No one who knew Jackson and his political managers expected them to
accept the anomalous electoral results of 1825 as expressing the real
will of the nation, and it was a foregone conclusion not only that the
General would again be a candidate, but that the campaign of 1828
would at once begin. The defeated Senator remained in Washington long
enough to present himself at the White House on Inauguration Day and
felicitate his successful rival. Then he set out on the long journey
homeward. Every town through Pennsylvania and along the Ohio turned
out _en masse_ to greet him, and at Nashville he was given a
prodigious reception. To friends and traveling companions he talked
constantly about the election, leaving no doubt of his conviction that
he had been defeated by intrigue. To a sympathetic group of passengers
traveling down the Ohio with him on board the _General Neville_ he
declared emphatically that, if he had been willing to make the same
promises and offers to Clay that Adams had made, he would that minute
be in the presidential chair. If he should yet attain that dignity, he
added significantly, he would do it "with clean hands." It is reported
that as he spoke there was in his eye the fire of determination, such
as his soldiers had seen there as he strode up and down the
breastworks at New Orleans.

To this point Jackson had sought the presidency rather at the
instigation of his friends than because of personal desire for the
office. Now all was changed. The people had expressed their preference
for him, and their will had been thwarted. Henceforth he was moved by
an inflexible purpose to vindicate both his own right to the position
and the right of his fellow citizens to choose their chief executive
without hindrance. In this determination he was warmly backed up by
his neighbors and advisers, and the machinery for a long, systematic,
and resistless campaign was speedily put into running order. One group