The election of 1824, our second US contested election, seems at first quite similar to the election of 1800. Once again, the election revolved around five candidates (one is even an Adams) and the election ends up in the US House of Representatives. But let’s take a step back to understand what happened. The election comes down to five candidates—all technically Democratic-Republicans. John Calhoun becomes the first loser (and perhaps the biggest winner) when he drops out of the race before the election, in order to run for Vice President. The four men still in the running by the election are Henry Clay, the Speaker of the House, John Quincy Adams, son of second President (John Adams), Andrew Jackson, a violence prone politician and general, and lastly, William Crawford, a congressional powerbroker whose name I have to look up every time I remember there was a fifth candidate.

When the states vote, Jackson receives the most electoral college votes, with John Quincy Adams receiving the next most, followed by Crawford, and then Clay. Unfortunately for Jackson’s supporters, a presidential candidate needs a plurality (more than half) of the votes rather than a majority (the most). Jackson’s majority of 99 electoral votes fell short of the 131 votes he needed to win the plurality, so the election was turned over to the house of representatives. In accordance with the twelfth amendment to the constitution, the house decides the winner out of the top three candidates. This rule eliminates Henry Clay from the running but does not lock him out of the process—if anything, it has the potential to give him more power, in the election because of his position as speaker of the house.

Unlike the election of 1800, a president is selected in the first round of voting in the House. They elect John Quincy Adams as the new president. Jackson won the most electoral votes and claimed the popular vote (the strength of this claim has been disputed by historian Donald Ratcliffe using data from Philip Lampi), but Jackson will not be elected president in 1824. This infuriated Jackson and his supporters, but what really set them off was Adams’s appointment of Henry Clay to the position of Secretary of State. Clay’s fancy new job is held up as clear proof of a “corrupt bargain” between Adams and Clay. However, even now we don’t know if there was actually a “corrupt bargain”, but we do know the accusations of corruption created a bitter rivalry between Jackson and Clay and helped fuel Jackson’s successful1828 campaign.

Ok, now you understand. But, so what? Why should you care about an election that happened 200 years ago? Well, the 1824 election can help you understand how we got “here”. Yes, it can tell us about the past, but it can also say something about the present.

200 years ago a man claimed that populist support meant he should have been president and, when he lost, he along with his allies, spent four years campaigning for the next election. This man claimed status as a “Washington outsider,” despite previously holding elected office. Jackson’s supporters cast him as a folk hero of the masses—the kind of guy who will fight for you the way he fights his enemies on the street.

Despite his involvement in the First Seminal War, the Creek War, the Invasion of Florida and subsequent execution of unarmed British officials, and a reputation for getting into fights, Jackson became president four years after losing in 1824. Jackson refused to back down and accept he lost.

Donald Trump loves to compare himself to Jackson. It’s important to understand what he means.