<P> The United States presidential election of 1824 was the tenth quadrennial presidential election, held from Tuesday, October 26, to Thursday, December 2, 1824 . In an election contested by four members of the Democratic - Republican Party, no candidate won a majority of the electoral vote, necessitating a contingent election in the House of Representatives under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution . On February 9, 1825, the House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams as president . The 1824 presidential election was the first election in which the winner of the election lost the popular vote, and it remains the only election in which the candidate with the most electoral votes was not elected president . </P> <P> Prior to the election, the Democratic - Republican Party had won six consecutive presidential elections, and by 1824 the opposition Federalist Party had collapsed as a national party . Secretary of State Adams, General Andrew Jackson, Secretary of the Treasury William H. Crawford, and Speaker of the House Henry Clay all sought the presidency as members of the Democratic - Republican Party . A fifth candidate, John C. Calhoun, also sought the presidency before dropping out to successfully run for vice president . The 1824 Democratic - Republican congressional nominating caucus nominated Crawford for president, but the other candidates disregarded this nomination and continued to seek the presidency . </P> <P> In the election, Adams won New England, Jackson and Adams split the mid-Atlantic states, Jackson and Clay split the Western states, and Jackson and Crawford split the Southern states . Jackson finished with a plurality of the electoral and popular vote, while the other three candidates each finished with a significant share of the electoral and popular vote . As no one had won a majority of the electoral vote, the 1824 election became the first (and, so far, only) election to be decided in the House of Representatives under the terms of the 12th Amendment . The 12th Amendment specified that only the three top finishers in the electoral vote were eligible to be selected by the House, thus eliminating Clay, who was influential within that chamber . In the contingent election, Clay threw his support behind Adams, who shared many of his positions on the major issues . With Clay's backing, Adams won the contingent election on the first ballot . </P> <P> After Adams took office, he appointed Clay as Secretary of State, and supporters of Jackson accused Clay and Adams of having agreed to a "corrupt bargain" in which Clay supported Adams in return for his appointment to the most prestigious Cabinet position . Later, the faction led by Jackson would evolve into the modern Democratic Party, while supporters of Adams and Henry Clay would form the National Republican Party and then the Whig Party . Adams's 1824 election victory thus represents the last of seven straight wins by the Democratic - Republican Party . </P>

Who won the popular vote in the election of 1824 who was elected president