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Party politics temporarily disappeared with the demise of the Federalists. In 1824 there were no parties but instead several regional presidential candidates--Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and William Crawford. The Virginian Crawford had the endorsement of former presidents Jefferson and Madison, but suffered a stroke and had to drop out halfway through the race. Elections in this time took place over a period of months as there was no single statutory election day in the United States until 1848. When the electoral votes were counted on the floor of the Senate in February 1825 by outgoing Vice President Daniel Tompkins, Jackson received 99 of them and carried the Mid-Atlantic, most of the South, and part of the West. Adams with 84 votes carried his backyard in New England and New York, Crawford (despite dropping out of the race) won his home state and Georgia with 41, and Clay won his home state along with Ohio and Missouri for 37 electoral votes.

Unfortunately the four-way contest meant no candidate received a majority of electoral votes, thus the election was to be decided by the House of Representatives. Henry Clay abandoned his presidential bid and urged support among colleagues for Adams, as he despised Jackson and felt more ideological compatibility with the dour Secretary of State. The House voted to confirm Adams as president although he won a mere 33% of the popular vote and almost all of that came from one section of the country. Andrew Jackson had received the most popular votes of the four candidates and condemned the "Adams-Clay Corrupt Bargain", believing he'd been robbed. He almost immediately began making plans for another run in 1828 and came to support the idea of abolishing the Electoral College and electing the president by direct popular vote.

Five states in 1824 had no direct popular vote and had their electors chosen by the state legislature. Six used a district-based system.