And you thought elections today are bad…In the presidential election of 1828 incumbent John Q

And you thought elections today are bad…In the presidential election of 1828 incumbent John Quincy Adams was being challenged by war hero Andrew Jackson.  The campaign would be one of the most brutal campaigns in history, filled with personal attacks and vicious mudslinging.At the time Jackson had recently married Rachel Donelson Robards.  Rachel had divorced her ex husband, but the couple were unaware the divorce was not finalized when they had married.  In the eyes of John Q. Adams, this was a national scandal.  Rachel was attacked as a prostitute, adultress and bigamist.  The personal attacks on the Jackson marriage were so upsetting to Rachel that she began having chest pains and died of a heart attack on December 22nd, 1828. The attacks did not stop there.  Adams also accused Jackson’s mother of being a prostitute who consorted with British soldiers during the Revolutionary War, and that Jackson’s birth was the result of his mother having an affair with a mulatto father.  He was also labeled a war criminal and a murderer.Jackson responded with an attack of his own.  Before the election Adams was the Foreign Minister to Russia.  Adams was accused of smuggling young girls from America to satisfy the sexual appetites of the Czar.  Furthermore he was accused of using government funds to purchase gambling equipment which he supposedly decorated the White House as soon as he became president. The election turned out to be a landslide victory for Jackson.  When the results were anounced a mob ransacked the White House, smashing in windows, destroying furniture, and looting Adam's possessions.  Adams himself was forced to escape by climbing out the back window.When Jackson was innagurated in 1829, another mob of 20,000 people attended the ceremony at the White House.  They caused $20,000 worth of damage, almost killed Jackson while mobing him for a handshake, and were dispersed when servents placed whiskey spiked punch on the streets as a distraction. -- source link

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