Some would say that the Presidential Election of 1828 was the beginning of using the media to discredit an opponent. During the Presidential election of 1828 between President John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, citizens witnessed the worse mudslinging ever to be seen at that time. Mudslinging is defined as “an attempt to discredit one's competitor, opponent, by malicious or scandalous attacks.” Never before had there been such an intense focus on the candidates' personalities and such little attention paid to the issues.
Both parties tried to discredit the other. Adams called Washington’s wife an adulterer. Even though Andrew and Rachael believed her husband to have died when she married Jackson. Jackson had a lot of indiscretions and Adams team was quick to publicize all of them to try to get voters on their side. (see attached picture)
Jackson accused Adams of purchasing gambling devices with public funds that were put into the White House. Jackson also accused Adams of providing a young girl to the Czar of Russian when Adams was the Minister to Russia.
Although there were very few political cartoons at the time, just a mention of these accusations in the newspapers was something new. No matter how many of Jackson’s indiscretions were published, he still manage to win the election.
