Editing John C. Calhoun (section)

===1824 and 1828 elections and Adams presidency===
[[File:Fort Hill (Clemson, SC) Historic Marker.JPG|thumb|upright|State historic marker at [[Fort Hill (Clemson, South Carolina)|Fort Hill]], Calhoun's home from 1825 until his death in 1850|alt=Large cast embossed concrete or metal panel atop a metal post. Embossing gives dates of other senators and politicians as well as Calhoun's son-in-law.]]
Calhoun was initially a candidate for [[President of the United States]] in the [[1824 United States presidential election|election of 1824]]. Four other men also sought the presidency: Andrew Jackson, Adams, Crawford, and Henry Clay. Calhoun failed to win the endorsement of the South Carolina legislature, and his supporters in Pennsylvania decided to abandon his candidacy in favor of Jackson's, and instead supported him for vice president. Other states soon followed, and Calhoun therefore allowed himself to become a candidate for [[Vice President of the United States|vice president]] rather than president.<ref name="John C. Calhoun, 7th Vice President (1825–1832)" /><ref>{{cite web |last=Hogan |first= Margaret A. |url=http://millercenter.org/president/biography/jqadams-campaigns-and-elections |title=John Quincy Adams: Campaigns and Elections |publisher=[[Miller Center of Public Affairs|University of Virginia Miller Center]] |access-date=January 3, 2016}}</ref> The [[U.S. Electoral College|Electoral College]] elected Calhoun vice president by a landslide on December 1, 1824. He won 182 of 261 electoral votes, while five other men received the remaining votes.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/scores.html |title=U.S. Electoral College: Historical Election Results |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=January 31, 2017}}</ref> No presidential candidate received a majority in the Electoral College, and the election was ultimately resolved by the House of Representatives, where Adams was declared the winner over Crawford and Jackson, who in the election had led Adams in both popular vote and electoral vote. After Clay, the Speaker of the House, was appointed Secretary of State by Adams, Jackson's supporters denounced what they considered a "corrupt bargain" between Adams and Clay to give Adams the presidency in exchange for Clay receiving the office of Secretary of State, the holder of which had traditionally become the next president. Calhoun also expressed some concerns, which caused friction between him and Adams.<ref name="Roesch, James Rutledge">{{cite web |url=http://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/review/john-c-calhoun-and-states-rights/ |author=Roesch, James Rutledge. |date=August 25, 2015 |title=John C. Calhoun and "State's Rights" |publisher=The Abbeville Review |access-date=April 26, 2016}}</ref>

Calhoun also opposed President Adams' plan to send a delegation to observe a meeting of South and Central American leaders in [[Panama]], believing that the United States should stay out of foreign affairs. Calhoun became disillusioned with Adams' high tariff policies and increased centralization of government through a network of "internal improvements", which he now saw as a threat to the rights of the states. Calhoun wrote to Jackson on June 4, 1826, informing him that he would support Jackson's second campaign for the presidency in [[1828 United States presidential election|1828]]. The two were never particularly close friends. Calhoun never fully trusted Jackson, a frontiersman and popular war hero, but hoped that his election would bring some reprieve from Adams's anti-states' rights policies.<ref name="John C. Calhoun, 7th Vice President (1825–1832)" /> Jackson selected Calhoun as his running mate, and together they defeated Adams and his running mate [[Richard Rush]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://millercenter.org/president/biography/jqadams-campaigns-and-elections |title=John Quincy Adams: Campaigns and Elections |publisher=University of Virginia Miller Center |access-date=August 4, 2016}}</ref> Calhoun thus became the second of two vice presidents to serve under two different presidents. The only other man who accomplished this feat was [[George Clinton (vice president)|George Clinton]], who served as vice president from 1805 to 1812 under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Vice_President.htm |title=Vice President of the United States (President of the Senate): The Individuals |publisher=United States Senate |access-date=May 1, 2016}}</ref>

During the election, Jackson's aide [[James Alexander Hamilton]] attempted a rapprochement between Jackson and Crawford, whom Jackson resented owing partially to the belief that it was he, not Calhoun, who had opposed the invasion of Florida. Hamilton spoke about this prospect with Governor [[John Forsyth (Georgia)|John Forsyth]] of Georgia, who acted as a mediator between the Jackson campaign and Crawford. Forsyth wrote a letter back to Hamilton in which he claimed that Crawford had stated to him that it was Calhoun, not Crawford, who had supported censuring Jackson for his invasion of Florida. Knowing that the letter could destroy the partnership between Jackson and Calhoun, Hamilton and fellow Jackson aide [[William Berkeley Lewis|William B. Lewis]] allowed it to remain in Hamilton's possession without informing Jackson or the public of its existence.{{sfn|Remini|1981|p=241}}