The Rhetoric of the "Corrupt Bargain" in the 1824 Election

“Kiewe’s study of the 1824 election involving Jackson and Clay offers vastly more than a detailed history of unliving proceedings or facts along a rapidly moving historical timeline. Rather, his micro-analysis of the language used during the campaigns, deployed throughout the debates, offered sotto voce in backroom chambers, and revealed through other public venues adds to the contour of not just rhetorical invention of the time, but also of discursive style. Kiewe offers readers a close-textual glimpse into one of our nation’s first truly tumultuous and uncertain electoral moments.” -- Jason Edward Black, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
The Rhetoric of the “Corrupt Bargain” in the 1824 Election is a superb rhetorical history, and Kiewe offers a meticulous accounting of the election of 1824, both in state voting patterns and the tense negotiations in the House of Representatives. Kiewe offers a lucid picture of the bargain between Clay and Adams, developing a compelling argument that there is at least as much fire as smoke to the charge of a corrupt bargain. 1824, 1828, and the interlocutors who contested them have long been overlooked by rhetorical studies. This book proves convincingly that there is much we can learn here—much that is increasingly relevant in modern democratic life. -- Donovan Bisbee, Baruch College
The Corrupt Bargain is a must read for scholars, students and those interested in the life and political career of Andrew Jackson and the political drama of the 1824 presidential election. This insightful and informative study reveals the rhetorical strategies, underhanded practices, intrigue and party negotiations of Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams. The 1824 election changed future presidential campaigns and the polity itself. -- Robert Denton, Virginia Tech