The supporters of Jackson, in particular, made
"down with the caucus" their rallying cry and found it tremendously
effective. In the earlier stages of the campaign the politicians,
aside from Lewis and his coworkers, were unwilling to believe that
Jackson could be elected. Later, however, they were forced to
acknowledge his strength, and at the end the fight was really between
Jackson and the field, rather than between Crawford and the field as
had been anticipated.
At the beginning of November, Jackson, accompanied by his wife and
traveling in a handsome coach drawn by four of the finest Hermitage
thoroughbreds, set out for Washington. Hostile scribblers lost no time
in contrasting this display of grandeur with the republican simplicity
of Jefferson, who rode from Monticello to the capital on the back of a
plantation nag without pedigree. But Jackson was not perturbed. At
various points on the road he received returns from the elections, and
when after four or five weeks the equipage drew up in the capital
Jackson knew the general result.
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