Adams won. When Adams named Clay as his Secretary of State, Jackson and his followers called it a “corrupt bargain” — essentially an unfair, rigged election.
It was the first time—and certainly not the last—that cries of a “rigged election” would be used to rouse the rabble.
A while back I spoke to historian Mark Cheathem, who teaches a course on conspiracy theories in American history at Cumberland University, about The Corrupt Bargain in our episode “Conspiracy Theories & The Corrupt Bargain with Mark Cheathem” which you can listen to here:
Now, as corrupt as that might seem to some, imagine if Henry Clay had gone to both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson and offered up his support to whoever promised him a cabinet position!
Fast forward 200 yards and that’s exactly what a certain bear-dumping third party candidate *allegedly* did by seeking Cabinet positions with both the Democratic and Republican nominees in the Election of 2024. When Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was rebuffed by one party, he turned to the other. And he has now endorsed the Republican nominee (who has publicly said he’s open to finding a nice home in his administration for Kennedy.)
What would you call that kind of bargain? It sounds a little…corrupt, no? Merriam-Webster says the word corrupt implies “loss of soundness, purity, or integrity.” Sure, you could quibble over the difference between “loss of” and “lack of,” but still—is there a better term to describe the desperate, power-hungry plea of someone whose last shred of integrity may have been eaten by a worm? (Please let me know if you think of one.)
Time will tell what comes of RFK Jr’s (alleged) shameless ambition, but the truth is that Henry Clay was never going to support Andrew Jackson. And Henry Clay was well-qualified for the position of Secretary of State.
There is no proof that a bargain was made between Adams and Clay, but even if it were…maybe we should stop calling it “corrupt.”
