If you thought today’s politics of attack ads, mud-slinging and character assassination are dreadful, you should’ve witnessed the election of 1828, the ugliest in America’s history.

(The donkey was first associated with the Democrats during the election of 1828, but it wasn’t until Nast used it in 1870 that many people began to link the Democrats with the donkey.) ...

After the controversy of 1824, the election of 1828 was surely the most ill-tempered presidential campaign in history. Jackson’s supporters slammed Adams as effete and elitist. In an assault ...