Supporters for Adams denounced the caucus bid, and the Massachusetts legislature nominated Adams as their favorite-son candidate. In the summer of 1824, an unofficial caucus of less than a third of the congressmen eligible to attend nominated Crawford for President. They remembered his criticism of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 as a proslavery conspiracy, and they suspiciously recalled Adams's efforts to include language opposed to the international slave trade in the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812.

Additionally, many staunch Democratic-Republicans blamed Adams and his supporters for having transformed the party of Jefferson into a disguised form of Federalism under the rubric of 'National Republicans.' Southerners, moreover, objected to Adams because of his moral opposition to slavery. This new climate looked to regional endorsements of candidates by state conventions or state assemblies, which meant that regional popularity, rather than congressional intrigue, would drive the nomination process.ДЄlthough Adams was a centrist politician of sorts-a Jeffersonian-Federalist, to coin a new term-many Americans still identified him as a New Englander and as the son of the old Federalist leader John Adams. This was principally because the old caucus system failed to connect with the wishes of the new voters, the tens of thousands of males who had been enfranchised by the removal of property ownership as a criterion for white male suffrage.

Since 1820, the old political caucus method by which the congressional leaders nominated presidential candidates had fallen into disrepute. After all, the 1824 election occurred in a day and age when a new political electorate composed of regionally focused voters had only recently been empowered with the franchise. Such a coalition was no easy task to achieve. Few experienced politicians, however, expected Jackson to win if any of the opposing candidates could broker a cross-regional coalition that would unite either the West or the South with New England or the mid-Atlantic States. In fact, his supporters talked about him as another George Washington. It also helped that Jackson could enter the race as an outsider, a defender of the Republic who had risked his life in service of his nation. Jackson's reputation as an Indian fighter and western expansionist, owing to his military escapades in Spanish Florida (see Jackson biography, Life Before the Presidency section), gave him national standing above all other candidates. Then there was General Andrew Jackson from Tennessee, the hero of the Battle of New Orleans. Although he was well known, his clear identification with the war and nationalism weakened his roots in the South, which was beginning to fear supporting anyone for President who was not a slave owner or a supporter of states' rights. His high-profile advocacy of these issues made him a familiar name in much of the country.

A leading War Hawk during the War of 1812, Clay had a power base in Kentucky, was a gifted public speaker, and had support for his so-called American System of protective tariffs and federally sponsored internal improvements. The most visible candidate was House Speaker Henry Clay. Thereafter, the two men seldom spoke to one another. The two men had almost engaged in a fistfight in a cabinet meeting before Crawford gathered his wits enough to apologize. His main drawback stemmed from his explosive temper, which had alienated a number of fellow political leaders including President Monroe. Crawford had served as secretary of war and of the treasury in the two previous administrations. Crawford of Georgia enjoyed the support of party regulars in Congress-especially Senator Martin Van Buren of New York-as well as substantial footing in Georgia. The politically ambitious and able William H. Calhoun of South Carolina had served as secretary of war in the Monroe administration and had support from slave owners in the South but he needed support from outside the region to be a viable candidate. Four other men also wanted to be President, each with substantial regional backing. Although John Quincy Adams should have been the heir apparent to the presidency as James Monroe's secretary of state, the year 1824 was a political turning point in which none of the old rules applied.

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