Editing Andrew Jackson (section)

===Election of 1828 and death of Rachel Jackson===
{{Main|1828 United States presidential election|Andrew Jackson 1828 presidential campaign}}

[[File:Electoral Votes for 1828- Focus on Jackson.png|thumb|alt=Refer to caption|The 1828 United States presidential election results]]

After the election, Jackson's supporters formed a new party to undermine Adams and ensure he served only one term. Adams's presidency went poorly, and Adams's behavior undermined it. He was perceived as an intellectual elite who ignored the needs of the populace. He was unable to accomplish anything because Congress blocked his proposals.{{sfn|Unger|2012|pp=245–248}} In his First Annual Message to Congress, Adams stated that "we are palsied by the will of our constituents", which was interpreted as his being against representative democracy.{{sfn|Remini|1981|p=110}} Jackson responded by championing the needs of ordinary citizens and declaring that "the voice of the people{{nbsp}}... must be heard".{{sfn|Unger|2012|p=246}}

Jackson was nominated for president by the Tennessee legislature in October 1825, more than three years before the 1828 election.{{sfn|Wilentz|2005|pp=50–51}} He gained powerful supporters in both the South and North, including Calhoun, who became Jackson's vice-presidential running mate, and New York Senator Martin Van Buren.{{sfn|Niven|1988|p=126}} Meanwhile, Adams's support from the Southern states was eroded when he signed a tax on European imports, the [[Tariff of Abominations|Tariff of 1828]], which was called the "Tariff of Abominations" by opponents, into law.{{sfn|Unger|2012|p=246}} Jackson's victory in the presidential race was overwhelming. He won 56 percent of the popular vote and 68 percent of the electoral vote. The election ended the [[Dominant-party system|one-party system]] that had formed during the [[Era of Good Feelings]] as Jackson's supporters coalesced into the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] and the various groups who did not support him eventually formed the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]].{{sfn|Koenig|1964|pp=197–198}}

The political campaign was dominated by the personal abuse that partisans flung at both candidates.{{sfn|Koenig|1964|p=197}} Jackson was accused of being the son of an English prostitute and a [[mulatto]],{{sfn|Remini|1977|p=134}}{{sfn|Marszalek|1997|p=16}} and he was accurately labeled a slave trader who trafficked in human flesh.{{sfn|Cheathem|2014|loc=§3}} A series of pamphlets known as the [[Coffin Handbills]]{{sfn|Boller|2004|p=45–46}} accused him of having murdered 18 white men, including the soldiers he had executed for desertion and alleging that he stabbed a man in the back with his cane.{{sfn|Howell|2010|pp=294–295}}{{sfn|Binns|1828}} (In 1807, Jackson had been indicted and acquitted on a charge of assault with intent to kill in the case of the alleged cane stabbing.)<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Various |last2=Jackson |first2=Andrew |url=https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_jackson/5 |title=The Papers of Andrew Jackson, Volume II, 1804–1813 |editor-last1=Moser |editor-first1=Harold D. |editor-last2=MacPherson |editor-first2=Sharon |date=1984 |publisher=University of Tennessee Press |isbn=978-0-8704-9441-3 |pages=172–174 }}</ref> They stated that he had intentionally massacred Native American women and children at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, ate the bodies of Native Americans he killed in battle,{{sfn|Taliaferro|1828}}<ref>{{cite web |title=The Tsunami of Slime Circa 1828 |url=https://nymag.com/news/frank-rich/coffin-handbill-2012-6/ |website=New York News & Politics |date=June 15, 2012 |access-date=June 1, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160323145858/http://nymag.com/news/frank-rich/coffin-handbill-2012-6/ |archive-date=March 23, 2016 }}</ref> and threatened to cut off the ears of congressmen who questioned his behavior during the First Seminole War.{{sfn|Howell|2010|pp=295–297}}

Jackson and Rachel were accused of adultery for living together before her divorce was finalized,{{sfn|Howe|2007|pp=277–278}} and Rachel heard about the accusation.{{sfn|Unger|2012|p=256}} She had been under stress throughout the election, and just as Jackson was preparing to head to Washington for his inauguration, she fell ill.{{sfn|Brands|2005|pp=404–405}} She did not live to see her husband become president, dying of a stroke or heart attack a few days later.{{sfn|Unger|2012|p=256}} Jackson believed that the abuse from Adams' supporters had hastened her death, stating at her funeral: "May God Almighty forgive her murderers, as I know she forgave them. I never can."{{sfn|Boller|2004|p=46}}