December 3, 1828

1828 United States presidential election

Presidential electors give Andrew Jackson a decisive Electoral College majority

On the date remembered as Jackson's election, ordinary voters had already finished voting. Small groups of electors were meeting separately in their own state capitals.

The electors, not the electorate

Presidential electors met separately in their states on 3 December 1828 — the first Wednesday in December, the voting date required by the federal election law then in force.

There was no single Electoral College assembly in Washington, and no nationwide popular Election Day that day: state-level appointment of electors happened on different dates, by popular voting in some states and legislative selection in others.

Maryland's surviving record shows how decentralised it was: its eleven electors met on 3 December and split six votes for Adams and five for Jackson.

178 to 83

The electors collectively gave Andrew Jackson 178 votes for president and the incumbent John Quincy Adams 83, against 261 total and a 131-vote majority threshold.

John C. Calhoun received 171 votes for vice president; Richard Rush received 83 and William Smith seven.

The reported popular vote was Jackson 642,553 to Adams 500,897 — a division of roughly 56.1% to 43.6%, narrower than the electoral margin.

Ten weeks in the mail

The signed certificates were sealed and transmitted to Washington. Congress did not open and count them until 11 February 1829.

Jackson remained president-elect until his inauguration on 4 March 1829, so "elected on 3 December" compresses a multi-stage constitutional process.

Party names were still unsettled: contemporary and archival sources describe Jackson's coalition variously as Democratic or Democratic-Republican.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 5 sources not yet audited

How this was checked

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What the sources leave uncertain

December 3 was the Electoral College voting date, not a nationwide popular Election Day. State-level selection of electors occurred on different dates.
Congress formally counted and proclaimed the result on February 11, 1829. Thus saying Jackson was simply 'elected on December 3' compresses a multi-stage constitutional process.